Day 438.
Here we go again. At midnight tomorrow night the government will be forced to shut down if a deal isn’t reached between Democrats and Republicans. And, the Republican side for the most part is avoiding any bipartisan work to get a deal done.
The House unveiled another continuing resolution to keep the government open for another month. And, this is where they are simply thumbing their noses at the American People. Included in this continuing resolution is more money for DOD and the CHIP program which no Democrat has complained about. As a matter of fact, Democrats have been the biggest advocates for renewing CHIP. But, it doesn’t address the most pressing issue, the Dreamers.
In order to show the American People exactly where their loyalties lie, they did include one item that is getting very little attention. They have included a repeal of the taxes on so-called “Cadillac insurance policies” and the medical equipment tax that are in the ACA. This is supposed to be a “continuing resolution” to keep the government open, but Republicans are using it to help kill the ACA just a bit more.
What this little amendment does is take away the areas where the ACA raises money to help keep your policies as low as possible and help those who need help get insurance. Additionally, it adds to the national debt by about 41 Billion dollars over the next 10 years.
What this means is that Republicans believe giving additional tax breaks to medical companies and rich people is far more important than talking about how to protect 800,000 young dreamers. They believe that more tax cuts, right after their big tax cut give-away is more important than protecting young people who have committed no crimes.
These young people were brought here when they were children. They did not “plan” to sneak across the border by themselves, so they committed no crime. They have been educated in our schools. Many of them have or are attending college. Many of them have served or are serving in our military in defense of our country.
These people are just as “American” as you and I. They know no other country except the United States. They came out of the shadows under DACA to seek legal status. They work hard and pay their taxes. And, as a condition of DACA status, they are crime free. They are the true definition of “merit immigration” Republicans and Slimy Donny claim they want our immigration system to look like.
There are a few things that can be done to avoid this shutdown that is looming. First, Republicans can establish a bipartisan committee to deal with DACA and work with Democrats on getting to a permanent solution. Better yet, they can simply pass the bipartisan bill in the Senate. It covers the Dreamers, and it also give Slimy Donny money for better border security.
They can introduce a real “continuing resolution” that does not include any amendments that can poison the bill. They can simply put forth a bill that says the government will continue using the same budgets they now have. Then, they can sit down with Democrats and work on a firm budget and protection for Dreamers.
The Senate can dust off their bipartisan Immigration Reform Bill that they already passed several years ago and send it back to the House. Then, Ryan can put it up for a vote. Almost everything that Slimy Donny wants is included in this bill, except maybe his Berlin Wall. And, it will need tweaks to protect the Dreamers.
None of what is going on today would be happening if the Republicans in the House had voted on that bill years ago. It includes e-verify that Slimy Donny says is so important. It includes money for tighter border security. It was a total and complete immigration reform bill. But, Republicans didn’t want immigration reform than, and they really don’t want it today. If they did, they would vote on this bill again.
The weak and wimpish Republican leadership in the Congress is showing just how bad they are. They are trying to sit on the sidelines and wait for Slimy Donny to “tell us what he will support”. What are they going to do now since Slimy Donny tweeted this morning that CHIP should not be in this bill, but rather part of a long-term solution. Changed his mind again, apparently.
How about what the majority of the American People want? The majority of the American people do not want a Berlin Wall. They want the Dreamers to be protected. They want the Immigration Reform Bill the Senate passed several years ago.
But, as usual, the majority of the American People’s wishes are not of interest to Republicans. They are only interested in what their donor buddies want. The Republican Party of today is as useless as tits on a bull.
Since taking control of both Houses of Congress, the Republicans have tried to rule on a one-party basis. Only, that cannot happen when it comes to things like funding the government. And, they have a small minority caucus called the Freedom From Poor People to contend with.
This caucus is just large enough so Republicans cannot pass bills without Democratic help if this caucus sits on the sidelines. And, this caucus has introduced no legislation. They have not been involved in any of the real working of any bill.
They just sit in Mark Meadows’ office and wait to see what real people want to pass and then throw a hissy fit if it doesn’t meet their wacko view of the world. They are really anarchists only interested in bringing down our democracy. That is the best definition I can give to them.
As a result, we are looking at a party that has no clue how to govern. We have Congressional leaders who don’t know how to govern or lead. They simply want others to tell them what to do. As a result, we get nothing from them that actually helps the America People.
This continuing resolution they want to pass in the House proves beyond any reasonable doubt that they care about tax cuts for the rich far more than they care about people. The only reason they put CHIP in the bill, by their own admission, was to get Democrats to support it. If they didn’t need Democrats to pass the House, it would not be in the bill. But the tax cuts for the rich would certainly be there.
Yesterday, we saw Bob Dole receive the Congressional Gold Medal for his service to the country. And, I believe he deserved it. However, it was presented to him by people who do not care about governing. It was presented to him by people who are not interested in compromise.
I did not agree with Bob Dole on everything, but I will say that he was one person who understood that the American People were more important than petty politics. When he was a leader in the Senate, he was willing to walk across the aisle and work with Democrats to get the best bill he could that would benefit the American People.
We were forced to watch this honest and decent man receive a richly deserved award from the people who have killed his way of governing. He was forced to listen to the same people who are not interested in governing. That was a shame.
Slimy Donny and the Republican Party are more than willing to allow the government shut down. They don’t care if thousands of people will suddenly lose their paychecks. They don’t care what damage a shutdown could do to our economy. They don’t care if it hurts you the American people.
They only care about their petty partisan politics of getting bigger tax cuts for the rich anyway they can. They only care about making sure their donor money keeps flowing into their coffers.
They apparently only care about the same thing that Slimy Donny cares about, according to his own son. He cares about “green” which according to sonny boy represents “business and money”. It also represents greed at the expense of others and envy of what others have.
That is what today’s Republican Party believe in and care about. I guess that is why they kowtow to Slimy Donny all of the time. In the meantime, we the people lose, again.
And, the shirts keep marching along.
Lean Left World 