JUburton wrote:all critiques and jokes about the bill are like nourishment to me rn. i cannot wait for paul ryan to eat #$!&@ on this.

RichmondPhilsFan wrote:I assume that's ONLY for people who don't receive healthcare from their employer? Should I even assume that with these clowns?

thephan wrote:there will be some who make a big deal out of being freed from the onerous requirements to pay for health care, exit, then keep the savings for themselves.

drsmooth wrote:

thephan wrote:some schlep was saying that they are returning heath care to the states. States know what their people need. They will want their people to get what they need and they might want to cover more people. 'Who is to say?'

Pick me! -> I am thinking that states seem pretty darn cash strapped across the board so this is passing the buck. House is not responsible. States are. Its what the people want.


Related note: Obamacare hurts more people then it helped says Kevin Brady

For example, I've been trying to figure out what they'll do to replace the ACA. Taking my own advice and thinking of the issue most cynically, I wouldn't be surprised if they announced the replacement will be in the form of block grants to the states and making each state figure it out. By doing so they will: (1) Offload the problem to the states; (2) be able to control the costs; and (3) blame the states when people lose their insurance. They'll also create a formula for the block grants which favors lower population states.

As for marketing it they'll trot out the usual propoganda points: "better to do things locally," "lower costs" (to the Federal government, though, not for anyone else), etc., etc.

Grotewold wrote:

drsmooth wrote:

According to a September 2016 report from the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence, 113 of those 122 detainees who have been confirmed as “re-engaging” were released from Guantanamo Bay under the Bush administration.

Only nine of them were released during the Obama administration.

The tweet came less than an hour after a segment on "Fox and Friends" about Mohammed Tahar, aka Yasir al-Silmi, a former Guantanamo detainee who was killed by a U.S. air strike in Yemen last week. Tahar had been transferred from Guantanamo to his home country of Yemen Dec. 17, 2009, during the Obama administration.

Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly said that President Donald Trump must have "convincing evidence" for his allegation on Twitter that President Barack Obama ordered a wiretap of his phones during the campaign.

"I don't know anything about it," he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on the Situation Room. "If the President of the United States said that, he's got his reasons to say it."

CFP wrote:
Just looked this guy up. He's 61. Good Lord. He looks like he's 75

thephan wrote:

Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly said that President Donald Trump must have "convincing evidence" for his allegation on Twitter that President Barack Obama ordered a wiretap of his phones during the campaign.

"I don't know anything about it," he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on the Situation Room. "If the President of the United States said that, he's got his reasons to say it."

Oh, General Kelly, just you wait. Slow learner?

Four members of Congress dodged hundreds of their own constituents who attempted to hold an impromptu town hall with them on Monday afternoon.

The Republican lawmakers – Lloyd Smucker, Pat Meehan, Charlie Dent and Ryan Costello – had all avoided holding in-person town halls during the recent congressional recess, dubbed “Resistance recess” because of the number of angry constituents who confronted their representatives during the week.

The plan was to have voters approach the politicians as they left that meeting, and ask them to attend a town hall just 100ft down the corridor.

But the scheme failed as the four congressmen left without interacting with voters – a staff member for congressman Ryan Costello expressing concern that people filming the event might use the footage to show Costello doing “funny faces”.

About 150 activists had gathered outside the Double Tree hotel in Readingat around 2.30pm.

Activists, including one wearing a very large papier mache Donald Trump head, chanted “Do your job” as the 3pm start time of the chamber of commerce meeting approached. Some had signs referencing Trump’s healthcare and immigration plans, but most of the signage requested that the congressmen hold town hall events with voters.

Walter said he would discuss the town hall with Costello and went back into the room where the chamber of commerce meeting was taking place, prompting Hines Corbit to describe the development as “a win”.

But Walter never came back, and 10 minutes later the hotel manager announced that everyone had left the meeting.
Later a spokesman for Costello told the Guardian in a statement that the congressman had “offered to meet with the protesters but they declined. They do not wish to have an open and honest dialog. Their goal is to cause a scene and get it on camera.”

Dent and Meehan did not immediately respond to messages requesting comment. Smucker’s voicemail was full.