jerseyhoya wrote:I would love if a bill with increased border security $$ and legalizing DACA folks (with a path to citizenship preferably, but ensuring permanent legal status would beat the hell out of the alternative) passes. And ironically Trump in the White House makes this a much easier vote for a lot of House and Senate GOP because it would provide cover in primaries that a GOP president less trusted by the base could not provide and Hillary signing would be toxic, in part for reasons babbled about below.

Some people who have actual beliefs on this like Steve King will lose their goddamn minds and that will be funny. Others like Hannity will twist themselves in pretzels to avoid #$!&@ on Trump, when they would be killing a President Rubio or Jeb! or some other lifelong conservative who made this deal with the Dems. It's the oddest #$!&@ thing.

I remember listening to Hannity (I know, I know) driving home for Thanksgiving in 2003 when I was in college and he was slaughtering Bush for his apostasies to conservatism in pushing Medicare Part D. At this point Bush had passed two tax cuts, was doing the whole war on terror thing, had passed a partial birth abortion ban, and done plenty of things movement conservatives loved. But he stepped out of line and was lambasted. Now we've got a person who has not spent a minute of his adult life advancing conservative legislation or whatnot, has been an utter failure (outside of the courts) as president, and when he goes off the reservation the entertainment wing of the party provides cover. It's Mitch McConnell's fault!

pacino wrote:The House GOP plan for the PA budget is to raid all the rainy day funds and balance sheets of agencies across the Commonwealth for a one-time fix instead of taxing natural gas drillers:

Leaders of two state agencies and Berks and Lancaster counties' transit agencies have expressed concerns, with the agency leaders writing letters urging the Senate to reject the plan.
David W. Kilmer, executive director of the authority that oversees BARTA, said the 35 percent reduction the plan would mean for the South Central Transit Authority's budget would cut $3.2 million from BARTA and $2.4 million from the Red Rose Transit Authority in Lancaster County. South Central manages both systems with a $31.5 million budget. Of that, $20 million is for the bus program. The rest goes to the authority's shared-ride service.

The Senate in late July passed a package that would raise money to fund that budget - a mix of borrowing and tax increases, including a Marcellus shale extraction tax, new taxes on utility and telephone bills and levies on expanded gambling. Wolf has endorsed the Senate revenue plan and called the House's recent package "nonsense."
Not wanting to raise taxes, House members recently said they found $10 billion in state surplus savings and reserve accounts. Of that, they say, $1.2 billion could be used to help balance the budget. This money has been sitting in savings accounts, untouched for as long as three years, House leaders said. A group of House Republicans spent much of the summer combing through state accounts searching for surplus money that was free to be reassigned to the budget.

Moving $357 million from the Pennsylvania Public Transit Trust Fund would be cataclysmic, Leslie S. Richards, secretary of PennDOT, said in a letter.

"Most of these funds are not available; they are actually contractually obligated for current and pending projects," Richards wrote. "This could have been conveyed to House Republicans had the department been contacted prior to the release of this plan."
Another letter, from state Agriculture Secretary Russell C. Redding, says the House plan's cuts raise concerns "over the future of Pennsylvania's agriculture industry."
"While the Senate approved a responsible and sustainable plan to finance (the budget) the House has yet to do so," Redding wrote.

one small downturn and every agency gets permanently crippled under their plan...which may be the point. it's a completely fiscally irresponsible move now in order to necessitate future hard cuts. They want us to be Kansas.

The revamped package relies on borrowing $1 billion against future revenue from Pennsylvania's share of 1998's multistate settlement with tobacco companies and diverting $600 million-plus from off-budget programs.

It also would count on hundreds of millions of dollars more in unused cash from state programs, money that the Wolf administration says does not entirely exist, and the potential for license fees should the state authorize another expansion of casino-style gambling.

curveball wrote:The Prez caused all this trouble with DACA to appease the right and then he saw the political cost. Now he'll try to take credit for the legislation that stops the kids from being deported. Does he really believe the voting public can't see through this.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin sought use of a government jet to take him and his wife on their honeymoon in Scotland, France and Italy earlier this summer, ABC News reported. The request for the plane, which costs roughly $25,000 an hour to operate, was eventually withdrawn.

Ann Coulter‏ @AnnCoulter
At this point, who DOESN'T want Trump impeached?

curveball wrote:The Prez caused all this trouble with DACA to appease the right and then he saw the political cost. Now he'll try to take credit for the legislation that stops the kids from being deported. Does he really believe the voting public can't see through this.

Youseff wrote:this is a positive development for our country and for our souls as humans, and who knows if it's motivated by kindness in Trump's heart, a desire to stick it to the GOP leaders, or the fact that Trump gets influenced by the person that he talked to most recently. If that's really the case, and it seems to be, we gotta get Bernie to befriend him.

JFLNYC wrote:So Trump's coming here to Naples today. The eye wall of Irma passed within a half mile of our house on Sunday. We have no power (latest estimate is 9/22), no safe water, almost no gas and little food. But he'll have his meeting at Rick Scott's house in the Port Royal section, where I'm sure there's power because it's one of the richest neighborhoods in the country where a piece of land will cost you $20MM and houses can go for $60MM to $90MM.

JFLNYC wrote:So Trump's coming here to Naples today. The eye wall of Irma passed within a half mile of our house on Sunday. We have no power (latest estimate is 9/22), no safe water, almost no gas and little food. But he'll have his meeting at Rick Scott's house in the Port Royal section, where I'm sure there's power because it's one of the richest neighborhoods in the country where a piece of land will cost you $20MM and houses can go for $60MM to $90MM.