The Smoke Break

You want some brie with that whine?

They OWN This Now

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The Senate’s Demon-crats continued to steamroll their plans to enslave the American people via their pork-filled “health care reform” bill today.  Three key scenes played out on the Senate floor and they are extremely telling.

First, every single Democrats voted AGAINST examining the constitutionality of the individual mandate.  It is their learned opinion that requiring every American to purchase a product is not an infringement of their freedom to choose and therefore debate is not necessary.

They then refused to consider whether their legislation infringes upon the states’ rights with regard to regulation of insurance companies.

Just as a reminder, here is the list of those who are putting the chains on you:

Akaka (D-HI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Begich (D-AK)
Bennet (D-CO)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Burris (D-IL)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Conrad (D-ND)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)		 Franken (D-MN)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Hagan (D-NC)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kaufman (D-DE)
Kerry (D-MA)
Kirk (D-MA)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Merkley (D-OR)		 Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Specter (D-PA)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Tester (D-MT)
Udall (D-CO)
Udall (D-NM)
Warner (D-VA)
Webb (D-VA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR)

 And, at the last, they voted to INCLUDE ALL THE BILL’S EARMARKS.  Though in this vote, the Republicans found themselves joined by a handful of Democrats who apparently felt it was ok to vote for the bill until someone else had the cajones to publicly bring up the fact it contains billions of dollars of pork.

YEAs —53
Akaka (D-HI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Begich (D-AK)
Bennet (D-CO)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Burris (D-IL)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Conrad (D-ND)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feinstein (D-CA)		 Franken (D-MN)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Hagan (D-NC)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kaufman (D-DE)
Kerry (D-MA)
Kirk (D-MA)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Menendez (D-NJ)		 Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Specter (D-PA)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Tester (D-MT)
Udall (D-CO)
Udall (D-NM)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR)
NAYs —46
Alexander (R-TN)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Bayh (D-IN)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Collins (R-ME)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)		 Enzi (R-WY)
Feingold (D-WI)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johanns (R-NE)
Kyl (R-AZ)
LeMieux (R-FL)
Lugar (R-IN)
McCain (R-AZ)
McCaskill (D-MO)
McConnell (R-KY)		 Merkley (D-OR)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Nelson (D-NE)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Snowe (R-ME)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (D-VA)
Webb (D-VA)
Wicker (R-MS)
Not Voting – 1
Bunning (R-KY)

The final vote to move this bastard bill out of the Senate is scheduled for tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. EST.  By all rights, every Democratic Senator who voted to remove the pork from the bill should now vote against its final passage since they have gone on record as saying the bill, as is, is wrong.  We won’t even go into the fact that the CBO has now gone on record as saying the Democrats have been arguing financial “benefits” of the bill by double-counting Medicare “savings” and the truth is that is really IS a budget-buster:

The key point is that the savings to the HI (Medicare Hospital Insurance) trust fund under the PPACA (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) would be received by the government only once, so they cannot be set aside to pay for future Medicare spending and, at the same time, pay for current spending on other parts of the legislation or on other programs. Trust fund accounting shows the magnitude of the savings within the trust fund, and those savings indeed improve the solvency of that fund; however, that accounting ignores the burden that would be faced by the rest of the government later in redeeming the bonds held by the trust fund. Unified budget accounting shows that the majority of the HI trust fund savings would be used to pay for other spending under the PPACA and would not enhance the ability of the government to redeem the bonds credited to the trust fund to pay for future Medicare benefits. To describe the full amount of HI trust fund savings as both improving the government’s ability to pay future Medicare benefits and financing new spending outside of Medicare would essentially double-count a large share of those savings and thus overstate the improvement in the government’s fiscal position.

But I doubt they have enough conscience left inside of them to avoid the temptation of the billions of dollars of taxpayer money that will eventually be dangled in front of them by Harry (the Grinch Who Stole Christmas) Reid; that seems to be worth more to them than the thought their constituents are planning to figurately roast their nuts over an open fire for selling generations of Americans into slavery.  Perhaps because their nuts are too small to be of any concern?

A Blue Christmas (Tree)

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I don’t know about you, but I’m always so pleased to see my hard-earned tax dollars at work decorating the White House for the Christmas holidays. 

Not.

Now we all know that the blame is going to be placed on the tree’s designer, but the bottom line is that it is His Transparency himself, President Walking Eagle, who can veto the designer’s work  and therefore he owns this latest bit of ugliness. 

But he hasn’t.  And I doubt his arrogance will allow it.

So we are treated to a White House Blue Room Christmas tree decorated with no less than an ornament showing us the face of Communist leader Mao (“Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun”)  Tse-Tung, and another with Obama’s face transposed onto Mout Rushmore.  Neither of which can be construed as even the least bit “politically correct”; unless, of course, you are a fan of Communism?

On C-SPAN Tomorrow: Another Episode Of “As The Worms Squirm”

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Finally! Someone, two of them in the Senate, in fact, found their Big Boy Panties and their cajones at the same time.

Tomorrow, Senators DeMint (R-SC) and Ensign (R-NV) will force the Senate to vote on the question that has most bothered Americans about the Obama administration and its minions’ attempt to usurp 1/6 of the American economy: IS THE BILL CONSTITUTIONAL?

 “I am incredibly concerned that the Democrats’ proposed individual mandate provision takes away too much freedom and choice from Americans across the country,” said Senator Ensign. “As an American, I felt the obligation to stand up for the individual freedom of every citizen to make their own decision on this issue. I don’t believe Congress has the legal authority to force this mandate on its citizens.”

“Forcing every American to purchase a product is absolutely inconsistent with our Constitution and the freedoms our Founding Fathers hoped to protect,” said Senator DeMint. “This is not at all like car insurance, you can choose not to drive but Americans will have no choice whether to buy government-approved insurance. This is nothing more than a bailout and takeover of insurance companies. We’re forcing Americans to buy insurance under penalty of law and then Washington bureaucrats will then dictate what these companies can sell to Americans. This is not liberty, it is tyranny of good intentions by elites in Washington who think they can plan our lives better than we can.”

The response to this will, of course, be telling. It will be worth almost any price of admission to hear a Demon…errrr…Democrat respond to this, as well as their justifications if they vote that the proposed legislation is constitutional.  I am quite certain that if the Democratic majority rules that there is no violation of Constitutional freedoms and the inevitable Supreme Court battle over it falls on the side of the people (which needs to happen before the Supreme Court becomes majority-fouled with progressives), they will come to rue their choice.

As well they should.  While drying up on a hot sidewalk somewhere, just like any proper worm.

Senator Reid’s Deliberate Constitutional Violations

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Senator Harry (the Grinch Who Intends To Steal Christmas) Reid, thinking that his sneaky, furious, closed-door scribblings of devilish, sweetheart deals for votes would continue to be kept hidden in smokey Democratic darkness, has been outed as plainly as Ben Nelson’s hypocrisy.

Yesterday, during continuing debate over health care legislation, Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) pointed out a bullet aimed at binding the hands of future Congressional actions through a change to Senate rules within the legislation (see page 1020):

“…it shall not be in order in the senate or the house of representatives to consider any bill, resolution, amendment, or conference report that would repeal or otherwise change this subsection.”

Jeff Merkley (D-OR), chairing the Senate at the time, disagreed, calling it a “procedure change” not a “rule change” and stated that this has happened before.  Senator DeMint wisely asked for evidence, after Merkley had agreed that earlier this year such 2/3 majority vote was required for other legislation passed in the Senate that included similar verbiage.

The exchange is included here for full context:

As Senator DeMint stated, “the fundamental purpose of Senate rules [is to] to prevent a tyrannical majority from trampling the rights of the minority or of future Congresses.”  Which, of course, means that the Senate is less able to also trample the rights of the American people.  Something the Democrats obviously do not want to hear.

 

(H/T Breitbart)

Benny, The Red-Faced Sell-Out

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You know Reid and Pelosi,
And Baucus and Wyden,
Landrieu and Harkin,
And Schumer and Biden.
But do you recall
The most famous sell-out of all?

Benny, the red-faced sell-out,
Had a very empty purse.
Now, if you see what’s in it,
You would even say it’s cursed.

All of the other sell-outs
Used to laugh and call him names,
They never let poor Benny
Join in any sell-out games.

Then one snow-bound Saturday,
Reid called Ben to say,
“Benny, with that purse so light,
Won’t you take this cash tonight?”

Then all the sell-outs loved him,
And they shouted out with glee,
“Benny, the red-faced sell-out,
You’ll go down in history!”

(with apologies to Johnny Marks)

The Botox Endorsement

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It is being bandied about as Something Important that the American Medical Association has endorsed the Senate’s version of health care “reform”.  But when you consider the facts behind it, the endorsement is meaningless.

First of all, just like Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson and all the other pork-bellied Senators who were slipped tax-payer monies in exchange for their vote, the AMA was conceded a rescinding on what has fondly been called the “Botox tax”.  That is, a tax on pure vanity-sourced plastic surgery.  A tax which is actually a fair one since Botox injections, liposution, nose jobs and the like are not medical necessities and have no business being subsidized by anyone’s premiums.  But vanity is big business in this country and the doctors who become wealthy performing such elective procedures were handed 30 pieces of federal tax-payer silver and their original tax liability was instead slapped down on small business owners who run tanning salons.

Another fact is that some 4/5 of American doctors do not belong to the AMA.  Read that again:  somewhere around 80% of American doctors do NOT belong to the AMA.  This means that the AMA is, effectively, a minority group, a group that does not represent the views of mainstream American medical practioners.  Yet, just like “the gentleman from Nebraska” and his Senate cronies, this small minority have been given preferential treatment in the Senate bill.  They are simply a useful tool to the Democrats because the AMA is a name recognized by most Americans, albeit without an understanding that it’s a good bet their own family doctor isn’t even a member of the organization.

This is yet another example of progressive liberal Democratic compassion.  Wring their hands and shed crocodile tears over the conditions of their poster-child “poor” constituents while forcing those who have true needs to subsidize the vain wants of their wealthy donors.  Truth be told, I hold little more fondness for Republicans, but erring on the side of business at least allows for the continued availability of jobs.  All the Democrats are doing is yet again robbing the poor to keep cash in the pockets of the wealthy, no matter how they try to spin it.

Quote Of The Day

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“…Mr. Nelson won the concession that Congress will pay for 100% of Nebraska Medicaid expansions into perpetuity. His capitulation ought to cost him his political career, but more to the point, what about the other states that don’t have a Senator who’s the 60th vote for ObamaCare?”
(Wall Street Journal, 12/21/09)

An Open Letter To The Senate

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Dear Senators,

You may think that because you somehow managed to pull the wool over a majority of eyes and were therefore elected to represent a segment of the American citizenry in Washington that somehow makes you “special”.  But let me put it to you in no uncertain terms:  YOU WORK FOR US.  All of us.  And the majority of Americans are hard-working, fair-minded and, when all is said and done, rather conservative in their beliefs.

That you fail to recognize this and have used closed doors and the cover of night to bully forward some progressive, banana-republic idea of “health care reform” for this country shows only one of two things.  You are incredibly stupid or you are egotistical beyond belief.  Either way, you are not worth what we pay you.  You weren’t sent to Washington to heap further destruction on an already tenuously-balanced economy (a teetering that is entirely your own fault, I might add); you weren’t sent to Washington to burden our children, our grandchildren and their children with crushing debt.  You were sent to provide a semblance of oversight to protect this country and, according to the United States Constitution, your ability to do so is extremely limited.  Yet like an untrained dog on a malfunctioning retractable leash, you ignore your master’s wishes and race forward to chase short-term re-election gains at the expense of the long-term welfare of the country.

Many of us watched Saturday’s gyrations in the Senate and listened to the reading of the “manager’s amendment” to the health care “reform” bill.  Unlike you, Senators, many of us actually read both bill and amendments as well, and the evil it contains is crystal clear.  At the tip of the iceberg stand unprecedented numbers of unelected bureaucrats waiting to be sent forth like hounds from the bowels of Hell itself to dictate when, where, and how Americans will receive their health care and in what beancounter-driven measure.  You intend to deliberately create criminals out of Americans who will not or cannot pay the tax penalties for not going along with your little freedom-stealing games and purchase health insurance, using the IRS as a means to jail them.  You intend to force every American who is pro-life to subsidize the abortions of those who would use it as a form of birth control. 

You asked the Congressional Budget Office to give you an accounting and you crow over its response, yet you conveniently ignore their wise caveats that unless your nefarious legislation is implemented exactly as stated (like the hundreds of billions in cuts from Medicare that have never yet happened), there will be no cost savings but instead a significant increase in our national debt.  And based on your reckless history of spending money you have not earned, including this inherently unconstitutional bill’s enormous pork payoffs in direct violation of Article 4, Section 2 of the United States Constitution simply to secure the votes of your hypocritical brothers and sisters, anyone who still believes a government that refuses to operate in broad daylight, let alone one who has bankrupted Medicare, Social Security, and even screwed up Cash for Clunkers is welcome to make an offer on a bridge I have for sale.  And speaking of those never-ending pork bribes so despised by Americans, it is time for it to become common knowledge that your overall day-to-day modus operandi of granting them continually violates Title 18, Part I, Chapter 11, Section 201 of the United States Code.

Listen carefully, Senators.  What you are proposing as a Christmas gift to the American people is a gift we can do without.  Like the Pentagon, we are not asking you for something we don’t need and we are extremely angry that you refuse to heed our wishes.  In fact, we see your behavior as bordering on treason.  You took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution.  We, the people, pledge our allegiance to the Republic of these United States – not to you or any other person – and if you continue to refuse to do your job and don’t put a bullet in the brain of this bastard of a bill, then rest assured we will do ours.  You are by no means indispensible and we will find a replacement for you in short enough order.  (And when – not if – that happens, you might want to bless the compassionate wisdom of our Founding Fathers for the fact you won’t find yourself hanging at the end of a piece of piano wire on the Mall like your much-admired Il Duce found his own progressive self hanging in a square in Milan.)

Trust me.  We don’t need you.  And let me remind you that the latest polls show only 9% of Americans even want you.

The choice is simple.  The bill or your alleged career.

Regards,

A Responsible American

Saturday Night Live (Blogging)

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As the Senate continues their tired, long-winded debate over health care reform, yours truly has reached a Twitter tweet limit so will continue the observations here.  Enjoy.

1:17 a.m.   58 Democrats and 2 Independents vote “yes”; 40 Republicans vote “no”.  May God have mercy on America.

1:15 a.m.  Reading tweets.  From TheBlogshevik “If someone had duct taped Harry Reid to a shopping cart and pushed him down a hill years ago, we wouldn’t be having any of this shit…”  Touche.

1:08 a.m. Vote for cloture begins.

1:07 a.m. Reid invokes rule S480 to have Senators vote from their desks.

103 a.m.  Reid shares stories of people with health problems, problems with insurance.  Claims these heartbreaking stories will be solved by his legislation. 

1:54 a.m. Reid gets the final word and starts out by claiming it’s a lack of health insurance that is causing people to die.  He makes the claim that “this landmark legislation” will fix all kinds of problems, including keeping Medicare solvent for another 10 years.  He points out his numbers are from the CBO, but like the rest ignores the caveats and the realities.  “We are reshaping the nation.”  Gets in a dig about being in the Senate at this hour, blaming GOP (for wanting to follow process). 

12:47 a.m.  McConnell reiterates Obama’s promises about health care costs and transparency and bi-partisanship on the campaign trail.  Well, that was then.  And this is now.  But reality is premiums will go up, taxes will go up on 10s of millions of Americans and plunders Medicare by 1/2 million.  Allows the federal government to use taxpayer funds for abortions.  So President voted in on a promise of change – all his promises changed.  Twelve months and $2.3 trillion later, Dems are ready to vote for something that won’t bend down the cost curve and will be even harder to fix down the road.  The impact of this vote will long outlive this one long, snowy weekend in Washington.  This legislation will reshape our nation and Americans have already issued their verdict:  they don’t want it.  They don’t like this bill.  And they don’t like lawmakers playing with their health care to get votes for it.  But the bill’s writers won’t let the 300 million affected time to read the details of the bill.  When we woke up yesterday morning we still hadn’t seen the details of the bill we’re going to vote on tonight.  How can this be justified in the face of such widespread opposition by the American people?  All it takes is just one (Dem) to stop it or everyone will own it.  It is not too late.  (Bravo, Senator.  Bravo.)

12:44 a.m.  McConnell states GOP wanted to tackle health care by going at costs incrementally but the other side went in the opposite direction and we ended up with this mess.  Any challenge of this size and scope has always been dealt with on a bi-partisan basis.  Previous, large-scale bills had very few dissenting Senators; Americans believe that with something this size, one party should not force their views on the country.  What Dems have done was so bad it required convincing the Democrats; it was a “blind call to make history, even it if was a mistake, which is exactly what this bill will be if it is passed.”  This bill isn’t about 2 parties, it’s about a 2,000+ page bill that makes the price of health care go up. 

12:41 a.m. McConnell takes the podium.  Tonight will help determine if our children can afford the nation they will inherit.  If the people who wrote this bill were proud of it, they wouldn’t be forcing this vote in the dead of night.  $100 million for an unnamed health care at an unnamed university somewhere in the United States.  No one will even step forward to claim it.  One state out of 50 gets to expand Medicaid at no cost to itself while taxpayers in the other 49 pick up the tab.  That same Senator swung a deal for a single insurance company in his state.  Do (my colleagues) think that’s fair?  What about the rest of the country?  Few people would have imagined a year ago it would end with a couple of cheap deals and a rush vote at 1 o’clock in the morning.  Americans are wondering, how did this happen?

12:40 a.m.  Dodd thinks history will judge the Dems well based on tonight.

 12:35 a.m.  Dodd now speakinjg about FDR and fear; claims Dems want to address the fears of the loss of health care, regardless what’s really in it.

12:33 a.m. Cornyn brings up Rule 44 again and asks if earmark list is available as required.  Chair cannot answer.

12:30 a.m. Harkin calls health care a “moral imperative”.  (But what if no one wanted to be a doctor any more?  What would happen?  A doctor draft?  The Constitution provides only the freedom to choose.)

12:29 a.m. Harkin berates the U.S. for not being like the EU on health care.  (The same socialists that are turning away from it.  Good job, Tom.)

12:22 a.m.  Harkin now at the podium saying “All we’ve heard from the other side is ‘attack, attack, attack’.  ‘No, no, no’.”  Coburn amendment only has 7 sponsors; they have no “comprehensive bill like we’ve come up with”.  Sorry the GOP is all split up, haven’t done their homework to present something positive so come together to oppose.  Claims numerous bipartisan meetings, then GOP voted against everything.  Claims GOP in “total disarray” but Dems have their supermajority. 

12:20 a.m. McCain vows to not commit “generational theft”; “we will stand up for the American people.  We have just begun to fight.”

12:14 a.m. McCain takes the podium to explain how it all started – back during the campaign.  Restates candidate Obama’s promises for transparency.  There were never serious negotiations between Republicans and Democrats; only with special interests.  Pharma got a sweetheart deal by eliminating importing prescription drugs; AMA signed up for promise of a doctor fix.  Should have set up a tent out front and sold Persian rugs.  New words in the lexicon:  Louisiana Purchase, Cornhusker Kickback, Florida Flimflam; compromise is treating a number of states differently according to the Dems.  That is in direct contradiction to candidate Obama’s words.  McConnell couldn’t even tell anyone what was in the bill before yesterday.  Bill doesn’t represent 61% of the American people; 61% want it stopped.  You go against the American people and you will pay a heavy price, and you should.  We will not give up after this vote; for the first time in history there will be a major reform passed on a single party vote.

12:08 a.m. Alexander quotes Dem letter requesting the bill be on the internet for 72 hours before it’s brought to a vote in the Senate.  “It’s our duty to listen and respond to proposals that will impact their lives.”  But it’s being rushed, during a snowstorm, in the middle of the night, despite not going into full effect for 4 years because $587 billion in new taxes can’t be explained during high unemployment.  Chief Actuary for Medicare says the bill will cause national health care to increase faster.  Dems don’t want to explain why they will now use federal money to fund abortions.  They don’t want to explain the CLASS Act and it’s negative effects.  Obvious why the majority has cooked up this amendment in secret, scheduled a vote for 1:00 a.m. and want to pass it before Christmas.  Political kamikaze mission for Dems, worse for the country.

12:05 a.m. Alexander explains why the Senate is in session.   Because of Reid’s spending the last 6 weeks behind closed doors writing his manager’s amendment and throwing it on the table only yesterday.  Governor of Tennessee calls it “the mother of all mandates” but Dems insist it must be done in the middle of a snowstorm in the middle of the night before the American people find out what’s in it.

12:04 a.m. Senate recites the Pledge of Allegiance.  Would be funny if it weren’t such a pathetic travesty.

12:01 a.m. Monday:  The chaplain asks God to give the Senators wisdom and courage to do the right thing.  Personally, I would put my money on their continued failing the American people.

midnight:  C-SPAN caller from Canada says, “I just want to tell you that you have no idea how terrible your health care will be if you pass this bill.”

11:31 p.m.  Senate now stands in recess for 30 minutes.  Thank goodness.  It’s really hard listening to lies for hours on end.

11:09 p.m. Ok, I lied.  Nelson takes the podium and claims he wouldn’t recognize one side of the floor tonight based on “everything” that occurred last summer.  “It is a typical tactic…to go after a specific item in order to obfuscate, which then misses the whole point of the piece of legislation.”  Point of it is to make health care affordable, efficient, and available.  Now I can take a break.

11:07 p.m. Cardin thinks this is the right decision.  Thinks otherwise we’ll be dealing with a “worse crisis” in 10 years.  Then Harkin takes the floor.  Good time for a break.

11:05 p.m. Cardin touts his including education loans, including 77 for Alaska (is it wise to flaunt your pork in public?)

11:04 p.m. Cardin says Medicare Advantage isn’t used by 99% of Alaskans but Alaska pays $90 each (huh?) 

10:59 p.m. Cardin states the immediate benefits: no dropping, high-risk pools; new program for early retirees to reduce their premiums, insurance companies posting their overhead on the internet; dependents covered up to age of 26 (but we can send them off to war, they are legal adults and can drink…wtf?)  No denial of pre-existing conditions for children, preventative services for seniors.  Claims this bill “adds 10 more years to Medicare” (what, it can rise from the dead?)  Reviews the benefits to his Alaskan constituents. 

10:54 p.m. Cardin reviews the strangulation on private insurance companies, including exclusion from the Exchange (like that’s really a bad thing?), forcing them to return profits to policy holders, etc.  Mentions there are 4 million federal employees (getting their own special plans, of course).

10:51 p.m. Begich takes the podium and promptly talks about not seeing a blizzard like the one of “disinformation about this bill”.  Calls the bill “not perfect but a significant step in the right direction”.  Does another review of CBO’s numbers without their caveat; ignoring the Medicare cuts that won’t ever happen.

10:47 p.m. Cardin reviews a litany of “minority health” issues, such as longevity, and claims justification expansion of another government bureaucracy.  Discusses need for community centers then launches into a rant about evil insurance companies.

10:44 p.m. Cardin reviews his patients bill of rights and its further limitations on the private sector.  (Though a few of the protections are actually sensible, however, IMNSHO simply allowing cross-state purchase of plans would take care of many of them.)

10:40 p.m. Cardin launches into the financial implications from the Dem’s perspective.  Claims the CBO says it will reduce the deficit in the first 1o years but the following 10 years will be even more, while reducing the growth rate.  Claims CBO can’t account for preventive services results but they are going to be huge.  Then he talks about strangling private insurance companies by dictating how they can run their business.

10:34 p.m. Cardin states CBO says 31 million more people will have coverage with the Dem bill.  (Or is that “damn bill”?)  Calls this a “giant step forward” towards universal coverage.  Claims reduction in costs of premiums and a better insurance plan for everyone.  Claims this will be because of preventive and screening services and requirements for children’s health.  Uses colon cancer screening as an example (hundreds of dollars vs. thousands for surgery); claims disease management will be more effective.  Reducing number of insured by keeping them out of the emergency rooms.  Claims bill will increase competition because of the Exchanges. 

10:30 p.m.  Cardin takes the podium and states that  shortly “we’ll be able to clear the way for the U.S. to join at last every other industrial nation and declare that health care is a right.”  Reminds us he’s been in Congress for 23 years (and therefore past his expiration date).  Then begins the stereotypical litany about people making decisions about their health care.

10:27 p.m.  Brownback:  all of this seems so odd to me.  Final days of Advent season, we should be home with our families; missing celebrations of Christmas, the birth of a child; this is the season we are in and how sad we might see the end of lives of children in this bill.  It shouldn’t have to be this way, but it is the central issue.  The House will not support this bill.  Asks Dems to take it out; harmful, hurtful to the country.

 10:25 p.m. Brownback notes 300,000 abortions were funded by the taxpayers before the Hyde amendment from 1973-1976.

10:18 p.m.  Brownback notes for 30 years there has been no discussion about federal funding of abortion.  Now that has changed; “no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions and federal conscience laws will remain in place” (Obama) but the manager’s amendment does fund abortions.  Quotes Bart Stupak, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (who want a health reform bill), National Right to Life Committee, all against the current legislation.  Quotes Ben Nelson, “Taxpayers shouldn’t be required to pay for abortions.”  Abortion isn’t even health care, why is it in the bill at all?

10:17 p.m.  Brownback now on the floor, discusses effect on his constituents in Kansas.  All of them just to start a new entitlement program and raise taxes; like writing a big fat check on an overdrawn bank account.

 10:15 p.m.  Thune:  the American people know better, know it will add to the deficit.  These bills as they stand are budget busters.  Bill needs to be voted down tonight and hopes there’s a courageous Democrat or two.

10:10 p.m.  Thune reviews Obama’s promise that nothing will change in your plan and if you like it you can keep it, but the Reid amendment will cut Medicare Advantage and therefore all those people (11 million) won’t be keeping what they have.  Another 10 million will lose their employer-provided plan, too.  Review of numerous Medicare cuts that will affect people’s plans, all based on independent reviews.

Arguments will be televised on C-SPAN, said Obama.  But almost the entire bill has been written behind closed doors.  The near-400 page amendment was dropped on their desks yesterday, even Dem leaders were in the dark.  Then the under cover deal with Nebraska to have all their Medicaid expansion paid for by all other states.

Won’t add a dime to the deficit but the included Medicare cuts to physicians for payments won’t hold.  CBO calls the CLASS Act a “huge and growing” financial burden and a gimmick to look like health care is paid for.

 10:04 p.m. Thune reviews list of Obama’s broken promises:  no tax increase on those making less than $250,000.  But actuaries show 42 million will see a tax increase.  Bill will control costs and be paid for, premiums will go down and everyone will be covered.  But bill leaves 23 million without coverage.  Typical family that pays $13,300 today (employer-type plan) will see their cost go over $20,000.  Bill doesn’t pass the truth test according to the CBO.

Dems should attack CBO and actuaries because they all show the cost curve bends up, not down, as Obama promised.  Cost of doing nothing would be less than if Reid bill passes, even though costs will increase.  With amendment, the gap becomes even larger.

 10:00 p.m. Thune does some weight-lifting by presenting a print out of the Senate bill and Reid’s amendment.  “Recurring pattern” in the Senate is GOP coming down and talking about the impact the bill would have on the economy, the CBO report describing cost of the bill, costs to the people, the CMS actuary report.  But the Dems aren’t offering “full-throated defense” of their bill, just talking about how bad the system is and how they’ll fix it and accusing GOP of telling lies.

9:57 p.m. Cornyn reviews reasons why Americans want Washington to start over.  Calls out Nebraska’s sweetheart deal and the lame abortion wording.  “Sheer irresponsibility of the way this is being done”, “closed doors, special interests” and “jammed down the throats of the American people”.

9:33 p.m. Enzi quotes Foster that bill will cost “234 billion more than if we did nothing.”  Calls the budget gimmicks used by Dems “inconvenient truths”.  Asks if Dems believe Congress will really cut Medicare payments by 21% in 2 months.  Truth is that Congress has never allowed that.  Bill requires over 40% in Medicare payment cuts in 10 years.  Latest CBO had a $600 billion error (and not in the Dems favor).

9:19 p.m. Harkin again toddles up to the podium to rehash the Dems small business credits and their congenital heart disease program.  Expresses gratefulness to Durbin for including the heart disease program.  Personally thanks Durbin for all his hard work.  Calls the the upcoming vote, “THE defining vote”.  (Defining next year’s clearing out of Congress by the American people, methinks.)

9:18 p.m. Durbin speaks of 7 previous presidents and cajoles the Senate to do their “historic duty”.   After conjuring up the ghost of Dead Kennedy.  He’s calling it “Kennedy Car