AZ Congressional Delegation

Kochbot Governor Ducey supports harming health care for Arizonans

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Governor Doug Ducey, the ice cream man hired by Koch Industries to run their Southwest subsidiary formerly known as the state of Arizona, supports the zombie ‘Trumpcare” bill despite not knowing — nor caring — about what This Republican health-care bill that is the most monstrous yet.

Let’s be clear: Tea-Publicans do not care about health care — they have been trying to repeal Medicare/Medicaid since it was first enacted — this zombie bill is not about health care at all. It is about freeing up revenue to give “the biggest tax cut in history” (per our Dear Leader) to corporations and the Plutocrats whom Tea-Publicans serve. Senate Republicans Embrace Plan for $1.5 Trillion Tax Cut: Senate Republicans, abandoning a key fiscal discipline doctrine, agreed on Tuesday to move forward on a budget that would add to the already $20 trillion federal deficit in order to pave the way for a $1.5 trillion tax cut over the next 10 years.

The Koch brothers’ private political operation largely supplanted the Republican National Committee last year. It’s right-wing millionaire and billionaire donors do not give a damn about the health care of their fellow American citizens, they only care about one thing: they want the tax cuts they paid for through campaign donations to the GOP, so they can redistribute wealth from the undeserving poor to the elite Plutocrat class. Behind New Obamacare Repeal Vote: ‘Furious’ G.O.P. Donors. They want to accumulate all of the money. And Governor Doug Ducey is the loyal lickspittle servant of the Koch brothers. After all, it was unlimited  Koch dark money that got him elected governor.

The Arizona Capitol Times reported on how our clueless Kochbot governor Ducey defends support of Graham-Cassidy:

Gov. Doug Ducey is defending his support for the latest bid to repeal the Affordable Care Act even though he has no idea how much federal aid that would cost the state and how many Arizonans would lose health care.

But the governor said he remains convinced that what comes next will be better than what exists now, even without yet knowing the effect on the state and its residents.

The words “reckless” and “irresponsible” come to mind.

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Little Lindsey Graham is lying his ass off about his zombie ‘Trumpcare’ bill

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Senator John McCain’s puppet boy, Little Lindsey Graham, got his panties in a bunch yesterday when a reporter asked Senator Bill Cassidy about Jimmy Kimmel saying that he”lied to his face” about what he wanted in his health care bill, and that the Graham-Cassidy zombie “Trumpcare” bill fails the “Cassidy Test” (aka “Kimmel Test”).

“I do declare! How dare he impugn the honor of Senator Cassidy. He has offended my genteel Southern sensibilities. Hand me my dueling glove so I can challenge this scalawag to a duel!”

Even our Twitter-troll-in-chief took to Twitter to say Senator Cassidy “does not lie.” When the world’s biggest liar is your character witness as to your veracity, you have a serious credibility problem.

Caitlin Owens of Axiox.com reports, Repeal first, ask questions later: “If there was an oral exam on the contents of the proposal, graded on a generous curve, only two Republicans could pass it. And one of them isn’t Lindsey Graham,” a senior GOP aide told Caitlin.

So Little Lindsey Graham either doesn’t know what his bill will actually do, or he and Senator Cassidy are the lying sacks of shit that Jimmy Kimmel says they are. The fact checkers are going with the later. You want to duel you cracker, let’s duel!

ABC News reports Fact check: Sen. Bill Cassidy on his health care bill assertions:

Below are four statements by Cassidy about the legislation and our analyses of them, based on conversations with health care experts.

Statement: “There will be more folks covered under this bill than the status quo, and it protects people with pre-existing conditions.” — ABC News interview

Fact check: The Graham-Cassidy bill would scrap the individual mandate requiring people to buy health insurance — the crux of Obamacare, anathema to its opponents — meaning people would no longer be penalized for not having insurance.

James Capretta, a fellow with the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, told ABC News that the absence of the individual mandate means it would be “highly, highly unlikely” more people would be covered under Graham-Cassidy than under current law.

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A morally bankrupt political party hellbent on denying medical care to millions of Americans

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The Trump administration has expanded its sabotage efforts of “Obamacare” into a full-scale undermining of the American healthcare system. Under Trump, Obamacare outreach groups face budget cuts as high as 98%:

The Trump administration has informed government-funded Obamacare outreach groups of deep impending budget cuts next year, with some nonprofits having budgets slashed by as much as 98 percent.

The Health and Human Services Department announced August 31 that it would cut funding for the health law’s in-person assistance program by 41 percent. Late Wednesday night, the administration sent each group its individual budget. It shows widespread variation in how big those funding cuts will be.

Last year’s budget for the navigator program ran out on September 1. This year’s grants were released just before midnight on September 13, meaning that the outreach groups went two weeks with no funding at all. This led to some groups laying off workers or shutting down operations entirely.

Last week the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued a new report showing that Trump is making Obamacare premiums more expensive:

The Trump administration’s management of Obamacare is causing higher premiums and lower enrollment in the individual market, a new report from the Congressional Budget Office finds.

The nonpartisan office estimates that average premiums in the health law marketplaces will be 15 percent higher next year “largely because of short-term market uncertainty — in particular, insurers’ uncertainty about whether federal funding for certain subsidies that are currently available will continue to be provided.”

The CBO also estimates that there will be less competition in the marketplaces next year, which it also attributes to the uncertain federal environment surrounding the health law’s future.

The subsidies the CBO refers to are the Affordable Care Act’s cost-sharing reduction subsidies, which cover copays and deductibles for low-income health care enrollees. The Trump administration has not said whether it will continue to pay these subsidies next year, causing many insurance plans to raise their premiums to prevent any possible shortfall in revenue.

The CBO also points to “announced reductions in federal advertising, outreach, and other enrollment efforts” as additional factors that will make Obamacare sign-ups smaller next year than they otherwise would have been.

President Trump has often described the Affordable Care Act as “imploding on its own.” The CBO report suggests this isn’t the case at all; rather, the Trump administration is making specific policy decisions that are leading to an individual market that will be less functional, with fewer people signed up and higher premiums for those who do enroll.

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Action Alert: you have until September 30 to kill this zombie ‘Trumpcare’ bill

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The Senate parliamentarian told senators that Tea-Publicans’ ability to pass an Obamacare replacement with just 51 votes expires at the end of September. Repealing Obamacare Just Got Even More Complicated. It was not entirely clear to me whether the Continuing Resolution (CR) that Congress passed a couple of weeks ago would extend this deadline, but everything I have read since indicates that the September 30 deadline remains in effect.

OK, zombie hunters. Last week Tea-Publicans introduced their desperation zombie “Trumpcare” bill. You know what you have to do.

Steve Benen explains, The final fight of the Republican health care crusade has arrived:

Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Dean Heller (R-Nev.), and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) formally unveiled the only remaining Republican plan to overhaul the nation’s health care system.

NBC News obtained an advanced draft of the proposal, which has been percolating for a couple of months.

The 23-page summary draft and an explanation of funding, which Graham’s office confirmed is authentic, attempts to achieve parity in federal funding between states that expanded Medicaid and those that did not by 2026. That division was one that helped to kill the Senate’s efforts because senators from expansion states tended to oppose the legislation in its previous versions due to the roll-back of the Medicaid expansion.

The bill also provides federal money to states to implement their own health care plan as opposed to one system for all 50 states that exists under Obamacare.

We’ve discussed many of the profound flaws in this plan before, and we can go into more detail once the legislation is available for scrutiny. For now, however, let’s consider whether the Graham-Cassidy plan has a credible chance at success.

Note: There are at least 46 Tea-Publicans who would vote for a blank piece of paper, sight unseen, if they are told it repeals Obamacare,  consequences to Americans, the health care system, and the economy be damned.

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Democrats rescue the country, for now — see you in December

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So Conservatives mounted opposition to Trump’s deal with Democrats, but failed to stop it in the Senate:

Conservative lawmakers voiced their opposition to President Trump’s deal with Democratic congressional leaders, arguing the three-month government spending bill that also raises the debt ceiling should not be passed because it does not include federal spending cuts.

The chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee objected to the agreement in a letter to House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), while Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) proposed an amendment to pass relief for Hurricane Harvey victims as a stand-alone bill in the upper chamber, decoupled from debates over federal spending and the debt ceiling.

The moves came just as news broke that Trump and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) are working on a separate deal that would repeal the debt ceiling by December — My God, he’s giving up our hostage! — another betrayal by the president that would erase one of the few points of leverage conservatives have to extract spending cuts during high-stakes fiscal debates.

Opponents failed to derail the package combining $15.25 billion in Harvey aid with a temporary debt-ceiling hike and funding to keep the government open until Dec. 8. The Senate passed it on Thursday afternoon, sending it back to the House for final approval.

The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 80 to 17. All “no” votes were Republicans. Arizona Sens. Jeff Flake and John McCain both voted “no.” (This was a “safety” vote — it was going to pass by a safe margin so they could afford to be dicks about it).

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