112th Congress! Go Go Gadget Grandstanding!

Octoparrot

wwtMask wrote: »

Lovely wrote: »

Just_Bri_Thanks wrote: »

Lanz wrote: »

The article is a bit funky there.

I haven't heard anything about them and getting rid of medicare, but the thing with their governor recently is he rejected stimulus funds (about 2 billion dollars worth) that were to go towards building the line for a high speed rail system connecting Orlando to Tampa, and going on about something like "spending more money than you're taking in"

Yeah, 2.7 billion, of which 2.4 were Fed and private monies, and of the 300 mil remaining about 24 mil was already spent. I voted for Sink.

Edit: He has also rejected a plan to implement a prescription drug tracking system so that people stop coming to Florida from out of state to doctor shop for their oxy scripts. Many other states already have this, and it works well.

Scott has also withdrew anti-gerrymandering amendments from getting approved http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/403455/brandon-larrabee/2011-01-25/florida-withdrew-anti-gerrymandering-amendments .
He's also put forth a budget (which will proabably pass) for state workers to put money towards their pensions, which in theory wouldn't sound bad if not for the fact that state workers* actually make less money than most. Add to that the fact that we haven't received regular raises for a few years. In other words, it basically becomes a 5% pay cut.
He's also looking to cut a bunch of state jobs.

Oh yeah, he's also reducing the amount of state worker pensions in general.

Oh, and yeah, he's also giving big tax breaks to businesses. You know, with the money the state is "saving" by having their workers paid less.

Oh, and he gave his announcement for his budget during a Tea Party rally.

This state is gonna be ripped to shreds by the time he's done with it.
And Yeah. I voted for Sink too.

My wife heard through the grapevine that he also intends to limit the amount of money that the state pays towards employee health plans to just $5000 a year. That's so ludicrous that I'm forced to believe it's legit, given what Scott's done so far. I'm damn glad I decided to stick with health insurance through my wife's job rather than going with what the state offered.

State employees may be getting a 300% increase in their monthly healthcare premiums.

I'm going to have to start a garden pretty soon.

Eteric

Burtletoy wrote: »

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--House lawmakers voted Thursday night to prevent the Federal Communications Commission from implementing controversial new rules that would govern the flow of traffic over the Internet.

The rules, known as network neutrality, would affect such companies as AT&T Inc. (T), Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and Comcast Corp. (CMCA) because they own the networks over which the Internet often flows. They would be barred from discriminating as to what content flows over the Web.

The FCC agreed on the rules last year, but has not yet implemented them fully.

Republican lawmakers are opposed to the new regulations, arguing that they are an unnecessary intrusion by the federal government into the private marketplace.

"For some reason, the FCC has decided to overstep its bounds and apply 19th Century regulations to a 21st Century network," Rep. Cliff Stearns (R., Fla.) said.

On Wednesday, Julius Genachowski, the chairman of the FCC, faced heavy criticism from House panel over the policy.

House lawmakers approved an amendment to a wider spending bill that stated that no funds included in the bill could be used by the FCC to implement the network neutrality regulations. The vote is the only way the Republican-controlled House could prevent the policy from taking effect.

The amendment was successfully added to a spending bill to fund the federal government through the remaining months of fiscal 2011.

House lawmakers hope to complete work on the legislation by the end of the week. They are likely to work late into the night Thursday, and complete it then, although work could continue on Friday or even over the weekend.

Once they do complete the bill, the Senate must still take up the bill or pass its own version of spending legislation.

Senate Democrats have made it clear they don't intend to take up the legislation, setting up a political battle of wills between the House and Senate.

Congress must pass some form of spending bill by midnight on March 4 when the current temporary funding bill lapses. Otherwise, the federal government would be forced to shut down.

Am I the only one terrified here?

TheCanMan

Thanatos wrote: »

Really, though, the people who sorted it [nullification] out were Grant and Sherman. I'd be happy to have a repeat, if the South is up for it.

Except this time I vote we don't stop them.

tbloxham

Eteric wrote: »

Burtletoy wrote: »

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--House lawmakers voted Thursday night to prevent the Federal Communications Commission from implementing controversial new rules that would govern the flow of traffic over the Internet.

The rules, known as network neutrality, would affect such companies as AT&T Inc. (T), Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and Comcast Corp. (CMCA) because they own the networks over which the Internet often flows. They would be barred from discriminating as to what content flows over the Web.

The FCC agreed on the rules last year, but has not yet implemented them fully.

Republican lawmakers are opposed to the new regulations, arguing that they are an unnecessary intrusion by the federal government into the private marketplace.

"For some reason, the FCC has decided to overstep its bounds and apply 19th Century regulations to a 21st Century network," Rep. Cliff Stearns (R., Fla.) said.

On Wednesday, Julius Genachowski, the chairman of the FCC, faced heavy criticism from House panel over the policy.

House lawmakers approved an amendment to a wider spending bill that stated that no funds included in the bill could be used by the FCC to implement the network neutrality regulations. The vote is the only way the Republican-controlled House could prevent the policy from taking effect.

The amendment was successfully added to a spending bill to fund the federal government through the remaining months of fiscal 2011.

House lawmakers hope to complete work on the legislation by the end of the week. They are likely to work late into the night Thursday, and complete it then, although work could continue on Friday or even over the weekend.

Once they do complete the bill, the Senate must still take up the bill or pass its own version of spending legislation.

Senate Democrats have made it clear they don't intend to take up the legislation, setting up a political battle of wills between the House and Senate.

Congress must pass some form of spending bill by midnight on March 4 when the current temporary funding bill lapses. Otherwise, the federal government would be forced to shut down.

Am I the only one terrified here?

It did happen before, but we had much smarter republicans and a president who communicated his stance much more clearly. I don't think either side would allow a shutdown for long (the republicans corporate backers know that a true government shutdown is bad for them too) but I worry the democrats will snap and allow the republican bill through with no compromise which would be a disaster.

I hope that Obama has been lobbying behind closed doors and that there is some 'new republican' bill which can be sold as similar levels of cuts but which are far less noxious to the countries health. There certainly isn't any hope of a good bill, that faded with the extension of the tax cuts (which would have saved TRILLIONS from the debt over a decade or so)

SyphonBlue

The House has voted to block money to implement President Barack Obama's health care law, a victory for Republicans trying to derail the program.

Lawmakers voted to deny the money by a near party-line vote of 239-187. ... The provision was made part of GOP bill cutting federal spending this year.

The GOP provision effectively would repeal much of health care reform because it would bar the federal government from using any funding for implementing the law, but it wouldn't actually cut spending during in the current fiscal year. In other words, this provision is a poison pill designed to force a government shutdown.

If Congress fails to pass a spending bill by March 4, the federal government will run out of money and all nonessential services will shut down. By including the repeal of health care reform -- a totally unrelated issue -- in their spending bill, House Republicans are trying to use the threat of a government shutdown to force President Obama and the Senate to accept the repeal of health care reform.

To their credit, neither President Obama nor Democratic senators are going to back down in the face of the GOP's heavy-handed power play. But if Republicans don't relent and government is shut down, make no mistake: they are the ones responsible for creating this crisis. And this health care repeal poison pill suggests it's a crisis they want to create.

Arch

The republican house is literally doing "we are just going to vote down everything we disagreed with so that the net progress is zero. fuck the dems."

this is so goddam childish

SyphonBlue

Why is every godamn Democratic member not out shouting WHERE ARE THE JOBS

Tofystedeth

God what horrible fuckers.

ArbitraryDescriptor

SyphonBlue wrote: »

Why is every godamn Democratic member not out shouting WHERE ARE THE JOBS

There is probably a gentleman's agreement on the hill not to hold each other to their campaign promises.

That stuff is just for the rubes.

Octoparrot

Tofystedeth wrote: »

God what horrible fuckers.

Between the Governors and Representatives, they've decided to burn everything they can. I guess because the President is a Democrat and will get the blame. That is disheartening.

ArbitraryDescriptor

Octoparrot wrote: »

Tofystedeth wrote: »

God what horrible fuckers.

Between the Governors and Representatives, they've decided to burn everything they can. I guess because the President is a Democrat and will get the blame. That is disheartening.

Perhaps the premise is "If Obama were a good leader, then he wouldn't let us do this. We need to elect a real leader in 2012!. "

Tofystedeth

ArbitraryDescriptor wrote: »

Octoparrot wrote: »

Tofystedeth wrote: »

God what horrible fuckers.

Between the Governors and Representatives, they've decided to burn everything they can. I guess because the President is a Democrat and will get the blame. That is disheartening.

Perhaps the premise is "If Obama were a good leader, then he wouldn't let us do this. We need to elect a real leader in 2012!. "

The president doesn't lead! The position isn't for that. That's why we need a Republican in office. To lead.

sterling3763

Note also: The House passed an Amendment to bar paying salaries to any official who implements ObamaCare 237-191.

None of this shit's going anywhere, but REALLY?!

Lanz

Captain Carrot wrote: »

That's actually not really a bad thing, considering that the proposal wasn't net neutrality at all. And given how business regulation was in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (minimal and routinely struck down in court), it's amusing that Stearns thinks this is an example of that era.

Unfortunately, even though it was heavily neutered protections, these guys don't want any protections at all

Honestly, the FCC just needs to say "Fuck it" and reclassify the internet as a telecommunications service again.

SyphonBlue

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) doesn't think President Barack Obama should be considered the leader of the United States of America.

During a speech covering the national debt, earmarks, the 2012 Presidential election and the repeal of the health care law on Thursday, DeMint told members of the D.C. chapter of the conservative Federalist Society, "This whole idea that the President is the leader of our country is a mistake."

DeMint added, "Leadership starts in the homes in the communities, in businesses, in churches. I've lived in a community and I know where the leaders are and it's not in Washington. And this pretense that he's our nation's leader... I'm not just talking about Obama I'm talking about any President."

"A candidate who goes out and makes all these promises about what he's going to do in all areas of our society needs to be removed from consideration," DeMint said to applause from the audience.

"It's pretty clear this President is not going to lead," DeMint explained to his audience. "We've got to replace this President."

That's not from The Onion.

SyphonBlue

Holy shit they are on a roll today

The House voted Friday to block federal funding to Planned Parenthood, passing 240 to 185.

The amendment, sponsored by Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), has been added to the Continuing Resolution (H.R. 1) to fund the federal government through September.

If the resolution goes into law, the 95-year-old health care provider will lose funding from the federal government, all of which goes to family planning and reproductive services under Title X, and none of which goes to funding abortions.

It will also eliminate the entire Title X program, which was founded in 1970 and is the only federal grant program dedicated solely to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and preventive health services, particularly to low-income families, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Office of Population Affairs. Preventative health services include breast and cervical cancer screenings, HIV prevention education, pregnancy diagnosis and counseling.

In fiscal year 2010, Congress appropriated approximately $317 million for family planning activities supported under Title X, 90 percent of which was used for clinical family planning services, according to the OPA. In 2008, 4,500 community-based clinics (including health departments, university health centers, faith-based organizations, public and private nonprofit agencies, and tribal organizations) received grants from Title X that went to approximately 5 million people, the OPA said. In roughly 75 percent of U.S. counties, at least one clinic receives Title X funds.

The War on Americans is in full swing

Styrofoam Sammich

sterling3763 wrote: »

Note also: The House passed an Amendment to bar paying salaries to any official who implements ObamaCare 237-191.

None of this shit's going anywhere, but REALLY?!

Link?

Because I'm pretty sure you can't do that.

SyphonBlue

The Army, the Air Force and the National Guard NASCAR racing teams will ride again this year, after the House voted 241-148 to ditch a measure to ban the Pentagon from sponsoring stock car teams.

SyphonBlue

Spoilered for large

Spoiler:

sterling3763

Styrofoam Sammich wrote: »

sterling3763 wrote: »

Note also: The House passed an Amendment to bar paying salaries to any official who implements ObamaCare 237-191.

None of this shit's going anywhere, but REALLY?!

Link?

Because I'm pretty sure you can't do that.

Thinkprogress:

KING (IA) #268 – prohibits the use of funds in the bill from being used to pay the salary of any officer or employee of any federal department or agency with respect to carrying out the provisions of ObamaCare. Passed: 237-191

taoist drunk

SyphonBlue wrote: »

Holy shit they are on a roll today

The House voted Friday to block federal funding to Planned Parenthood, passing 240 to 185.

The amendment, sponsored by Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), has been added to the Continuing Resolution (H.R. 1) to fund the federal government through September.

If the resolution goes into law, the 95-year-old health care provider will lose funding from the federal government, all of which goes to family planning and reproductive services under Title X, and none of which goes to funding abortions.

It will also eliminate the entire Title X program, which was founded in 1970 and is the only federal grant program dedicated solely to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and preventive health services, particularly to low-income families, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Office of Population Affairs. Preventative health services include breast and cervical cancer screenings, HIV prevention education, pregnancy diagnosis and counseling.

In fiscal year 2010, Congress appropriated approximately $317 million for family planning activities supported under Title X, 90 percent of which was used for clinical family planning services, according to the OPA. In 2008, 4,500 community-based clinics (including health departments, university health centers, faith-based organizations, public and private nonprofit agencies, and tribal organizations) received grants from Title X that went to approximately 5 million people, the OPA said. In roughly 75 percent of U.S. counties, at least one clinic receives Title X funds.

The War on Americans is in full swing

no family planning services
no 'bortions
and depending on what state you're in there's a family cap so if you have a kid while you're on welfare, that child won't be eligible for benefits.

GOOD LUCK

enlightenedbum

So this thread is soon to be locked, so I made a new one.