Dems - Defend your Senators holding the budget bill hostage

D_Anconia · January 22, 2018, 1:57am

And I’m glad five Democratic Senators did the right thing by voting for the CR.

Maybe, just maybe, five or so more will join them tonight or tomorrow morning.

iiandyiiii · January 22, 2018, 2:04am

Hopefully the Republicans will stop holding policies that benefit Americans hostage, and that they ostensibly support, and introduce a separate and clean CHIP bill that would have overwhelming support.

bobot · January 22, 2018, 2:09am

Yes, yes, but are American taxpayers going to fund the superwall that Mexico is “going to pay for”?

D_Anconia · January 22, 2018, 2:11am

Ok, so why don’t the Democrats drop DACA as a negotiating tool, for the time being, and simply agree to funding CHIP?

iiandyiiii · January 22, 2018, 2:14am

I have no doubt that all the Democrats would vote for a clean CHIP bill, not tied to DACA or government funding or anything else. Most Republicans would as well.

Ravenman · January 22, 2018, 2:58am

I’m going to save this post as the first time I’ve seen a conservative on this board care about government funded health care! What a thrilling development!

Noborry · January 22, 2018, 3:11am

Well, i’ve been reading through this wonderful discussion of yours.
If the actual politicians in Washington are even slightly as childish as the median poster in here, then it is no wonder the government has troubles.
I have rarely seen such an immature collection of name-calling, sniping, back-biting and doubletalking infants in my life!

HurricaneDitka · January 22, 2018, 3:28am

Have you been over to the BBQ Pit? This is the nice part of the site.

pulykamell · January 22, 2018, 3:29am

Are you new to the internet? If you are, whatever you do, DO NOT read the comments to any news story anywhere ever. Or just any comments to anything ever. You will lose all faith in humanity. Just a friendly tip. If this thread gives you the vapors … oh boy …

tomndebb · January 22, 2018, 3:55am

If you would take the time to read through the Registration Agreement, (necessary to actually post here), you will note that while a certain level of snark is permitted in this forum, it must not be directed against other posters.

Feel free to express your opinions using hostile language in The BBQ Pit, but do not resort to name-calling or direct insults against other posters when posting in this forum.

[ /Moderasting ]

Johnny_Ace · January 22, 2018, 3:57am

Alright, then, explain those four Republicans who crossed party lines to vote against the punt.

GIGObuster · January 22, 2018, 4:03am

It is likely that a good number of those children benefiting from CHIP have also parents that use DACA.

200K Kids Could Lose Their Parents if DREAMers Are Deported
Parents who benefited from the immigration program that President Trump just rescinded have laid down roots in the United States.

Angelica Villalobos has had difficult conversations with her four daughters, ages 17, 13, 10, and 8, in recent days. All four are U.S. citizens. But Villalobos, who lives in Oklahoma City, is undocumented.

She’s been in the country for decades before receiving temporary protection from deportation through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. On Tuesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Trump administration will end the DACA program, which means that people like Villalobos are now at greater risk of deportation.

And so, Villalobos and her husband—also a DACA recipient—are preparing their daughters for the worst. They’ve told the 17-year-old that she may have to become the guardian of her three younger sisters if they, the parents, get deported. Already she’s begun driving her sisters to school and picking them up afterward to get used to the possibility.

“I tell them it will be OK,” Villalobos said, “even though I don’t know if it will be OK.”

There’s been substantial focus on the economic impact of the rescission of DACA, since upwards of 800,000 people have temporary work permits through the program. But as DACA recipients lose their protection and face a higher risk of deportation, it’s not just economy that will take the hardest hit—it’s families as well.

And that is what is at stake here too, or are we going to let a minority (that is controlling the Republicans now) that does hate immigrants so much that we will do the classic experiment, that one with many predictable results, like to get as a result of that many kids that will get into trouble with the law when there are no parents around?

D_Anconia · January 22, 2018, 5:17am

In my personal opinion, those four are being contrarian dicks.

HurricaneDitka · January 22, 2018, 6:16am

@GIGO, she has a 17 year old kid and qualified for DACA?

GIGObuster · January 22, 2018, 6:32am

The parents are, their 17th year old is an American, but her future is not important for the Republicans in Congress.

What about a supporter of them like you?

Chisquirrel · January 22, 2018, 8:29am

Age-wise, you only have to be under 37.

HurricaneDitka · January 22, 2018, 8:47am

Thanks, this is the information I was looking for.

Senegoid · January 22, 2018, 9:02am

Quickly skimming this thread, I didn’t spot any quote or cite of Paul Krugman’s recent column, arguing why the Democrats must resist the Republican behavior in Congress:

The G.O.P.’s Doomsday-Machine Politics, Paul Krugman, New York Times, 1/18/2018.

Paul Krugman:

The thing is, G.O.P. politicians claim to support CHIP; while there isn’t a lot of polling on the issue, what there is suggests overwhelming popular support, including among Republican voters, for continuing the program.

Yet G.O.P. leaders seem to believe that they can bully Democrats by threatening to hurt millions of children — because Democrats care more about those children than they do. They also believe that if this tactic fails they can frame it as an exhibition of callousness by Democrats.

Democrats should just say no. These tactics cannot be allowed to succeed.

For once doomsday-machine politics becomes the norm, anything is fair game. Give us what we want, or we’ll cut off Medicare. Give us what we want, or we’ll destroy Social Security.

This has to stop. And now is the time to draw the line.

HurricaneDitka · January 22, 2018, 9:19am

Most Republicans just voted to fund CHIP, while most Democrats voted against it. What are you or Krugman talking about “threatening to hurt millions of children”? The ones doing that are mostly Dems.

adaher · January 22, 2018, 9:48am

What we’re watching is politics as usual, and both sides are engaged in it. The Democrats, who want a clean vote on things they favor, have in the past been quite happy to link things they want with things they are willing to accept. For example, did you know that we could save $500 billion on Medicare without hurting beneficiaries? The Democrats could have passed a clean Medicare reform bill at any time, or joined Republicans on one, and the taxpayers could have been saved huge amounts of money. Instead, they opposed Medicare savings until they could use that money to fund ACA.

Republicans, on the other hand, are holding up legislation that has majority support in both chambers because they don’t want it to pass, even though they claim they do want it to pass. Because they want concessions on other issues.

This is how the system has always worked, what’s new is being willing to shut down the government over it.

In any case, both parties are equally to blame, but Democrats will probably lose the messaging war. As always, just as the Republican party appears to be on the brink of destruction, Democrats throw it a lifeline.