People Occasionally Like Icecream Treats If Caramel Sweetens

[Spookymufu]

this made me laugh

[Spookymufu]

and in the spirit of balance......

[Andybev01]

They can have both.

[adrian]

hey now lol

[MacPhantom]

Hey, congrats on your new mayor, Spooky!

[Spookymufu]

yeah....she's not MY mayor, I am not a Houston resident.....

[MacPhantom]

Well, you're close enough, anyway. So congrats to you and your state for breaking new ground in progressivism!!

[Spookymufu]

well, I agree, I am too close for comfort.......but I knew Houston was a liberal city,

[Andybev01]

hey now lol

Sorry man. I forgot that you are 'in country'.

[MacPhantom]

That why not a single republican voted for the bill, yet have valid solutions they had offered but the democrats won't even consider them.

The individual mandate was an idea that originated with Bob Dole and the Republicans back in '93, as an alternative to the Democratic proposal of an employer mandate. The tax on higher cost insurance plans was an idea Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain proposed in the 2008 election. Both sides agree on eliminating the pre-existing conditions restrictions. Both sides agree on allowing people to keep their coverage when they change jobs or lose their jobs. The main thing Democrats advocated for, a public option, is not a part of the bill. Seems like Republicans got a lot more in the bill then Democrats did. Instead of crafting the Senate Finance Committee bill (which is essentially what the final Senate bill looked like, which was signed into law today) in the entire committee, where Democrats hold a nearly two to one majority of seats, Max Baucus, the Democratic chairman of the committee, decided to negotiate the bill in a parred down sub-committee of three Republicans and three Democrats, thus giving away a majority they had earned through electoral victory, in an effort to get Republicans to sign on. At every single stage of this process, with the exception of Olympia Snowe (only on the Finance Committee vote) and Joseph Cao (only on the original House bill), Republicans refused to do anything other than to try to stop any legislation from moving forward. If Republicans had not decided that it was politically advantageous to see health care reform fail completely, we would have ended up with a far better bill than we got. Elected Republicans spent the last year demonstrating that they aren't interested in governing; all they care about is holding power. Democrats, with the ultimate goal of getting health coverage for those who don't have it and reducing the costs for those who do, cajoled, compromised, and cobbled together a bill which, while flawed, represents the best we can expect from a government locked in a two party system, where one party is dedicated solely to obstruction.

[Spookymufu]

isnt it funny how peoples own ideology can make them see the exact same thing different ways?

[MacPhantom]

It is. It is funny. It's stunningly funny, in fact.

[Midnite Shadow]

Also funny how neither side can come up with a plan that both sides are happy with and where the American Public doesn't get screwed in the process...

No one has said yet how we are going to pay for all of this...they don't want to say. They just want you to believe the rouse that those that don't have insurance will be covered...which may be the case but at what cost? taxes are going to go up. The insurance companies will figure out a way to make average joe-schmo american pay for the offset to them. Not to mention this bill got passed illegally...but Pelosi and her pals won't let anything like the constitution stand in her way...

[Spookymufu]

are bribes and back-room deals illegal?

we'd have to prosecute all politicians if we enforce it.......but I find it funny how the dems wanted a meeting with the repubs to come up with a plan but they didnt want to add anything from the repubs and didnt want to remove any of their stuff......tossing the bill and starting over bipartisan would have been the best way to go

[MacPhantom]

You guys are both completely wrong.