GOP Congress first order of business? Scrap the independence of ethics oversight.

[One Bad Pig]

The problem is with the people who elect them as much as it is with the politicians themselves.

Well, I agree with you this far. There are an awful lot of low-information voters out there. Perhaps it would help if schools started focusing more on teaching critical thinking than indoctrination and self-esteem.

The fact that climate change is on the verge of destroying the planet as we know it and we have put a bunch of climate change deniers in office is our fault.

I find your hysteria hysterical.

The fact that the wealthy plutocrats are destroying the economy and the living conditions for the rest of us, and we put those very people in office to run the economy, is our fault.

Try putting on your thinking cap, JimL. "Plutocrats" these days tend to have much of their wealth sunk into stocks; destroying the economy would destroy them, so it's sort of not in their best interest. And despite your desires, the government does not run the economy.

[Mountain Man]

The fact that climate change is on the verge of destroying the planet as we know it...

[Cow Poke]

The fact that climate change is on the verge of destroying the planet as we know it...

That already happened, Jimmy. You missed it!

[Starlight]

But, I'm guessing you had no problem at all when Obamacare was crafted in the middle of the night behind closed doors and rammed down the throats of the American people with Pelosi's infamous "well, you'll just have to vote on the bill to see what's in it" crap.

~cough~ Republicans: you have to pass our health care plan to find out what’s in it
As the article notes your Pelosi quote is severely misleading due to being so out of context - she wasn't saying nobody could read the bill or know what was in it, she was saying that over time as the general public came to really understand what Obamacare was all about they would realize that they liked it. As much as I think the democratic party leadership are a bunch of turnips, even they aren't stupid enough to go around claiming people need to pass bills to find out what's in them - which would be an obviously nonsensical statement to make since bills are available to be read through before the votes on them.

Republicans however, seem to be trying to adopt a true black box healthcare strategy, where they first request congress passes a repeal of Obamacare that doesn't take effect until a couple of years' time. And over those years they pinky-swear they'll totally come up with something to replace it, but they've no real clue what and haven't come up with squat in the course of the last 30 years and they'd just like congress to get on with passing the repeal bill before anyone knows what's in the Republican's yet-to-exist but-it-will-totally-exist-in-the-future-we-promise healthcare plan to replace it.

[Cow Poke]

~cough~ Republicans: you have to pass our health care plan to find out what’s in it
As the article notes your Pelosi quote is severely misleading due to being so out of context -...

It was an idiot thing to say, and she deserves having it thrown back at her, and fits the "cram it down your throat" manner in which it happened. Along with the "you can keep your doctor" and "you can keep your health care plan" --- it was a scam by her, Obama, and the rest of the Democrats.

[Sparko]

~cough~ Republicans: you have to pass our health care plan to find out what’s in it
As the article notes your Pelosi quote is severely misleading due to being so out of context - she wasn't saying nobody could read the bill or know what was in it, she was saying that over time as the general public came to really understand what Obamacare was all about they would realize that they liked it. As much as I think the democratic party leadership are a bunch of turnips, even they aren't stupid enough to go around claiming people need to pass bills to find out what's in them - which would be an obviously nonsensical statement to make since bills are available to be read through before the votes on them.

Republicans however, seem to be trying to adopt a true black box healthcare strategy, where they first request congress passes a repeal of Obamacare that doesn't take effect until a couple of years' time. And over those years they pinky-swear they'll totally come up with something to replace it, but they've no real clue what and haven't come up with squat in the course of the last 30 years and they'd just like congress to get on with passing the repeal bill before anyone knows what's in the Republican's yet-to-exist but-it-will-totally-exist-in-the-future-we-promise healthcare plan to replace it.

not even close to the same thing SL.

heck even if they just repealed Obamacare and didn't replace it with anything, we would be better off. We did fine without it for the last 200 years

[JimL]

not even close to the same thing SL.

heck even if they just repealed Obamacare and didn't replace it with anything, we would be better off. We did fine without it for the last 200 years

Right, it isn't exactly the same thing, Democrats actually had a health care bill writ for all to see, whereas republicans actually want you to believe they have a legitimate health care bill without actually having one. If they actually had a legitimate workable health care policy then they would not be proposing a phony repeal of Obamacare, i.e a repeal in name only, with nothing, after all these years of big talk, to actually replace it.

[Mountain Man]

Democrats actually had a health care bill writ for all to see...

No they didn't. Obamacare was partisan legislation drafted behind closed-doors, and the actual details were kept hidden from the public despite Obama's campaign promise that all legislation would be openly debated on C-Span and publicly posted online at least 72-hours before a vote. This is what made Pelosi's "We have to pass it before you can see what's in it" declaration so infuriating, because what she was really saying was, "If you see what's in it, we'll never be able to pass it."

[rogue06]

No they didn't. Obamacare was partisan legislation drafted behind closed-doors, and the actual details were kept hidden from the public despite Obama's campaign promise that all legislation would be openly debated on C-Span and publicly posted online at least 72-hours before a vote. This is what made Pelosi's "We have to pass it before you can see what's in it" declaration so infuriating, because what she was really saying was, "If you see what's in it, we'll never be able to pass it."

[shunyadragon]

Congress backed off, but it was enough to know where their priorities are up front.

[Starlight]

Congress backed off, but it was enough to know where their priorities are up front.

And it looks like this is going to come to a head again over the next month. The ethics committee is beginning to make loud noises in opposition to two things:
1. Trump's failure to distance himself from his business activities, which is in fairly clear violation of the US Constitution and long-running practices.
2. Many of his appointees.

Presumably congressional Republicans will be obliged to act on this subject over the next month as the ethics committee starts getting more and more stroppy about these issues.

[One Bad Pig]

And it looks like this is going to come to a head again over the next month. The ethics committee is beginning to make loud noises in opposition to two things:
1. Trump's failure to distance himself from his business activities, which is in fairly clear violation of the US Constitution and long-running practices.
2. Many of his appointees.

Presumably congressional Republicans will be obliged to act on this subject over the next month as the ethics committee starts getting more and more stroppy about these issues.

Neither of these have anything to do with a HOUSE ethics committee.
1. is not a violation of the Constitution, and the practice was started all the way back in the Nixon administration .
2. The House doesn't vote on his appointees - that's the Senate's job.

If the ethics committee is going that far afield, perhaps they DO need to be reined in.

[Starlight]

heck even if they just repealed Obamacare and didn't replace it with anything, we would be better off.

That seems obviously ridiculously false.

We did fine without it for the last 200 years

Um... okay you can have the healthcare of 1776. Once you're dead of leeches, bloodletting, amputation and whatever else, everyone else can have decent healthcare.

Sparko the basic situation is that all the Western countries started adopting universal healthcare around 1940, because they saw it as a basic function of the government that everyone should have healthcare, just as everyone has roads, water, education, a police-force etc. Prior to the creation of Obamacare, America's multi-decade failure to have a universal healthcare system made it a laughingstock, and essentially like a 3rd world nation when it came to basic government services. The Republican drool-for-brains want to take America back to being a joke.

[Cow Poke]

Um... okay you can have the healthcare of 1776. Once you're dead of leeches, bloodletting, amputation and whatever else, everyone else can have decent healthcare.

That seems obviously ridiculously nutty.

[Bill the Cat]

That seems obviously ridiculously false.

Um... okay you can have the healthcare of 1776. Once you're dead of leeches, bloodletting, amputation and whatever else, everyone else can have decent healthcare.

Sparko the basic situation is that all the Western countries started adopting universal healthcare around 1940, because they saw it as a basic function of the government that everyone should have healthcare, just as everyone has roads, water, education, a police-force etc. Prior to the creation of Obamacare, America's multi-decade failure to have a universal healthcare system made it a laughingstock, and essentially like a 3rd world nation when it came to basic government services. The Republican drool-for-brains want to take America back to being a joke.

Yeah, this "joke" is the only reason you aren't calling me senpai.