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GOP Says: No Birth Control For You, Ladies

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Feb 132012

McConnell: GOP Will Fight To Let ANY Employer Deny Birth Control Coverage

Not satisfied with President Obama’s new religious accommodation, Republicans will move forward with legislation by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) that permits any employer to deny birth control coverage in their health insurance plans, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said Sunday.

“If we end up having to try to overcome the President’s opposition by legislation, of course I’d be happy to support it, and intend to support it,” McConnell said. “We’ll be voting on that in the Senate and you can anticipate that that would happen as soon as possible.”

The Blunt amendment he was specifically referring to would “ensure that health care stakeholders retain the right to provide, purchase, or enroll in health coverage that is consistent with their religious beliefs and moral convictions” under the Affordable Care Act. Similar legislation was introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) before the White House announced Friday that it would allow religious nonprofits such as charities, hospitals and universities to opt out of paying for contraception coverage and force the insurance company to do so instead. …

House GOP leaders also said Friday they will move forward with legislation to repeal the birth control rule in its entirety. Republicans from both chambers are aligning themselves with the Catholic Bishops who say the new policy remains unacceptable.

Talking Points Memo

From Republicans, Coal For Your Stocking

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Dec 212011

Steve Benen: Americans who voted Republican in the 2010 midterms? Congratulations, you elected lunatics to run the House of Representatives.

Damned, Whatever He Does

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Nov 242011

The notion that Obama’s “leadership” could have persuaded Republicans to accept a tax increase seems strange. Republicans, I have noticed, tend not to like Obama very much. His endorsement does not carry a great deal of weight with them. That was why the administration stayed in the background when Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson developed their deficit plan.

When deficit scolds complained that he failed to embrace them openly, Obama tried a different tack when the next bipartisan deficit commission came around. That was the Senate’s “Gang of Six.” Obama decided to openly tout the plan. Did that work? No, it did not. A Republican aide, probably accurately, blamed Obama’s endorsement for the kiss of death. (“The President killed any chance of its success by 1) embracing it. 2) hailing the fact that it increases taxes. 3) Saying it mirrors his own plan.”)

Okay, so if Obama openly endorses a bipartisan plan, he’s killing it. And if he keeps his distance, he’s also killing it. What if he tries to directly negotiate a deficit reduction plan behind closes doors? Well, Obama did that, too, this last summer. Republicans opposed it as well. …

What is at least somewhat remarkable is that Republicans have taken up this talking point as well. Today’s The Wall Street Journal editorial page shakes its head that Obama should have “honored the findings of his own Bowles–Simpson deficit commission.” A companion op-ed by Representative Jeb Hensarling, a member of the supercommittee, laments that Democrats rejected “the approach to tax reform used by recent bipartisan deficit reduction efforts such as the Bowles–Simpson fiscal commission.” That would be the same Bowles–Simpson plan that the Journal editorial page opposed and that Hensarling voted against.

Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine

President: “Where Congress Won’t Act, I Will.”

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Oct 292011

And West Wing Week, October 28, 2011.

Poll: GOP In Double The Peril

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Sep 152011

Outrage Index: Near Majority Blames GOP For Frustration With Washington

It seems that the combination of brinkmanship and lukewarm reception to most anything President Obama proposes has caught up with Republicans in Congress.

The debt fight caused Washington’s approval ratings to drop to new lows, but new data from a Bloomberg national poll shows that it hit the Congressional GOP the strongest: of the Americans who said they were frustrated with Washington, 45 percent said it was because of the GOP.

President Obama got the blame only 20 percent of the time, nearly the same amount of of Congressional Democrats, who 19 percent said were to blame for the dissatisfaction.

The new poll comes as the Congressional Super Committee tries to come up with a way to reduce the deficit by 1.5 trillion dollars, which may show some of the same battle lines that were seen in the debt fight: a resistance on the part of the GOP to raise taxes, even though there is public support for hikes rather than cuts. In the same Bloomberg poll, 71 percent said the battle over raising the debt ceiling added to their frustration with Washington. So the message to Republicans seems to be: continue on this path at your own peril.

TPMDC
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Pregnancy Complications? GOP Says DIE

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Feb 072011

New GOP Bill Would Allow Hospitals To Let Women Die Instead Of Having An Abortion

The controversy over “forcible rape” may be over, but now there’s a new Republican-sponsored abortion bill in the House that pro-choice folks say may be worse: this time around, the new language would allow hospitals to let a pregnant woman die rather than perform the abortion that would save her life.

The bill, known currently as H.R. 358 or the “Protect Life Act,” would amend the 2010 health care reform law that would modify the way Obamacare deals with abortion coverage. Much of its language is modeled on the so-called Stupak Amendment, an anti-abortion provision pro-life Democrats attempted to insert into the reform law during the health care debate last year. But critics say a new language inserted into the bill just this week would go far beyond Stupak, allowing hospitals that receive federal funds but are opposed to abortions to turn away women in need of emergency pregnancy termination to save their lives.

The sponsor of H.R. 358, Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA) is a vocal member of the House’s anti-abortion wing. A member of the bipartisan Pro-Life Caucus and a co-sponsor of H.R 3 — the bill that added “forcible rape” to the lexicon this week — Pitts is no stranger to the abortion debate. But pro-choice advocates say his new law goes farther than any other bill has in encroaching on the rights of women to obtain an abortion when their health is at stake. They say the bill is giant leap away from accepted law, and one they haven’t heard many in the pro-life community openly discuss before.

Talking Points Memo

Polls: Republicans Do Not Get It

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Jan 242011

Proof is in the Polling: Republican Approval Plummets As They Ignore The Economy

The polls tell the tale. Republican approval ratings are plummeting as the American people see them ignoring the economy and wasting time with political stunts that have zero chance of passing. NBC’s First Read summed it up: “The House GOP’s first impression isn’t on jobs.”

As Republicans choose to spend the first days of the new Congress trying to re-open the donut hole and take away tax breaks from small businesses, two polls in the last 48 hours show that they are severely out of step with the American people.

· CBS News poll: “House Republicans may be focused on fulfilling their campaign promise to work to overturn the health care reform law, but a new CBS News/New York Times survey finds that a plurality of Americans prefer they focus instead on creating jobs. The poll finds 43 percent of Americans believe the most important thing for the new Congress to focus on is job creation – compared to just 18 percent who say the top priority should be health care…The Republican Party is seen favorably by 40 percent of Americans and unfavorably by 49 percent.”

· NBC News poll: “Only 25% say the Republicans in Congress will bring the right kind of change (versus 42% who said that about the Dems in Jan. 2007, and 37% who said that about the GOP in Jan. 1995)… And then there’s this: The GOP’s fav/unfav has gone from a net positive in December (38%-37%) to a net negative now (34%-40%). ‘I think this has been a pretty short Republican honeymoon,’ McInturff says. Hart adds, ‘I think the president has the benefit of the doubt, and the Republicans — based on this data — have the burden of proof.’”

Not exactly an auspicious start for Republicans. We hope they will take the hint, drop the political charade, and start working with us to create jobs and build a prosperous middle class.

Democrats.senate.gov

Affordable Care Act–GOP Says NO, Again

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Jan 202011

Just keep lying to the American public in a meaningless song and a dance for naive ‘Baggers.: It’s what works.

Their own cushy federal health care plan, Republicans get to keep:

Using a procedural tool called the motion to recommit, Democrats forced Republicans to take a stand on whether or not members of Congress should receive federal health care benefits. The measure would have made repeal of the health care law contingent on more than half of all members of Congress opting out of the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program.

It reads that repeal shall “not take effect unless and until the Director of the Office of Personnel Management certifies to the Congress that a majority of the Members of the House of Representatives and a majority of Members of the Senate have, as of the date that is 30 days after the date of initial passage of this Act in the respective House, voluntarily and permanently withdrawn from any participation, and waived all rights to participate, as such a Member in the federally funded Federal employees health benefits program (FEHBP) under chapter 89 of title 5, United States Code, effective with the first month after the date of execution of such a withdrawal and waiver.”

Republicans voted it down: it isn’t the most comfortable issue for them.

This is why I prefer Democrats.

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