Liveblogging the House Budget Committee wreckonciliation mark-up
Photoshop: Leo Alberti
The hearing is just underway. I’ll blog the shell game. Stay tuned for updates…
3:13pm Eastern. Democrat Rep./House Budget Cmte Chairman John Pratt opens up the hearing. Says they will be there until midnight to finish the mark-up or “turn into pumpkins.” If only…
He admits the shell game: Whatever they end up with today will look “far different” from the final product. The “final text of the reconciliation bill” is not before us.
Yup, that’s for the backroom deals.
Pratt touting the student loan nationalization wrap-around.
3:19pm Eastern. GOP Rep. Paul Ryan refutes “reconcilation is common” canard.
“This is an extraordinary and unprecendented abuse of the reconciliation process.” More: “NEVER been used to seize 1/6 of the U.S. economy.”
“The only bipartisanship in this procedure is in the opposition to it…never before has process been so grossly exploited.”
Ryan blasts Pelosi statement that “We have to pass the bill to let Americans see what’s in it.”
“This is the vaunted transparency that the president promised? Arrogance…is breathtaking. This is not a simple fixer bill, either.”
“We are here because of one man, Scott Brown. You can’t pass this bill the right way, so you’re passing it the Washington way.”
“We are not governing here today, we are greasing the skids…”
“This legislation is not about health care, it’s about ideology.” About moving to European-style, government-run system.
“This charade — both today’s blind mark-up and the charade of the last year — are so dispiriting” because we agree on need for real reform…It didn’t have to be this way and it doesn’t have to stay this way.
“This abuse of the process, this abuse of the constitution…are not worthy of your support.”
Excellent, impassioned, logical, reality-based statement from GOP Rep. Ryan. More, please.
3:31pm Eastern. Committee casts 21-16 vote – reported to the House without recommendation. Two Democrats voted no — FL Dem. Rep Allen Boyd (also voted against student loan nationalization plan) and Texas Dem. Rep. Chet Edwards.
The panel is moving on to debating motions to instruct.
Uh-oh. Philip Klein notes that Arkansas Democrat Rep. Marion Berry, “who supported Stupak and is on the Hill’s list of likely nos, voted for the reconciliation bill in budget committee.”
3:57pm Eastern. GOP Rep. Connie Mack’s motion limiting powers of government comparative research committee fails, 14-23.
GOP Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart: This bill is a “wet, smelly dog” that the American people don’t want.
4:23pm Eastern. GOP Rep. Cynthia Lummis: “We can’t afford entitlements we already have, let alone a trillion-dollar new one.” Blasts past Republican failures to rein in entitlements, urges colleagues not to make the problem even worse.
6:07pm Eastern. Every Democrat has an anecdote. Republicans need to answer every one of their stories with a socialized medicine horror story.
Also: Dems are now coopting the “if it’s good enough for you, why don’t members of Congress live under it” refrain. They’ve turned the message on its head. Bizarro world.
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I think I read somewhere that the total value of outstanding “student loans” from the Federal Government, AKA “My Fairy Godmother” is around $700 Billion! Is that correct? Have college students already become serfs of the government? I finished college without a penny of student loans. How could things have gotten into this state in just 30 years?
Paul Ryan: Procedure is arrogant and paternalistic.
Yep.
I am ready to vote for Rep. Paul Ryan for President in 2012. He appears to be one of the few on the Hill who has a clue.
…and a partridge in a pear tree!
“we agree there is need for real reform”
When in h#ll did it become their job to manage our private decisions? Another shovel ready project, literally.
Watching this, two words come to mind:
Banana Republic.
Same here. Took me ten years to pay them off.
My daughter has 70,000 in school debt from her upper grad days. I’m just guessing that she will have to pay it all off, which she should and is.
This is just a move toward socialism, IMHO.
Must be what the Germans felt as the Nazis surrounded the Bundestag (Parliament) and seized dictatorial power.
I paid mine too and it wasn’t easy. My parents wouldn’t or couldn’t send me to the schools I wanted, so, their little darling bulled up and paid it herself. Looking back, it’s the best thing I ever did. If I didn’t pay attention and get the work done I couldn’t afford to retake the class. Also, didn’t have the money to become the professional student so many kids now want to be!.
Anybody got a clue who is running against Harry Mitchell (D-AZ5)? I’ve sent the weasel numerous e-mails, called his local office several times and each time I get “the Congressman hasn’t made up his mind yet” BS.
I’m so sick of this idea that representatives don’t have to vote the way their constituents want that it makes me physically ill.
ENOUGH! There will be blood in the streets (I’m afraid, literally) if this thing passes.
Sanddog:
As I noted on another thread, when the DemocRATS get through this country won’t be worth a single bunch of bananas, so we WON’T qualify as a banana republic!
Ironically, I thought about taking a loan to continue a post-grad degree. I was about 20 at the time and had been on my own for nearly 4 years. But, I was refused a student loan because my parents, who had never provided a penny of financial support since I left home, had a combined income exceeding varous government guidelines.
In retrospect, not getting that loan may have been the best thing to happen to me. I would not have wanted to graduate owning 5K to 10K in loans. As it was it was tough enough in the early 80s with no loans.
The Pelosi Putsch
TigerLady, 24Klady and WarEagle82: My brother and I attended U of Arkansas (we overlapped for three years) so my parents (Dad was in the Army and didn’t make a great deal of $$$ when we graduated in ’70 & ’71) could pay in-state tuition. Both of us worked summers and part-time during the school year so we graduated debt-free (that and my AFROTC scholarship in my senior year helped).
I used my VA benefits to get my Masters degree.
My ex and I sacrificed and saved so our daughter could attend George Mason and graduate debt-free.
College at a state or community school can be just as beneficial as the big-names where you are liable to get liberal, mush-brained profs who just try to indoctrinate the youth.
Hangfire: I prefer the Pelosi SHOVE, i.e., out the door!
I paid in-state tuition my last two years of college and that was a major factor in reducing my college expenses. I worked nearly 20 hours a week my last 18 months of college and finished my degree in 3 years.
We are looking at some creative options available to our kids where they can attend a local community college and get both high school and college credit for the same coursework. That could save time and money…
I don’t understand how or why kids go to college and take on 50K or more in debts to pursue degrees that might gross them barely more than that when they finish their college. Economically it just doesn’t make sense…
Roger that. I can’t stand her. She’s been mean ever since a tornado dropped a house on her sister.
1. They have no competition for what they provide. One school is pretty much the same as any other in terms of what is provided. If an overseas entity or online enitiy could convince enough people (customer base) that their curriculum is better than a private or public institution, competition would ensue and prices would drop.
2. A constant stream of money is always being propelled at ‘higher education’no matter what the discipline is or quality of the knowledge therein …(I suggest you think in terms ‘soft budget’, if you are an economist.)
Hangfire: Yeah, it’s a shame the nicer sister had the house dropped on her head. Too bad they weren’t side-by-side when the roof fell in!
You got farther than I did. I knew better than to ask my parents how much they made – they would have told me it was nobody’s business.
I worked my way through until I got a job with an employer who offered educational benefits going into my junior year. Took me a bit longer than 4 years, but I was debt free and already employed at the end.
I envision a day where a large percentage of high school and college courses will be online. Some of the finest schools offer them now and the only classes where attendance on campus are compulsary are those requiring labs. The student does have to be desciplined, so it’s not for everyone.
I had friends in the oil industry working in the ME that didn’t feel like giving up custody of their children and pulled their kids out of high school to go with them..those kids even continued classes into the 2nd year of college. They came back to the states for finals which gave everyone a chance to visit and catch up with life back here.
And, I can’t write a coherent sentence today
– maybe because I’m laughing about the tornado dropping a house on her sister.
Did anyone besides me get the ‘real’ census papers today? Oh joy, am I excited.
Somewhat off topic, but I really enjoyed going to San Francisco about a month ago to see the stage musical “Wicked”, and would recommend it to others.
No student loan here either. Took me 6 years to finish and only bought the books when I knew the prof. didn’t test from notes. Had to write hot checks for both semesters of my Sr. year. By the time the dean of women caught up with me (each semester), I had the cash. Suppose it was an interest free loan.
Oddly, enough, they didn’t ask me. They somehow knew their income just based on my information. I hadn’t seen them in 4 years and had no idea how much they made. Actually, I never knew how much they made…
Most liberals aren’t evil but the collectivism that infects them, is.
I had them hand delivered at my business last week.
Idiots.
If I were there, I’d have a hard time not standing up and calling DeLauro a prevaricating hag.
Exactly.
And remember that Obama himself said:
and
The Democratic Socialists want to use the “Byrd rule” to pass this with only 50 votes (rather than 60) in the Senate.
The “dirty little secret” is that Senator Byrd HIMSELF stopped President Clinton from using reconcilation to pass Hillarycare!
Bill Passes in Virginia Exempting Residents from Mandated Health Care
I should have said
Seeing as Valerie Jarrett said Obama will be very pleased to hear praise for “womanly leadership“.
I often think veterans or those who have to rely on Medicare should make short videos of their horror story and post them to Youtube.
Bureaucrats only recognize problems when the video becomes public…then it’s quickly forgotten. A Youtube channel with many videos would be hard for Washington to forget.
No surprise about Harry ignoring you.
He chairs a veterans subcommittee and was supposed to hold two hearings since last October on specific veterans issues. He postponed both of them.
Wouldn’t look good to have a bunch of vets getting lousy government-run health care complaining when the left is trying to force everyone into the same type of care.
No doubt about it, all in good time.
What happens when this administration ‘calls’ the student loans and requires5 years of service as repayment? For the common good, of course.
Evidently, Pelosi and Slaughter didn’t watch this cartoon when she was a kid.
Oops!
Evidently, Pelosi and Slaughter didn’t watch this cartoon when they were kids.
If Rep. Ryan isn’t on the Republican Party’s presidential ticket by 2020, there is no hope nor future for the GOP.
Regarding student loans, I did the smart thing: I enlisted in the US Air Force and used tuition assistance and the GI Bill to get my education.
Last Friday, while speaking from the House Floor on C-SPAN, Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (one of four Republicans vs. nine Democrats on the Rules Committee) said that she had requested that the Rules Committee proceedings be televised on C-SPAN.
The Democratic leadership refused.
This should be our next focal point.
Challenge the self-proclaimed “Open, transparent, and accountable” Democrats to actually be “Open, transparent, and accountable” and let the people see what transpires in the Rules Committee.
Again I say…how the h#ll can the CBO possibly score this thing? The Senate bill is 2500 pages and the reconciliation bill is another 2000+ pages. They can’t possibly come up with a cost on this stuff! Is ANYONE talking about COST any more???
Happyscrapper,
Indeed, it is all a farce.
They do that to manufacture a sense of urgency to “help” these people… but then fail to explain why that urgent need for “help” can wait for years while the government collects taxes without providing any “help”…
Yeah…do any of those poor, sick people realize they will pay for four years before they get any “care”?? If 70 people a day die because they don’t have healthcare, how can the progressives possibly justify waiting four years to start helping them? These a$$hats have not had any trouble fooling the doofuses who voted for Obdumbo! I say, let them wait four years so that more of the herd can be thinned! Then, those of us with a brain might have a chance to get our country back.
Watched part of this yesterday and that flower of American womanhood, Rosa Delauro, democrat CT., stated with anguish that last year 45,000 people without health insurance died. I figured it out, that means that 2,500,000 people with health insurance died. Now, there is a real travesty. Good money is being paid for health insurance and the people are still dying and at a rate 55 times higher than those without it. And no, nobody is talking about that. If it can’t stop death, what good is it?
Ha!! Excellent Point!! Can I send your comment to my address book??
Happy,
I would DEEM it an honor.