Monthly Archives: November 2016

Which members of the Missouri congressional delegation are for or against Paul Ryan’s Medicare phase out plan.

19 Saturday Nov 2016

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I have written here about the fact that House Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan is planning to take advantage of Trump’s election to push his Medicare privatization plan, a plan that will essentially destroy Medicare as we know it. Please find below a checklist of Missouri politicians categorized by their response to  Ryan’s privatization plan.

This list will be updated and reposted as politicians make their positions clear (or don’t).

Note that even if a particular politician indicates that they don’t support Ryan’s privatization phase out, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t open to fiddling with the system in often destructive ways. I also indicate which House members voted for or against the Ryan plan earlier when it was included in the proposed 2015 House budget and which have negative or positive voting records in regard to Medicare related issues.

Members of Missouri’s U.S. Congressional delegation who will oppose Ryan’s latest effort to destroy Medicare:

Senator Claire McCaskill (D) (see here for source and discussion).

Members of Missouri’s U.S. Congressional delegation who have been contacted but have not committed to a position on Rep. Ryan’s phase out plan at at this point.

Roy Blunt (R) (Source: TPM list as per 11/19).Blunt has a record of voting for legislation that undercuts Medicare.

Rep. Sam Graves (R) (Source: TPM list as per 11/19 (list up dated regularly)). Graves  voted for the 2015 Budget proposal that included a similar privatization plan. He has a record of mostly voting to weaken Medicare.

Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver (D-5) (Source: TPM list as per 11/19) Cleaver voted against the 2015 Budget proposal that included a similar privatization plan. His voting record is mostly pro-Medicare.

Members of Missouri’s U.S. Congressional delegation who have not yet been contacted about their current position on Ryan’s Medicare phase out plan.

Rep. Lacy Clay (D-1) Clay voted against the 2015 Budget proposal that included a similar privatization plan. His voting record is mostly pro-Medicare.

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-4) Hartzler voted for the 2015 Budget proposal that included a similar privatization plan. She has a record of mostly voting to weaken weaken Medicare.

Rep. Billy Long (R-7) Long  voted for the 2015 Budget proposal that included a similar privatization plan. He has a record of mostly voting to weaken Medicare.

Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-3) Luetkemeyer  voted for the 2015 Budget proposal that included a similar privatization plan. He has a record of mostly voting to weaken Medicare.

Rep. Jason Smith (R-8) Smith  voted for the 2015 Budget proposal that included a similar privatization plan. He has a record of mostly voting to weaken Medicare.

Rep. Ann Wagner (R-4) Wagner  voted for the 2015 Budget proposal that included a similar privatization plan. She has a record of mostly voting to weaken weaken Medicare.

Pearl clutching writ large

19 Saturday Nov 2016

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Donald Trump (r) clutches his pearls and expresses his hurt fee-fees over dissent:

trump111916

Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump
The Theater must always be a safe and special place.The cast of Hamilton was very rude last night to a very good man, Mike Pence. Apologize!
7:56 AM – 19 Nov 2016

Fuck you and the fascists you rode in on.

The best comment so far:

karp111916

Jensen Karp ‏@JensenClan88
This is the first time in history theater kids have been called bullies.
11:42 AM – 19 Nov 2016

McCaskill on Ryan’s Medicare phase out plans.

18 Friday Nov 2016

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TPM’s checklist of those who support or oppose House Speaker Paul Ryan’s phaseout of Medicare has been updated to show that Claire McCaskill is positioning herself as part of the opposition “according to a TPM reader who called her office.” She was quoted on an NPR local news spot today saying that she opposed the Ryan plan. We need to give her kudos and lots of support for taking this position. I’ll be calling and writing her to thank for her for making this unequivocal statement, and I hope lots of others do so too.

But, as well, I’ll be asking some questions about her level of commitment to Medicare.

Keep in mind that McCaskill is speaking to the Ryan privatization plan exclusively. In the past, in her deficit alarmist persona, she has signed on to benefit cuts and other mechanisms for restructuring the program. In 2013 she and GOP Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma introduced legislation that would institute Medicare means-testing to raise co-payments and co-insurance. We need her to elaborate on just what type of future she is supporting for Medicare.

Keep in mind, too, how she takes progressives for granted and tries to impress conservative Missourians with her “independence,” leaving her open to poorly considered, one-sided “bipartisan” initiatives. She confirmed today that she’s definitely running in 2016, probably against Rep. Ann Wagner (R-2), who will, given the lay of the ground in this northernmost outpost of the Trump confederate empire, be a tough challenge. And how has McCaskill responded to such challenges in the past. With more of the “independence” GOP-lite chatter.

A New York Magazine article by Ed Kilgore entitled “Why there Probably won’t be a ‘Tea Party of the Left'” offers a disturbing take on the forces that are in play around McCaskill:

The obvious targets for either a bipartisan Trump outreach or for disciplinary efforts by progressives are the Democratic senators up for reelection in 2018 who represent states carried by Trump. There are ten of them: Bob Casey (Pennsylvania), Joe Manchin (West Virginia), Bill Nelson (Florida), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Debbie Stabenow (Michigan), Joe Donnelly (Indiana), Tammy Baldwin (Wisconsin), Claire McCaskill (Missouri), Heidi Heitkamp (North Dakota), and Jon Tester (Montana). You might imagine some of these states are not reliably Republican in the future, but the flip back to the Democrats won’t be automatic, either, in a midterm election when the turnout dynamics have recently favored Republicans.

Now, Sherrod Brown and Tammy Baldwin and probably Debbie Stabenow are not the sort of Democrats who will be hankering for a way to show Trump voters they’re not all bad, and Bob Casey has his own appeal to white working-class voters that doesn’t necessarily depend on bipartisanship. But the rest of these vulnerable Democratic senators could waver.

And if they do, what exactly is “the tea party of the left” going to do about it? Joe Manchin, for one, would probably pay for left-bent protests against his “centrist” heresies in West Virginia, and would definitely welcome a progressive primary opponent to triangulate against. Heitkamp’s state went for Trump by 36 points; Tester’s, McCaskill’s, and Donnelly’s by 20 points or slightly less. Does anyone think a candidate more progressive or partisan than any of these worthies has a prayer of carrying their states in the immediate future?

At some point, would-be members of a “tea party of the left” need to come to grips with the fact that the “tea party of the right” had more geographical material to work with. …

This narrative is the sort of thing that has resonance with politicians – and for good reason. Prospects for the type of opposition party solidarity that we need if we are to hold off and undo the damage done by the Trump election may very likely be undermined by politicians like McCaskill who are not only skilled at playing the odds, but believe it is their only option apart from self-sacrifice.

But then again, nothing’s ever a done deal until its done. McCaskill might surprise us all and go down trying to hold the bridge. She might not even go down if she gets some help and does a good job on that bridge.

Ann Wagner brings her comedy routine to the Post-Dispatch

18 Friday Nov 2016

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The St. Louis Post-Dispatach’s Chuck Raasch interviewed Rep. Ann Wagner (R-2) about her take on the election of Donald Trump, a candidate she declined to support until threatened with retribution by ardent Trumpies. In response, she made a few funnies:

  • When asked if she was stepping back from her congressional leadership position to ready for a run against Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill, Wagner demurred, noting that “Missourians were tired of campaigns.” And there’s the explanation for the past two campaigns during which she refused to debate or engage on the issues – at least, out in the open, where she might have gotten get some troublesome questions. She was just trying not to fatigue the delicate Missouri psyche.
  • Wagner noted that she was eager to help the GOP “repeal Obamacare and replace it with something that Republican leaders have yet to formulate.” What’s funny about this – apart from her preference for a plan that GOPers “have yet to formulate”? Simply that Obamacare is a Republican plan. Caused Mitt Romney, who adopted a nearly identical plan in Massachusetts, some serious grief after Republicans decided that they couldn’t accept their own ideas when promoted by a black Democrat. Sadly, GOPers aren’t likely to have much left in their healthcare plan inventory if they continue to pretend that Obamacare is anathema.
  • Wagner denied Democratic claims that GOP rule is going to mean a “return to a lax regulatory environment.” Then she listed all the consumer protection regulations she looks forward to helping deep-six.
  • Wagner also thinks Obama’s clean air regulations are solely responsible for the demise of coal industry jobs. Evidently she knows nothing about the way the vaunted GOP free market works, the prevalence of natural gas, or the automation of coal mining. Or about the importance of clean air.
  • Funniest of all? Wagner declares that she is “most excited and focused on the opportunity to work with President Trump and this unified Republican government.” Guess she hasn’t been reading the news lately. Good luck with that “unified” Republican government thing.

Looks like Wagner, though, is ready to play ball. If there is going to be a Republican civil war, Wagner wants to let the newly ascendant GOP fascist wing know that she isn’t going to be on the front lines fighting for the other side any more, principles or no principles – she likely had her fill of angry authoritarians carrying big metaphorical sticks after Traitorstotrump.com came after her. And anyway, the financial industry folks she really works for are finally probably going to get their way – down with Dodd-Frank – so it’s all good.

*Last paragraph slightly revised for clarity.

Resist

18 Friday Nov 2016

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In The New York Review of Books NYR Daily on November 10, 2016:

Autocracy: Rules for Survival
Masha Gessen

[….]

I have lived in autocracies most of my life, and have spent much of my career writing about Vladimir Putin’s Russia. I have learned a few rules for surviving in an autocracy and salvaging your sanity and self-respect. It might be worth considering them now:

Rule #1: Believe the autocrat. He means what he says. Whenever you find yourself thinking, or hear others claiming, that he is exaggerating, that is our innate tendency to reach for a rationalization.[….]

Rule #2: Do not be taken in by small signs of normality.[….]

Rule #3: Institutions will not save you. [….]

Rule #4: Be outraged. If you follow Rule #1 and believe what the autocrat-elect is saying, you will not be surprised. But in the face of the impulse to normalize, it is essential to maintain one’s capacity for shock. This will lead people to call you unreasonable and hysterical, and to accuse you of overreacting. It is no fun to be the only hysterical person in the room. Prepare yourself. [….]

Rule #5: Don’t make compromises. [….] In an autocracy, politics as the art of the possible is in fact utterly amoral. [….]

Rule #6: Remember the future. [….]

Are you listening, Claire?

Previously:

Can you find common ground with Stephen Bannon? (November 14, 2016)

Will the Missouri congressional delegation help Paul Ryan and Donald Trump gut Medicare?

17 Thursday Nov 2016

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Anyone watching the election campaign picked up pretty fast on the fact that Donald Trump has no real policy beliefs or understanding of the policy process, but rather relies on emotive slogans and the insights of whomever is momentarily ascendant among his inner group of sycophants. We’ve gleaned from bits and pieces of what he has told folks that he doesn’t intend to get his hands dirty with actual presidential work. Which means that when it comes to policy, we’re likely going to be dealing with co-presidents-in-all-but-title, Paul Ryan and Mike Pence.

And for House Speaker Ryan that means that he may finally have the means to put the social safety net out of the misery the GOP has tried to inflict on it over the years. It looks like Medicare is going to get the ax first. As TPM reports, Ryan has “proposed to privatize the current Medicare system, within the earliest days of the impending Trump administration.”

Ryan’s hoping to phase out our highly efficient Medicare insurance system in favor of a voucher system which, in the long term, is not likely to cover the cost of buying comprehensive insurance in an uncontrolled private market. Though Ryan touts the savings to be realized from privatizing Medicare, economics journalist Michael Hiltzik shows that that the savings would be “illusory,” with costs “shifted from government to seniors.”

Ryan’s new strategy seems to be to phase Medicare out as part of the process of fulfilling The Donald’s promise to kill Obamacare. Ryan’s already started a propaganda blitz tying the two together as part of a deceptively titled “reform.” As Hitzlick points out:

Ryan has surrounded his Medicare proposal with a bodyguard of lies. In his Fox News appearance, he said Medicare is “going broke” and ascribed its problems to the Affordable Care Act. Neither is true.

Medicare faces fiscal problems, but it’s not going broke, and according to both the Medicare trustees and the Congressional Budget Office, the Affordable Care Act has in fact alleviated those problems rather than caused them. The trustees reported in 2010 that passage of Obamacare had postponed the projected exhaustion date of the Medicare trust fund by 12 years — to 2029 from 2017. Projections of Medicare spending growth have consistently come down, year after year, at least in part due to changes in the program imposed through Obamacare.

The program’s fiscal situation would be “substantially improved,” the trustees said, because the ACA instituted new cost controls and provided new tax revenues for the program. Both those features would disappear if the GOP repeals the ACA, as is its intention.

Voila – Ryan guts Medicare while simultaneously deep-sixing another of the social welfare programs so despised by Republicans.

But Ryan can’t do this all on his lonesome, you say – and you’re right. It’ll take a majority of the congress to make it happen, but, with Republicans dominant in both houses, he has a very good chance. And don’t forget, he’s got The Donald.

So, comes the next question. How does our Missouri congressional delegation stand on the issue of killing the Medicare program?

Fortunately for us, Danielle Keeton-Olsen of TPM is keeping a list (and updating it regularly) of who’s naughty and nice. And so far, none of our Missouri delegation is definitely on either list. Instead, the two who’ve been contacted to date, GOP Senator Roy Blunt and Rep. Sam Graves (R-6), are listed with those who have refused to commit either way or, as Keeton-Olsen wryly notes, claim they didn’t even know it was an issue. Yeah, right.

Blunt has been on record as opposing Medicare in the past, although he has also tried to pose as a savior of aspects of the program when it has been expedient. If his past behavior is any indicator, he will hem and haw and say nothing as long as he can, and then come down firmly on the side of the GOP Senate leadership of which he is a junior member. The guy knows where his bread is buttered, and we know what that means as far as Medicare goes. And I would guess that Sam Graves isn’t going to go to any great lengths to save Medicare either since he voted yes on an earlier Ryan Budget that included the same privatization plan.

If, like me, you’re concerned about your Medicare and whether or not the program will be around for your children and their children – and there’s no objective, fiscal reason it should not be – call or write your congressmen or women today to find out where they stand and let them know where you stand.

Making your point of view known will be especially important when it comes to our only Democratic Senator, Claire McCaskill. The Senate may well be our only bulwark against Ryan’s attack on Medicare, and Senator McCaskill, who now finds herself representing a blood-red constituency, has never been a profile in courage. She’s up for re-election in two years. We’ve got to let her know that if she doesn’t defend Medicare with all she’s got, this time we really won’t forget.

Meanwhile, you can check TPM for updates – and also consider letting them know what you find out when/if you call your congressman or woman by using the “Send Comments & News Tips” link on the TPM Masthead. And I’ll update here on SMP as I learn more about the Medicare druthers of our shy Missouri pols.

Claire speaks

16 Wednesday Nov 2016

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Earmarks. Go figure.

This morning from Senator Claire McCaskill (D), via Twitter:

mccaskill111616

Claire McCaskill ‏@clairecmc
Drain the swamp?Week after election Republicans meeting behind closed doors to grant lobbyists dream of bringing back earmarks.Hello swamp.
11:01 AM – 16 Nov 2016

Previously:

Can you find common ground with Stephen Bannon? (November 14, 2016)