Senate GOP blocks Sanders on preventing entitlement cuts

[babylonsister]

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/313592-senate-gop-blocks-sanders-on-preventing-entitlement-cuts

Senate GOP blocks Sanders on preventing entitlement cuts
By Jordain Carney - 01/10/17 03:55 PM EST


Senate Republicans blocked a push on Tuesday by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to prevent cuts to entitlement spending. Senators voted 49-49 on an amendment from the former presidential candidate, with 60 votes needed to overcome a procedural hurdle. Maine Sen. Susan Collins was the only Republican to vote for Sanders's proposal.

Sanders had tried to win over GOP support by arguing that his amendment was in line with campaign rhetoric from President-elect Donald Trump.

"It says that we should support President-elect Trump when he campaigned throughout this country saying that I, Donald Trump, will not cut Social Security, will not cut Medicare, will not cut Medicaid," Sanders said ahead of the vote.

But Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) rejected Sanders's logic, firing back that "I don't think that's exactly what this is about."

"A vote in favor of this amendment is a vote against repealing ObamaCare," Enzi, who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, added.

Sanders filed his measure to a shell budget resolution that includes instructions for repealing ObamaCare. Under a budget process known as "reconciliation," Republicans are expected to pass the rules this week with a simple majority and require no Democratic support.

The amendment would have created a "point of order" against legislation that would "break Donald Trump's promise not to cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid" meaning that any proposal would have been subject to a higher 60-vote threshold.

"Do we hold him to his word or do we just say hey, that's just campaign rhetoric? He lied. It's okay. That's politics in America. It doesn't matter what he said," Sanders asked from the Senate floor.

Sanders pointed to a string of quotes throughout Trump's presidential campaign, including a March 29 interview where he criticized House Speaker Paul Ryan for wanting to "knock down" Social Security and "knock out" Medicare.

"I'm not going to cut it, and I'm not going to raise ages, and I'm not going to do all of the things that they want to do," Trump said during a radio interview.

[still_one]

1. If anyone had any doubts that Social security and Medicare were not at risk, they should be alarmed

by this vote.

What this vote shows is that the republicans are not going to stand in the way of Social Security and Medicare being destroyed.

We will be going into a modern day dark ages, and I have very little hope for the future.

This was the election of our lives. Losing the Presidency was bad, but losing the Senate was the Perfect Storm.

Every Democrat running for Senate in a swing state lost to the establishment incumbent republican. The country is condemned for decades to come because of that.

Perhaps individual blue states can unite to form their own healthcare COOP system, because it sure appears that those who will be in control of the federal government are going to do whatever they can to dismantle Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid, and the the ACA