House GOP whip: Entitlement reform, ObamaCare repeal on agenda for 2018

[DonViejo]

Source: The Hill




BY JESSIE HELLMANN - 01/02/18 10:40 AM EST

ObamaCare repeal and entitlement reform are at the top of the agenda for House Republicans in 2018, Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) said Monday.

"The next big thing you're going to see is a need for workers, and I think the next thing we can do is to go and reform those welfare programs that are trapping people in a failed welfare state," Scalise said on Fox & Friends Monday morning. "Let's actually put some work requirements in place so that we can get people back to work rebuild the middle class."

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has said recently that Republicans will focus on giving states "more flexibility in Medicaid," which could involve allowing them to impose work requirements on recipients.

Scalise also indicated House Republicans would turn back to ObamaCare repeal in 2018.

Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/367035-house-gop-whip-entitlement-reform-obamacare-repeal-on-agenda-for-2018

[dchill]

1. The writing is on the wall...

but they can't read.

[VMA131Marine]

2. So they are going to put work requirements in place ...

which TANF already has (or are they talking about SSDI?) but not actually do anything to create jobs for these people to do. And if they are referring to SSDI (because TANF already has work requirements) these jobs will have to accommodate their disabilities. I believe most people on Medicaid already work, especially in states that expanded it under Obamacare.

[yurbud]

17. they know the details don't matter to their base. they just hear "shit on the poor"

and they are happy.

[VMA131Marine]

20. A large segment of Trump's base is on SSDI

Reliance on SSDI is rampant in West Virginia for example and that that was the most Trump-leaning in 2016. The owner of Freeperville is on disabilty for Pete's sake!

[yurbud]

21. Thom Hartmann did a bit on how this happens: media uses images of blacks in 60% of

stories on poverty and welfare even though they are a far lower percentage of the poor and welfare recipients than that.

They think "welfare" is something blacks and illegal immigrants get and they don't.

This has been the case ever since the Great Society and Civil Rights Movement had the misfortune to occur in the same decade and the right connect the two.

[Zambero]

3. And a major ass whooping at the polls as well

Clint Eastwood of empty chair fame once uttered (back in better days): "Go ahead, make my day". Congress can certainly elect to pass legislation decimating critical health care programs and Social Security with "help" from a complicit president, but they can also be replaced with legislators who are willing and able to undo that damage. Come 2020 by way of 2018, hopefully the U.S. gov't will be restored to a position of sanity once affected voters realize they have been had, bigly.

[yurbud]

18. "willing" to undo the damage is key. Democrats will need to go all out for a change

and use every procedural trick and hardball to undo a couple of these policies to regain the trust of voters.

There's a reason they lost the house, senate, statehouses, and governor's races.

When they win, they need to have a progressive agenda ready to go, fight for it, and dare Republicans to vote against it.

You can only use that "vote against the other guy" strategy so often.

[dalton99a]

4. Taxpayer-funded healthcare saved his worthless life

[CurtEastPoint]

5. Exactly. They're either f****** stupid or evil or both

[SeaDoo77]

6. I Say Evil

Pure Evil.

Every dime they take from the poor they can give to their billionaires. That way they will have money for their campaigns.

GetTheMoneyOut.

[CurtEastPoint]

8. Yes, exactly. Publicly financed campaigns w/limited time and costs is the answer. NO OUTSIDE

MONEY!

[mahina]

14. This is the key point. We can attract a bunch of R voters to publicly owned elections too,.

In Canada the cap on donations is
1100 for individuals and zero for companies, and the election and campaign season lasts about a month.

How to get this message through when it’s not our own party’s message?

Chalking sidewalks is protected speech.

Common Cause.org

Good to meet you CurtEastPoint. Publicly owned elections would restore democracy.


That and the trumps behind bars.

[CurtEastPoint]

15. Agree and nice to meet, also!

[Weed Man]

10. Can we put the bullet back on his ass please?

Let him experience it without the taxpayer funds.

[cstanleytech]

7. They want to redefine middle class as people earning below poverty level wages with McJobs.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

9. Social Security and Medicare arent welfare you stupid fuck

And the biggest Medicaid recipients are seniors in nursing homes. How are you going to make them work?

[Jim Lane]

11. Obamacare repeal is just posturing for the base. It won't happen.

The Republicans can use a reconciliation bill to accomplish certain budget-related goals without being subject to filibuster. Their basic problem is that they get only one reconciliation bill per fiscal year. They wanted to do ACA repeal before September 30, 2017 so that they could use the FY 2016-17 reconciliation bill. September 30 was a deadline because they planned to use this year's bill for the tax heist.

In FY 2016-17, they fell just short of ACA repeal. They went ahead with the tax bill as the FY 2017-18 reconciliation bill, which is how they could pass it over solid Democratic opposition in the Senate. From now until September 30, 2018, therefore, they can't do another reconciliation bill. They can't do anything about the ACA unless they abolish the filibuster (which McConnell is reluctant to do) or get at least nine Democrats and independents to agree to a bill.

There's some prospect for the latter option. It certainly wouldn't be repeal, though. There could be a package of comparatively minor tweaks, along the lines of the Murray-Alexander bill, in which each side gets something it wants. Even that would have tough sledding in the House, though.

[duforsure]

12. On the American people's 2018 agenda

Replace and repeal all the wealthy's entitlements given to them by the corrupt Republicans by replacing them with Democrats for control of the House and the Senate. And to prevent Putin from doing any more damage using trump against this country, and prevent installing any Supreme Court Justices

[sakabatou]

13. Apparently, their plan is to kill/injure anybody who isn't rich by a thousand cuts

[onetexan]

16. will be harder for them to repeal Obamacare with Doug Jones joining the Senate

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/doug-jones-expected-to-take-senate-oath-on-wednesday-shrinking-gop-majority/2018/01/03/b77c1d40-f094-11e7-b3bf-ab90a706e175_story.html?utm_term=.e701ac0b024e

"Jones is already playing an outsize role in Senate politics. His presence allows Democrats to block any Trump nominee, or any budget bill, by winning over just two Republicans. (If one Republican defects, Vice President Pence can break a tie.) Senate Republican aides privately conceded that Jones’s vote will make it nearly impossible to take another run at repealing the Affordable Care Act and may quiet talk of a push for major entitlement legislation this year."