Shameless

If there is a republican rep who is a decent human being, I haven't seen them.
Benen: OBJECTIONABLE BEHAVIOR....

Ah, the splendor of the American political process. Congressional Republicans, once again, making the country proud.

Members of the Democratic Women's Caucus, at the outset of the debate over health care reform, took to the floor of the House of Representatives to highlight the health needs of American women, and the ways in which reform is necessary. House Republicans decided not to let them speak.

Whenever one of the lawmakers would one come to the microphone, Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) would simply say, over and over again, in response to nothing, "I object, I object, I object."

It was a procedural gag order at its most inane.

Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Ohio) asked, "Do I not have the right to be able to continue my sentence without objections that are trying to censor my remarks here on the floor that I have a right to make as a member of this House?"

Apparently not.

It's going to be a long day.

Think Progress: Gingrich: The Founding Fathers would be ‘very severe critics’ of Obama if they were alive today.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich spoke before a conservative audience in Naples, FL yesterday. Gingrich gave a talk about his new book, To Try Men’s Souls, which tells the story of men who played a critical role in the Revolutionary War. When a reporter with the Naples News asked Gingrich what the Founding Fathers would “say about our current issues” if they were alive today, he suggested that they would be “very severe critics” of President Obama:

I think they would be very, very severe critics of the current system. And they would tell us that if we continue to drive God out of public life and we continue to increase power in Washington, we are literally putting our freedom at risk.

Watch it:

Gingrich also dodged a question about who he prefers in the Republican primary in Florida’s Senate race. He said former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio (he initially slipped and called him “Mario”) is “a very aggressive, very articulate conservative,” while Gov. Charlie Crist is “a very solid political figure.” Gingrich also said that, “at the moment,” he’s not thinking about running for President in 2012.

Great portrait. Are they all this stupid? I know, rhetorical question.
Getting to know Rep. Virginia Foxx Nov. 6: TMI: Kent Jones joins Rachel Maddow to take a closer look at Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-NC.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

John Cole: So Why Didn’t You?

Jack Kingston, R-Ga, on the Democratic health care bill:

“This bill is a wrecking ball to the entire economy,” said Representative Jack Kingston, Republican of Georgia. “ We need targeted specific reforms to help people who have fallen through the health care cracks.”

Ezra Klein, on the Republican bill unveiled just the other day:

The Republican alternative will have helped 3 million people secure coverage, which is barely keeping up with population growth. Compare that to the Democratic bill, which covers 36 million more people and cuts the uninsured population to 4 percent.

But maybe, you say, the Republican bill does a really good job cutting costs. According to CBO, the GOP’s alternative will shave $68 billion off the deficit in the next 10 years. The Democrats, CBO says, will slice $104 billion off the deficit.

The Democratic bill, in other words, covers 12 times as many people and saves $36 billion more than the Republican plan. And amazingly, the Democratic bill has already been through three committees and a merger process.

Shut up, Rep. Kingston. If all we need to do is help those who have slipped through the cracks, then why the hell couldn’t the Republicans do that in their “alternative?” Why does anyone take these people seriously?

You know, I don’t know if the Democrat’s plan is an objectively good bill, and I have my doubts. I have no idea if it will work as planned and be an objectively good thing in the long run. But at least they are trying.

Benen: THEY'RE NOT ABOVE LYING....

When House Republicans finally unveiled their health care reform proposal this week, one of the glaring problems was that it did not prohibit private insurance companies from discriminating against consumers with pre-existing conditions.

There weren't even any ambiguities. The Wall Street Journal reported this week, "Minority Leader John Boehner (R., Ohio) said Monday that the plan wouldn't seek to prevent health-insurance companies from denying sick people insurance -- a key plank of the Democrats' legislation."

So, what did Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) have to say on the House floor last night?

"The Republican alternative makes it illegal for an insurance company to deny coverage to someone with prior coverage on the basis of a preexisting condition."

Seriously? That's clearly and demonstrably wrong. I can appreciate a good spin on a bad bill as much as the next guy, but "keeps it legal" and "makes it illegal" are not the same.

It's not even a close call: "[The] GOP alternative plan ... does not prohibit health insurance companies from denying coverage to people due to pre-existing medical conditions."

Congressional Republicans used to support these kinds of restrictions on private insurers, but dropped their commitment when crafting their own plan. Pretending otherwise isn't helpful. It's also a reminder about why bipartisan outreach hasn't gone well -- a few too many lawmakers don't know, or don't care about, the facts.

John Cole: Here Is How It Works

What does it cost to get $2.4 billion in unemployment benefits extension?

$24 billion:

President Obama is scheduled today to put his signature to HR 3548, the unemployment extension bill that’s been struggling to make its way out of Congress for over a month. Thousands of unemployed Americans will applaud this move by Congress and the White House. Despite the protracted process of getting the bill through the Senate after an initial version was passed in the House, this is much-needed legislation that will help unemployed Americans whose benefits have or will run out in all 50 states.

***

Also included in this bill is an extension of the homebuyer tax credit to April 2010. The bill totals $24 billion in economic stimulus through these programs.

More here:

The House voted 403-12 today to approve Senate amendments to H.R. 3548, the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2009, and sent the measure to
President Obama for his signature. The bill extends unemployment insurance benefits but also includes a provision added in the Senate that will expand businesses` ability to “carry back” net operating losses suffered during the current recession in order to claim a refund from taxes paid in previous years.

You see- you aren’t allowed to just pass a bill extending unemployment benefits at the cost of $2.4 billion dollars, because that would be socialism. It takes another $21.6 billion to grease the palms of the people who own the “moderates” and the “fiscal conservatives,” and once you get the cost up to $24 billion, you have achieved “capitalism.”

Please tell me I am interpreting this wrong. I would love to be wrong about this. I really would. I’m sure no bad can come from artificially propping up the housing market with tax credits.