A right-winger acquaintance is telling me to "read Obama's health care bill"

[crim son]

so I can see he's right about something. Now, where might I find that bill? Is there anything official even out there yet?

[bemildred]

1. There are, last I heard, five drafts in Congress, none of them came from Obama

or even from the executive branch. The EB has made comments, but it did not offer a draft bill. Calling it Obama's bill is at best as sure sign of ignorance.

[mwb970]

9. They don't even call it "Obama's bill". They call it "ObamaCare".

:eyes:

[bemildred]

11. Obama does want health care reform, with certain goals in mind.

I'm actually OK with that, calling it Obamacare, it sort of sounds like Medicare, and Medicare has worked very well.

[mwb970]

24. But they use the term to spin Obama hatred into health-reform hatred.

It has that Frank Luntz feel to it.

[Ian David]

2. No. There is no bill yet. Only what is being circulated by the right-wing on the internets.

Tell him The Obama Bill covers free birthday sex with a prostitute once a year at one of the legally-regulated brothels in Nevada.

Tell him Ron Paul pushed for that provision on behalf of his supporters at The Moonlight Bunny Ranch.

[anigbrowl]

21. Incorrect. There are several bills in congress. This is probably the one the OP wants...

HR 3200: you can get it at thomas.loc.gov but I find this version infinitely more readable...

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h3200/text

I also support this site because it lets people comment on legislation, and vote to support it (or not). this bill could use votes of support, if you read it and agree with its provisions of course.

It is quite long, but 1000 pages of legislation is nowhere near as long as a 1000 page book, since a page of legislation is essentially types and tripled-spaced - in terms of actual time-to-read it's about equivalent to a 150 page book. as pointed out above, this is not the only health care legislation on the table, and Congress has yet to settle on a single definitive bill.

[HughBeaumont]

3. The whole "Read the Bill" thing is so they can point out false interpretations of the statements.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=6254852

Here's a debunkin' thread, linkin' to debunkin' links.

[Cha]

4. Your winger aquaintance doesn't know

what he's talking about..does that surprise you?

[Stephanie]

5. HR 3200

http://docs.house.gov/edlabor/AAHCA-BillText-071409.pdf

[sinkingfeeling]

6. Here's one. It's the House draft that the RW used for their email that listed page numbers.

http://edlabor.house.gov/documents/111/pdf/publications/AAHCA-BillText-071409.pdf

[City Lights]

7. Ask your winger friend to forward it to you. nt

[crim son]

12. I did and he remains silent.

Hence my query here.

[Cant trust em]

8. Here's a summary

http://help.senate.gov/Maj_press/2009_07_15_b.pdf

But before we even go there, has this person read the bill?

Secondly, there are several proposals out there right now in the various committees that have jurisdiction over health care. There is no "Obama health care bill".

[dynasaw]

10. HR 3200

Full text at:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-3200

[PA Democrat]

13. Ask him to provide you with his specific objections since he has so "obviously" read it himself.

I guarantee you, you will get a bunch of cut and paste BS from some right wing website. They make claims about things that are supposedly in the bill and conveniently leave out an essential word like "voluntary". For example there was a troll here yesterday claiming that Obama was going to have people showing up at your door when you had a baby to do home inspections. The actual text of one of the proposed bills was that it would provide funding for voluntary counseling programs for new parents.

[crim son]

27. He's remaining very silent:

I suspect he's smart enough to realize that he can't defend his position, not using legitimate information.

Ahhh, it's been my pleasure!

[Arkana]

14. Whenever you hear that it's to disguise the fact that they don't know

what they're talking about. There are several versions of the healthcare bill and nothing is set in stone yet, so that's a disingenuous question at best.

[redqueen]

15. There isn't one. There are a few versions, but none of them are "Obama's".

Idiots... fucking everywhere.

[crim son]

16. I know, and I'm doing my part to make him feel like an ass. n/t

[tabatha]

18. Ask him for the specific item, so that you can go there directly.

I bet crickets is what you will hear.

[Renew Deal]

17. Ask him to give you his copy.

Obama doesn't have a bill. The house and senate have several.

[SOS]

19. Inform your wingnut that the executive branch does not write legislation

Since all these right-wing extremists claim to be constitutional scholars, it's surprising that he doesn't know how a bill becomes law.
Didn't this guy have Schoolhouse Rock on TV when he was a kid?

[mnhtnbb]

22. Ding Ding Ding!! We have a winner!

[Davis_X_Machina]

23. They're crypto-monarchists...

...so in their world, the President does make the law. The job of Congress is to ratify the edicts of the Imperial President, and wave their pom-poms.

[loyalkydem]

20. I tell him

to go stuff it in his ass. He's most likely anti Obama anyway.

[Maru Kitteh]

25. Ask the racist wingnut to show you the actual bill and tell him you'll be happy to read it as soon

as he does.

[crim son]

26. I did something like that:

I sent him the link to the proposed HR legislation and asked him to specify the page and paragraph where he found his information. No response!