OpenLeft: Bayh, Conrad, Feinstein, Lieberman and Warner form national suicide pact

[marmar]

Bayh, Conrad, Feinstein, Lieberman and Warner form national suicide pact
by: Chris Bowers

Tue Nov 10, 2009 at 23:30


Of all the various blocs and gangs that have been formed in Congress this year, Senators Bayh, Conrad, Feinstein, Lieberman and Warner have managed to form the most regressive one yet. Currently, these five Democrats are demanding that Speaker Pelosi hand over all relevant Congressional power to an independent commission that will be allowed to slash and partially privatize Social Security and Medicare, or else they will allow the United States to default on its debt.

I am not kidding:

Senators from both parties on Tuesday put new pressure on Speaker Nancy Pelosi to turn the power to trim entitlement benefits over to an independent commission.

Seven members of the Senate Budget Committee threatened during a Tuesday hearing to withhold their support for critical legislation to raise the debt ceiling if the bill calling for the creation of a bipartisan fiscal reform commission were not attached. (...)

(...) Congress is under pressure to raise the cap on what the federal government can borrow by mid-December. If the debt ceiling is not raised above its current $12.1 trillion mark by then, the government will exceed its borrowing limits and will be forced to default on the debt. Economists have warned that the inevitable result would be a lowering of the U.S. credit rating, triggering substantial increases in the interest rates the government is already paying.

But before Tuesday's hearing was over, Sens. Conrad, Gregg, Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), George Voinovich (R-Ohio) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) publicly vowed to vote against raising the debt ceiling if a budget reform commission bill doesn't come along with it.

The Republican threats don't matter, since only Democrats are needed to pass the bill.

Let's review the threat that these five Democrats are making:

* They will allow the United States to default on its debt, which will vastly increase the overall amount we have to pay on our debt
UNLESS

* Speaker Nancy Pelosi turns over Congressional power on Social Security and Medicare to an unelected commission that will almost certainly propose deep cuts in Social Security and Medicare entitlements. Keep in mind that if deep cuts to Social Security and Medicare pass under a Democratic trifecta, the party would be doomed at the ballot box for years to come.
This is completely insane, and there is no choice but to call this bluff.

Let's see these five Democratic Senators explain to the entire nation why they allowed the country to default on its debt. No matter how safe their seats appear to be, no Senator is going to win reelection after making the entire country default on its debt Their rationale does not matter. Being blamed for making the country default on its debt-especially after all five of these Democrats voted in favor of the Wall Street bailout and are demanding that Social Security and Medicare be cut-will be the effective end of their political careers.

Go for it, guys. Form your national suicide pact. Tell the country that you are demanding deep cuts in Social Security and Medicare, or else you will personally cause the United States debt to double. Let's see how well that message plays on the air.


http://www.openleft.com/diary/15970/bayh-conrad-feinstein-lieberman-and-warner-form-national-suicide-pact

[valerief]

1. These criminals need to go on a skiing trip. An extreme skiing trip. nt

[virgogal]

5. Tuckerman's Ravine would be good---on a cold,sleety day.

[bluestateguy]

2. The old bipartisan commission thing

Calling the usual cast of characters...

James Baker
Vernon Jordan
Sandra Day O'Connor
Chuck Robb
Warren Rudman
Gary Hart
Richard Ben Veniste
Alan Greenspan
John Danforth
Thomas Kean
Bob Strauss (if he's still alive, that is)

[Hardrada]

10. You forgot Lee Hamilton.

[bluestateguy]

11. Oh yes, and Warren Christopher

maybe Andrew Young too.

[Thrill]

3. Democrats continue to fuck themselves whenever they are in power

.

[AllentownJake]

7. It is because they buy into the lie they have to vote in Republicans

that call themselves democrats in order to win.

[rudy23]

13. No, they continue to fuck us. They're doing quite nicely for themselves.

If anything, the last few years should tell us this whole "Democrat" thing is a sham.

[dflprincess]

4. "..partially privatize Social Security"???

Did the last stock market crash teach these idiots anything?

[Sebastian Doyle]

6. FUCK the DLC

And especially fuck anyone who ever entertained the idea of that piece of corporatist shit Mark Warner ever being a viable Presidential candidate.

BTW, privatizing Social Security has been in the DLC agenda for years. Hillary was originally going to run on this fiasco, branded as the "American Dream Initiative".

It's time to drive a stake through the heart of those bloodsuckers. (no offense to vampires)

[rudy23]

14. Obama is the perfect person to run the DLC playbook. Who's gonna believe us when we say

"Our president is a Republican who will destroy the Democratic party from within"?

Especially to our low-information voting friends who still think Obama is the coolest dude in the universe. Try telling them he's a Republican and see what kind of looks you get. But it's true--that's why he's the perfect DLC frontman. Watch all the free-market right wing bullshit that he rams through with no problems even remotely difficult as the healthcare bill.

[BrklynLiberal]

8. Every one of them deserves to be dumped...literally...

[blues90]

9. dumped is putting it lightly.

I really wish I could post my ideas on what should be done with them.

[blues90]

12. there are three branches , how can the senate force congress

and over ride them ? I don't get this insanity at all. Does this affect people already of SS ? Does it privatize where future SS funds go. I can't find anything that explains this. Deep cuts does not sound good to me and what affect does this have on the new so called health care bill.

[bvar22]

15. Be afraid...Be very afraid.

Giving Social Security to Wall Street has always been a primary goal of the DLC.

The DLC New Team
Liberal Democrats Need NOT Apply

(Screen Capped from the DLC Website)

Election 2008 was a crushing defeat for the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party.
Anyone who still does NOT know who Obama is working for has NOT been paying attention.

First, a Trillion Dollar direct gift to their friends on Wall Street, no strings attached.

Now, a Trillion Dollar gift to their friends in the Health Insurance Industry, the incestuous 1st Cousin of Wall Street.

Next on the DLC hit list, giving Social Security/Medicare to Wall Street.
They are already calling it "Entitlement Reform".

[dflprincess]

20. With this administration and Congress anything called "reform" is something to fear

the word has become code for "We're going to screw you".

[Sebastian Doyle]

16. This would be a good time to consider this quote from the last decent Republican President

"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
- President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 11/8/54

The splinter group he was referring to was more than likely the Bush Crime Family, who actually had a lot to do with putting him and their protege Nixon in office. Unlike Dick though, Ike was never truly on board with their agenda.

Do we really want the Democratic party to be the ones who prove him right? Sadly, I suspect the DLC do, as I have said for years that they are nothing but a bunch of treasonous Repukes, sabotaging our party from within :evilfrown:

[Laelth]

17. I am revolted. This CAN'T be right.

Please. Tell me I am dreaming.

:shrug:

-Laelth

[blues90]

18. I can't believe this topic has so few hits .

You see Palin all over the place. We can't let this happen.

[Uncle Joe]

19. If this is for real, these Senators seem to be intent on snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory

at least so far as a win would be defined for the American People.

Are they so oblivious as to what's happening to the nation!?

I hope Congresswoman Pelosi doesn't cave in to this kind of irresponsible stupidity.

If you need the money raise the fucking taxes on the wealthy to anywhere near like they were in the 60s and quit screwing the people!

One thing is for sure if they are so stupid as to allow the U.S. to default on it's debt; then you haven't seen anything yet in regards to gold appreciation.

[spanone]

21. pelosi needs to get on every show she can exposing these fucks for who they are

[Hekate]

22. Feinstein ... I won't forget this when primary season rolls around again...

:argh:

[SpartanDem]

23. Somebody's been taking fearmongering lessons from the GOP

This isn't new this was proposed in the summer.

You probably haven't heard of MedPAC. Most people haven't. It stands for The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission and it's an independent congressional agency formed in 1997 to advise the Congress on matters relating to Medicare. The commission is staffed by experts who are appointed for three-year terms, and its existence is due to a simple insight: Medicare payment policy is too technical for the Congress. There aren't five senators with an informed opinion on the "equipment use standard" for imaging machines, much less 50, and much less 100.

Every year, MedPAC releases a "report to the Congress on Medicare payment policy." The report contains acres of analysis (this year's "assessing payment adequacy and updating payments in fee-for-service Medicare" was particularly thrilling) and a final chapter on recommendations. The recommendations tend to be smart, aggressive, reforms. The sort of reforms experts agree are needed, but interest groups effortlessly stymie. The recommendations don't, in other words, matter. None of it does, really. The report sits on a shelf.

But what if it didn't? What if MedPAC had power?

That's what the White House wants. There are, I'm told, two policies under consideration. The first is a version of Senator Jay Rockefeller's MedPAC Reform Act. This legislation would move MedPAC into the executive branch. The commissioners would be approved by Congress and appointed for six-year terms. Beyond that, it would largely be an autonomous agency, able to set Medicare payment rates, conduct trial programs, and fund policy initiatives.

That's the plan Obama spoke of favorably in yesterday's meeting. But what hasn't been reported is that senior administration officials are also considering another variant: This plan would package MedPAC's yearly recommendation and fast track them through Congress for a simple, up-or-down vote. No filibuster. No changes to the package of recommendations. Health reform, under this scenario, would become a yearly legislative project.


http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/06/breaking_how_the_white_house_p.html

More articles that I would suggest reading.

How Obama Plans to Reform Medicare

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/06/how_obama_plans_to_reform_medi.html



Will the Medicare Commission survive Congress?


http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/11/will_the_medicare_commission_s.html