Congress Catch-All

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p5mmr9 said:
I wonder if Bondi really will prosecute Cheney. It seems like a real loser for MAGA to dig Jan 6th back up - and specifically dig the Jan 6th committee back up. A lot of the findings from that committee kind of flew under the radar - as I note earlier in this thread there are still many "well informed" people who have no idea what the actual conspiracy was. The more MAGA picks at that wound the more likely the truth becomes more common knowledge. It would seem threats are the real weapon here and pushing those threats into action is a net negative for Trump and his sycophants. But it must be very hard for MAGA to pull away from the allure of jailing Dick Cheney's daughter.
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Generally agree. A persecution of Cheney gives opportunity for increased attention on J6, and this time maga/maga adjacent would be more likely to watch because they’ll tune in for the team sports/domination angle.
 
Callatoroy said:
this bill did cut the proposed pork. spending is at its current levels. no new pork included. unless you have read the bill since it just got the green light and seen that the proposed spending is still there.
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Just wanted to see if you’ve found any worthwhile savings from the modified bill yet. Looks like they removed the COLA adjustments for congressional pay, although that will need to be revisited in March. Pediatric cancer funding got cut, so congrats I guess? Otherwise, I’m not seeing any savings at all, even against current spending. Still think this was worth the embarrassment?
 
lawtig02 said:
Just wanted to see if you’ve found any worthwhile savings from the modified bill yet. Looks like they removed the COLA adjustments for congressional pay, although that will need to be revisited in March. Pediatric cancer funding got cut, so congrats I guess? Otherwise, I’m not seeing any savings at all, even against current spending. Still think this was worth the embarrassment?
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They used a smaller font on the new document, so they are saving paper.
 
wcbm.com

‘Missing’ GOP Congresswoman Not Seen For Six Months Finally Found Living at Dementia Care Home

In a startling revelation, Rep. Kay Granger, missing for six months, has been found living in a dementia care home. Discover the details behind her sudden disappearance and the implications for her political legacy. The post ‘Missing’ GOP Congresswoman Not Seen For Six Months Finally Found...
wcbm.com wcbm.com

‘Missing’ GOP Congresswoman Not Seen For Six Months Finally Found Living at Dementia Care Home​

 
altmin said:
wcbm.com

‘Missing’ GOP Congresswoman Not Seen For Six Months Finally Found Living at Dementia Care Home

In a startling revelation, Rep. Kay Granger, missing for six months, has been found living in a dementia care home. Discover the details behind her sudden disappearance and the implications for her political legacy. The post ‘Missing’ GOP Congresswoman Not Seen For Six Months Finally Found...
wcbm.com wcbm.com

‘Missing’ GOP Congresswoman Not Seen For Six Months Finally Found Living at Dementia Care Home​

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I wonder if she received her congressional salary for all of that time?
 
SnoopRob said:
I wonder if she received her congressional salary for all of that time?
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She was in office; so, she received her compensation. She left her chairmanship of the House APPROPRIATIONS Committee on April 10. So, at least since 4/10/24, it was known she was suffering from dementia; watching video of her talking about healthcare from earlier years, she’s either not very articulate or intelligent or the onset of dementia goes back to at least 2014.

I wonder if Congressional health care is so robust that it fully funded her care? Unlike care for most Americans suffering from dementia.

She’s been opposed to Obamacare from the get-go.
 
GIFT LINK —> https://wapo.st/4gNv8gV

“Some time after Donald Trump won the Nov. 5 election, he told House Speaker Mike Johnson that he wanted the federal debt limit taken care of before he took office, according to people close to both leaders. That’s all they agree on.

After that, the accounts diverge. Multiple House Republican lawmakers said the president-elect mentioned eliminating the debt ceiling casually and in passing, and that he understood Johnson’s explanation that the proposal didn’t have the votes to pass. Hill Republicans broadly agreed that no one got the impression Trump was repeatedly and clearly demanding that they raise the debt ceiling before Christmas. His sudden red line Wednesday reverberated across the Capitol, shocking House and Senate Republicans.

Advisers to Trump, though, said he had made his position clear to Johnson for weeks or even a month — long before going public Wednesday with the demand that upended the lame-duck congressional session and brought the government to the brink of shutting down. …”

——
One side in this he said/he said story has limited credibility, the other side has negative credibility. :unsure:
 
Cont’d)

“… A handshake agreement was made Friday to address the debt ceiling in the new year.

Johnson flashed the draft agreement in a House GOP conference meeting that afternoon that said they would raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion in a packaged deal that would include Trump’s border security and economic reform asks, “with an agreement that we will cut $2.5 trillion in net mandatory spending” throughout the legislative process.

Many House Republicans, particularly those responsible for allotting government spending, knew that was an impossible goal unless the party went against its campaign promise to not cut Medicare or Social Security.

Hard-liners also knew an agreement in principle would likely be broken, but could no longer protest as the train was leaving the station on a funding bill that mirrored Thursday’s failed proposal, except that it no longer included the debt ceiling hike.

“They call that a gentleman’s agreement, but there are no gentlemen out here,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tennessee) said. …”
 
“… According to multiple Democrats familiar with the situation, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) told the caucus that Johnson rescinding the initial deal and closing off communication with Democrats at several points afterward proved that the relationship was damaged, possibly beyond repair.

Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-California) also told Democrats he personally would never ask members to support Johnson moving forward.
All Democrats joined 170 Republicans to vote in favor of the bill Friday that required two-thirds supports to pass to the Senate. Without them, the bill would have failed as 34 Republicans voted against the measure.

Musk claimed victory, based on the bill’s text shrinking from 1,500 pages to just over 100.

Most of the page savings came from removing the regulation on pharmacy benefit managers since health care rules are highly technical. But the overall cost of the bill changed little.

… At 1:15 a.m. on Saturday, the Senate unanimously agreed to a stand-alone bill to transfer RFK Stadium to D.C., which passed the House in February. The legislation included no giveaways for the city, as Musk alleged.

The funding for pediatric cancer research that fell out of the spending package also passed separately with unanimous consent. In the end, neither Trump nor Musk got much of what they had demanded.“
 
nycfan said:
Cont’d)

“… A handshake agreement was made Friday to address the debt ceiling in the new year.

Johnson flashed the draft agreement in a House GOP conference meeting that afternoon that said they would raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion in a packaged deal that would include Trump’s border security and economic reform asks, “with an agreement that we will cut $2.5 trillion in net mandatory spending” throughout the legislative process.

Many House Republicans, particularly those responsible for allotting government spending, knew that was an impossible goal unless the party went against its campaign promise to not cut Medicare or Social Security.

Hard-liners also knew an agreement in principle would likely be broken, but could no longer protest as the train was leaving the station on a funding bill that mirrored Thursday’s failed proposal, except that it no longer included the debt ceiling hike.

“They call that a gentleman’s agreement, but there are no gentlemen out here,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tennessee) said. …”
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Johnson = capo
Trump = consigliere
Elon = don

There’s no honor, or honesty, among thieves.
 
“… The Senate passed the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act after it passed legislation to fund the government until mid March. The Gabriella Miller bill gives the National Institutes of Health $63 million over five years to conduct childhood cancer and disease research, according to Ellyn Miller, founder of the Smashing Walnuts Foundation that pushed for the bill, which is named after her daughter who died of brain cancer.

But Congress did not pass other pediatric cancer research measures that had been stripped from the government-funding bill.

… It’s not clear why Republicans dropped the health care package. The cost of the package was offset, according to a congressional cost estimate reviewed by STAT. So it wasn’t the cost itself that led to it being stripped. …”

——
The research dollars extension ain’t nothing, but here is what was not included:

“…
  • A program that rewards researchers for approvals of pediatric cancer drugs with valuable vouchers that require faster Food and Drug Administration reviews of another drug application of any kind. The priority review voucher program was to be extended until 2029.
  • A program that would allow kids with cancer who are covered by Medicaid and the Children’s health insurance program known as CHIP to receive out-of-state treatment.
  • New authority for the FDA to fine companies when they don’t complete required pediatric studies. The FDA already has this authority for adult studies.
  • New FDA authority to require that companies study pediatric drugs in combination with other treatments for the same disease when those treatments are owned by the same company or are available as generics. “
Now, maybe some version of these bills will get revived and passed as part of a more comprehensive and systematic budget overhaul that is intended by some in the GOP to include $2T in spending cuts.

But maybe not. Our resources are not infinite and as always something has to give. If we have an orderly debate of debt, taxes and spending priorities, these might or might not make the cut. And if I though we were about to have a realistic debate and overhaul of the U.S. budget, I would be hopeful some of these programs have a real chance of passage (many of which are intended to provide services for childhood cancer patients that are already available to elderly cancer patients — which may be the real issue, a perceived mission creep toward Medicare for all who need it).
 


GIFT LINK —> https://www.wsj.com/politics/gop-sp...2a?st=RsVKAD&reflink=mobilewebshare_permalink

“The DOGE caught the CR, and the road only gets bumpier from here.

The latest episode of House Republicans’ fiscal-policy psychodrama featured a familiar problem—how to unite a fractious and slim majority around a continuing resolution, or CR, to keep the government open. That was tough enough before Elon Musk, co-head of President-elect Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, spurred Republicans to chuck a bipartisan agreement that included a series of unrelated deals. …”
 
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