Saturday, May 6, 2017

The U.S. Senate Passes a $1.1 Trillion Spending Bill

The republican controlled Senate passed the bill by a vote of 79 - 18 which will keep the government running thru Sept. 30, the end of this fiscal year which actually ends President Obama's last fiscal year.  The legislation eliminated funding for several items Trump wanted and asked for including money to build the WALL which set off angry tweets from Trump (what else is new?) before the vote was even taken.

Trump was also peeved because the bill rejected several cuts Trump wanted and he reacted by saying the government needs a good shut down in September when the spending bill expires.  He also said the Senate should go back to the majority vote of 51 instead of the normal 60 votes needed to pass legislation.  The republicans have only 52 votes they control and Trump knows the democrats vote is necessary for passing his agenda.

The bill also approved $1.5 billion in emergency spending for border security that the democrats pushed for and that the senate agreed with.  The irony of this item those who follow politics will recall was in the democratic controlled senate bill on immigration reform that was passed in 2013 by the democratic controlled senate only to die in the republican controlled house at the time without even a hearing.  The democratic influence on this bill was noticeable.

The tea party republican representative Dave Brat said the legislation was a win for the democrats and loss for conservatives.  There goes that word again, "conservative" the ugly un-American ideology.  For them its ideology first, for democrats its America and its people first and that is who benefits the most from the bill.

And of course, Trump, the little boy President could not get his way so he talked about shutting down the government in September, something the republican party likes to do.  Yes every day the President's actions tell us Hillary Clinton is a better woman than Trump is a man.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

President Trump and The U.S. House of Representatives: The Clowns In Charge of Governing.

The republican controlled House at the urging of President Trump passed their American Health Care Act to repeal and replace the ACA and in doing so placed in jeopardy millions of Americans who will lose their insurance or will not be insured, and or lose the advantages of their present coverage under the ACA if the House's action ever becomes law.

Trump and the House made several changes to satisfy enough republicans to vote for the bill.  Twenty republicans voted against the bill as did all democrats.  All of Louisiana's republican reps in the House voted for the sorry bill.  It was a vote to pass just any thing and Trump and his co-horts gloated and bragged at a press conference after the vote proving they could care less about the health care of the people and  in their own inability to govern.  The vote was another act of regressive legislation by a President and one House of congress that displayed their anti-American attitude for all to see.

The Huffington Post reported members of the news media asked several republicans to explain what the bill contained or the effects of the bill and could not answer.  One would think after saying they had a plan for the last seven years they would know at least a little about the contents of the bill.  The CBO has not issued their opinion concerning the effects of this latest bill but will do so in due time.  Usually congress waits to hear what the CBO says about a proposal before they actually vote but the rush to judgement was more important to the republicans.

The bill now goes to the republican controlled U.S. Senate for their action.  They have enough votes to pass a bill on their own with out democratic support and reports are telling of the Senate coming up with their own version of health care to repeal and replace the ACA.  But they too in the Senate have the same problems as the House and want to pass something.

Every day President Trump and his party show their lack of respect for the people and the institutions of government by their own words and deeds.  And using health care as a political football is about as low as one can stoop.  And that really says it all.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio