Democratic Congressman Blows Up At GOP During Obamacare Hearing: ‘Are You Really Serious?’

Democratic Congressman Blows Up At GOP During Obamacare Hearing: ‘Are You Really Serious?’

Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) slammed Republicans for failing to support the Affordable Care Act once it became law, challenging them to go back to their districts and tell their constituents that they’ll be taking away their coverage

This Shutdown isn't about Obamacare...it's about OBAMA

I've said something for a long time and I will open this piece with it:

The Republican Party DECIDED to commit ECONOMIC TREASON against this country beginning January 20, 2009.

The very night of Barack Obama's inauguration, a group of GOP leaders met, and decided, in the midst of the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression that they only would not work with this President to try and fix the economy, but that they would actively work against ANYTHING that he brought forth.

THAT is why, when one looks back at the list of accomplishments by President Obama in his first term in office..



They were done WITHOUT GOP votes.

That CHOICE of ECONOMIC TREASON has continued throughout the Presidency of Barack Obama.

It is the reason why this recovery hasn't gotten as far as it could have. While the private sector has rebounded, the GOP, specifically, the GOP in the STATES, took a buzzsaw to Government Employees, and it is the downturn in PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYMENT that drags the economy down.

They took 43 votes to repeal Obamacare

But couldn't put the President's American Jobs Act forth for ONE vote. Nor, have they brought forth ONE single jobs bill since they took over the house in 2011.

Since taking over the House in 2011, there hasn't been ONE piece of meaningful legislation that has been brought forth by the GOP.

Rachel Maddow did a terrific piece on this. She opens up the segment explaining and detailing all the legislation that the President was able to bring forth when he had a Democratic House and Senate. The list was more than impressive.

Then, she brought up what the GOP has done since retaking the House...absolutely nothing.

Since they took over the House, there has been nothing meaningful coming out of there, including a BUDGET.

This country has been forced to run itself on continuing resolutions.

The President said the other day that the two things the House of Representatives are charged with are the following:

1. Produce a budget

2. Pay the bills the United States runs up

And, they have DELIBERATELY been AWOL with both duties.

The party that inherited a BUDGET SURPLUS from Bill Clinton and didn't two shyts about budget deficits as they:

1. Lied us into not one, but TWO wars that were kept ' off the books'

2. Put in place tax cuts during wartime - something NEVER EVER done before

3. Put in place the unpaid for Medicare Part D

THAT Party began screaming about deficits once a Black man was elected President. But, since they didn't open up their mouths about it before hand as George W. Bush spent us into all this debt, I never took them seriously and saw them for what it was.

They were negligent about doing their duty because they wanted to SABOTAGE THE ECONOMY as to harm the President's re-election chances. It's as plain as day. They CHOSE to betray this country because they thought a bad economy would be a great way to run against President Obama. In addition to this, they also planned using unlimited financial resources - hence, the Citizens United decision, and a willing MSM media - remember the Study confirming that NINETY PERCENT of the President's coverage was NEGATIVE. On top of this, don't forget the Voter Suppression bills put forth by the GOP that the MSM, save for a few hearty and loud souls, kept quiet about during the 2012 election.

So, let's look at the stacked deck:

1. Sabotaging the American Economy - check

2. Unlimited financial resources - check

3. Compliant MSM Media that wouldn't report Willard's lies - check

4. Attempted Voter Suppression from coast to coast - check

ALL this, so that the Black man wouldn't win a second term.

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Obamacare Exchange Enrollment Opens Today: Know the FACTS

President Obama, Vice President Biden, and senior staff applaud in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, as the House passes the health care reform bill, March 21, 2010

----Photo by Pete Souza

In March 2010, the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), into law.

Every Democratic President, since Harry Truman, has wanted to do healthcare.

But, it took Barack Obama to get the ACA through and into law.

Remember, Truman failed at it because of racism and Jim Crow - because the Southerners feared de-segregated hospitals. If there was Universal Healthcare, that healthcare was a RIGHT, then they couldn't keep up American Apartheid.

Today is the first day where millions of Americans can sign up for medical health insurance at the Medical Healthcare Exchanges.

I can't begin to tell you the simmering rage that has been building within me, as I have watched the GOP posture and threaten not only a government shutdown, but the possibility of default on the full faith and credit of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA because of Obamacare.

And, from here on out, I will call it OBAMACARE.

Because, I will take what the GOP began as a slur and turn it around on them.

I want those dumb, ignorant hicks from RedStateLand, who are quoted in their local papers about how great their new state exchange is, to know, contrary to their IGNORANCE, that state exchange and all of it's benefits are OBAMACARE.

That's right.

When you are sitting at your doctor's appointment for the first time in years because you finally have insurance - SAY THANK YOU, PRESIDENT OBAMA.

When your prescriptions don't cost you an arm and a leg because you finally have insurance - SAY THANK YOU, PRESIDENT OBAMA.

When your wife, mother, sister, grandmother, aunt, daughter, goes for their mammogram and they have no co-pay - SAY THANK YOU, PRESIDENT OBAMA.

When your wife, sister, granddaughter, niece, doesn't have to worry about contraception and how she's going to pay for it - SAY THANK YOU, PRESIDENT OBAMA.

When your grandmother and grandfather now go for their wellness checkups with Medicare and have no co-pay -SAY THANK YOU, PRESIDENT OBAMA.

When the family members that have some sort of pre-existing condition can finally get health insurance - SAY THANK YOU, PRESIDENT OBAMA.

The President said last week that he doesn't care what they call it, as long as people get the benefits.

He might not, but I do. I and millions like me, who understand the monumental accomplishment of what he did, and our utter resentment of the assholes that have spent over a HALF BILLION DOLLARS, first to try and defeat the bill, and then to spread LIES about it.

That's why I have no tolerance for incompetent supposed 'journalists' like college dropout Chuck Todd at MSNBC who actually had the never to say last week that it wasn't his job to point out the GOP's LIES about Obamacare.

It wasn't his job?

If it's not YOUR JOB to tell the truth about obvious LIES told about a program that will benefit MILLIONS OF AMERICANS - then that the hell is your job?

The bottom line is that the GOP legislators - ALL OF WHOM ENJOY TAXPAYER FUNDED TOP OF THE LINE HEALTHCARE

Are working overtime - they have voted 43 times to repeal Obamacare....

They are willing to shut down the government, so that 30 MILLION AMERICANS will be denied healthcare.

THAT is their goal.

Mull on that.

How transformational is what President Barack Obama achieved?

Think about this.....healthcare is the final part of the social safety net that every other industrialized country enjoys..and, it took a Black man, Barack Obama, to ensure that, unlike with Social Security and Medicare, THIS part of the social safety net will BEGIN not excluding huge chunks of the American populace. Remember, when Social Security began, FDR excluded professions that ' coincidentally' had large numbers of Blacks employed in them (this was snark - wasn't no coincidence). Same thing for Medicare....65 was chosen as the age, because GUESS WHO had a shorter life expectancy when it was designed....yeah, you know the answer.

But, not OBAMACARE. From the beginning, it will help the broadest swath of Americans possible.

Where to begin with the Obamacare Exchanges?

Here's a video.



You can begin at HEALTHCARE.GOV

Before I begin to drop links, I want to bring your attention to an absolutely fabulous post by zizi2 over at The Obama Diary from last week. The entire post is wonderful, but here's the core of why the GOP is fighting this. Here is the reason they despise President Barack Obama so much:

GOP hates Obamacare Cuz Pres Obama snatched Ayn Rand’s wig

With the exception of religious cultists who abdicate control over their own being, we as INDIVIDUALS instinctively strive for SELF-PRESERVATION especially when our life is threatened. It’s an existential article of faith. And nothing crystalizes this fact more readily than when we NEED healthcare to prevent or cure illness.

..................................

In the perverse Ayn Randian philosophy that the likes of the Koch brothers espouse, there’s talk of pursuing one’s own interests only. But in actuality what they have told their rubes is that they must sacrifice their economic interests in service of ideology. In other words 1%ers preach cultural adherence and ideological purity to their followers while they themselves siphon every public asset and good to themselves. It’s a faith-based heist of the commonweal.

****

President Obama co-opted Ayn Rand’s idea of rational self-interest, turned it on its head, and the Republican Kochsters HATE him for it. The ACA challenges the ability of the Bircher puppetmasters and their corporate ilk to control their rubes over the single most important and intimate aspect of their lives; healthcare. But worse for them it has electoral implications, at least in the near term. Kochsters know it, we know it, and ordinary Americans will soon know it too. As VP Biden said, it’s a BFD, positively for ordinary Americans, and negatively for the Kochsters.

****

Healthcare is ground zero. It’s a singular necessity of life in which no one can live vicariously through another person’s. In an airplane emergency if your oxygen mask IS working you hold on to yours for dear life regardless of whether the passenger in seat 53G’s mask is working or not. That’s Rational Self-Interest. You can’t bullshit people about what they are getting or not getting. Healthcare is personal. Too intimate. No one ever forgets what that experience is like or costs. The impact is visceral. The numbers don’t lie. People know that they paid $1500 out of pocket last year for an MRI and now it is covered under ACA.

..................

President Obama snatched Ayn Rand’s wig in that he is redefining those functions that Libertarians allow government to perform, most notably DEFENCE. He is rudely substituting Healthcare for that without an iota of apology. In PBO’s redefinition a strong nation state is one filled with HEALTHY people maximizing their potential in pursuit of their rational interests, not fancy munitions. Secondly whereas Rand’s binary thinking led her to see “community” as anathema to individual interests, PBO sees it instead as both lifeblood and dynamic marketplace that enables said individual to achieve anything at all. Healthcare is the test ground for his cooptation of Randian self-interest.

.............................

The ACA also breaks the stranglehold of employers on workers, who until now have hung onto miserable jobs for dear life cuz of healthcare, and have traded real wages for “benefit packages” whose worth start depreciating the very moment you start clocking into work. Paltry salaries will be revealed for what they truly are.

The boon will be for those raring to strike out on their own but have dared not take the risk because of healthcare security their employer provides, and the fear of illness bankrupting them should they leave.

The entire piece was wonderful, but this last part that I bolded, is the heart of why they hate this President.

How many people know someone who is at a job THEY HATE because of healthcare?

How many people know someone that has the years to retire, but are too young for Medicare, so they don't, because of healthcare expenses?

How many people know someone who took a job they really didn't want because of healthcare benefits?

How many people know someone young who wants to take a certain job, that maybe doesn't pay a lot, because of benefits?

How many people know someone who wants to be an entrepreneur, but they have a family, and didn't because they couldn't think of leaving their family vulnerable without health insurance?

Don't we all know SOMEONE in one of these categories above?

OBAMACARE has the potential to change ALLL of that.

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The Affordable Care Act is here to stay

Speaking from Largo, Md. Thursday morning, President Barack Obama promoted the benefits of his health care law before new insurance exchanges open for business next week.

President Obama and former President Clinton discuss Obamacare

President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton met in New York at the Clinton Global Initiative to discuss the Affordable Care Act's implementation, the opposition to the law, and the future of health care.

GOP Admits to Sabotaging Obamacare - Call Your Reps

Since the GOP is admitting that they are DELIBERATELY not helping their constituents who want to know about Obamacare, Balloon Juice had a good idea:

IF your Congressman/Woman is a GOPer, call them up with a generic set of questions. Keep track of those that they don't answer.

From Balloon Juice

As mentioned two days ago, GOP reps face a tough dilemma between serving their constituents and hating the Affordable Care Act like it shot their dog. At the same time the pary as a whole needs the ACA to fail in every possible way, a lot of single Reps will have a hard time with re-election if people see them playing political games with the health and livelihood of individual constituents. I can think of several terrible Republicans at the Senate level, Jesse Helms and Rick Santorum being two, who stayed afloat not in small part due to a reputation for great constituent service.

There are three ways that a GOP Rep can go with this. Some of them will talk tough to the press but do their job like a grownup when real constituents call with real problems to address. Some other faction, most I would guess, will punt either by not answering or passing the caller off to HHS. Most of all we need to keep an eye out for the fabricators, liars and true believers whose staff genuinely believe the pap in the morning blast fax from Glenn Beck.

October is still some time off, so let’s start with questions that everyone should know. Say that I have a pre-existing condition and cannot get an individual market plan for any price. Can I buy one in October? How would I do that? The correct answers are yes and it depends on the state; in most cases we do not know the full details yet. If you feel like testing their bad faith, tell them you heard there will be death panels. I will not offer a script because you should really use your own words for this. Staffers’ interest often ratchets way down when they start hearing the same wording twice. Try being polite but a little slow and ask for clarification when possible.

Many thanks to readers for offering links to the excellent summary of the ACA from the Kaiser Family Foundation. You can find a lot of useful questions, no doubt including some that are relevant to your own situation, at their FAQ.

The Kaiser Family Foundation has an excellent collection of true answers that you can use to score your Rep.

Does that sound good? Yes? Now make it happen. One call won’t change the world but a lot of calls to the right people at the right time can move mountains. Trust me on this.

Here is the Phone Directory for Congress.

Once you make the call, please make note of if the Congressman's Office was helpful/truthful in the replies of this post. Be sure to leave the name and district of the Congressman.

What You Need to Know About Obamacare

From Smartypants:

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Everything you need to know about Obamacare

Apparently one of the biggest challenges we're going to face next year is the lack of accurate information about Obamacare. As you probably know, many of the most important provisions kick in on January 1, 2014. But most people have only heard about the individual mandate portion of the reforms.

Enroll America held focus groups in Philadelphia in mid-November, working exclusively with those who probably would qualify for benefits. Looking to understand how much public education will be needed, the researchers came back with a simple answer: a lot.

Participants’ hands shot up when researchers asked whether they had heard about a requirement to buy health insurance. But when asked about whether they had heard about any provisions that might make insurance more affordable, none of the 31 participants in the four groups answered yes.

Who knew that having the American public lied to for almost two years would leave them uninformed and confused? (< snark off >)

The truth is that there is tons of information out there to help people understand these reforms. And so I decided to compile some of where you can find it in order to help us spread the word. I'll be putting this post in a tab at the top of the page (titled simply: Obamacare) so that you can come back and find it when/if you need to.

First of all, bookmark the page for Enroll America. They are the non-profit group that is going to be working over the next year to get the word out.

One of the group's that has consistently put out quality information on the Affordable Care Act is the Kaiser Family Foundation. To get started on how much you do/don't know about the reforms,take their short quiz. They also have a pretty helpful video that gives a summary.

And they have a calculator to help people determine if they’ll qualify for a subsidy.

Of course one of the best places to go for information is HHS’s own Healthcare.gov. Two of the things I found most helpful there are the map that provides implementation progress by state and the tool to help people find their insurance options.

Healthcare and You also has lots of helpful information – including some details broken down by state.

Young Invincibles is specifically working on getting good information about health care reform out to young adults. And yes…there’s an App for that!

The Washington Post can help you find out exactly how Obamacare will affect you.

That does it for now. But it should be enough to get you started. We have NO excuse for not knowing/sharing all the good stuff that is about to happen with the implementation of Obamacare. My plan is to link one of these resources per day on Facebook and Twitter. What’s yours?