#trumpcare (5. Sound and Fury, or Is It Fear?)

#TrumpCare | #WhatTheyVotedFor

Who:	Greg Sargent (The Plum Line)
What:	“Donald Trump’s deliberate corruption of reality-based governing”
When:	13 March 2017

Via the Washington Post:

The White House used the Sunday shows to lay the groundwork to discredit the CBO’s finding about the GOP health bill, which could run directly counter to Trump’s promises of “insurance for everybody.” On ABC’s “This Week,” budget director Mick Mulvaney said: “Sometimes we ask them to do stuff they’re not capable of doing, and estimating the impact of a bill of this size probably isn’t the—isn’t the best use of their time.” Really?

And on “Meet the Press,” Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price suggested that, rather than listen to the CBO’s findings, the White House will instead turn to other parties who will model the GOP bill and conclude that “this plan will, in fact, cover more individuals than are currently covered.” As Brian Beutler argues, the White House likely plans to try to discredit the CBO’s findings by relying on “dishonest right wing think tank analysis” that serves up “the health care equivalent of voodoo economics.”

The CBO was created forty years ago as a neutral, objective agency to assist Congress in empirically-based, independent governing, by giving it data and technical advice that is not tainted by executive branch political considerations. The point is not that the CBO’s word is gospel. It can and does get things wrong. But as Jonathan Cohn explains, while its projections about the Affordable Care Act were hardly perfect, it got much of the big story right, and its forecasts are as good as or better than anybody else’s. White House aides are not exercising mere healthy skepticism about the CBO’s findings. Rather, they are saying they won’t accept those findings as legitimate, if they are politically inconvenient—and they are signaling this in advance. There is every reason to believe that many Republicans in Congress will take their cues from this and echo them.

#trumpcare (4. #DimensionTrump)

#DimensionTrump | #WhatTheyVotedFor

Who:	Steve Benen (msnbc)
What:	“The Republican ‘Obamacare’ repeal crusade starts to unravel”
When:	10 January 2017

Via msnbc:

Two months ago, when Republicans enjoyed a successful Election Day, one thing seemed obvious: GOP officials would use their dominant position to repeal the Affordable Care Act the moment they had the chance. It would be the first order of business in 2017, Republican leaders vowed.

There was every reason to believe the GOP would keep this promise―that is, until very recently.

The great temptation is doubt. Which, in turn, feels familiar. For his part, Benen puts his count at ten in the United States Senate^α “not sold on ‘repeal and delay'”, as well as objections from the House Freedom Caucus.

On that latter, Politico caught up with Congressman Mark Meadows (R-NC11) at Tortilla Coast^β, where the HFC Chairman explained, “We need to slow down the process so we can understand a little bit more the specifics and the timetable of replacement votes and reconciliation instructions.” Regarding the upcoming budget resolution vote, he added that, “Without specificity”, the caucus, “would be inclined to encourage a delay.”

Certes, it feels tedious, but there might well be a moral to the story about attending the details.

Scandalous Implications

#trumpswindle | #WhatTheyVotedFor

Who:	E.J. Dionne Jr. (Washington Post)
What:	“An ethical double standard for Trump―and the GOP?”
When:	27 November 2016

Via the Washington Post:

If Trump wasn’t ready to put his business life behind him, he should not have run for president. And if Republicans―after all of their ethical sermons about Clinton―do not now demand that the incoming president unequivocally cut all of his and his family’s ties to his companies, they will be fully implicated in any Trump scandal that results from a shameful and partisan double standard.