From TALKING POINTS MEMO:
The Louisiana Democrats released a snarky little statement today, calling out Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), who has introduced a health care amendment to the try to prevent states from providing drugs like Viagra to convicted sex offenders.
Said the Dems of Coburn: “Surely he would agree that anyone who has admitted or been found guilty of involvement with prostitution should not be covered either.”
Coburn’s amendment seeks to cut off federal funds to those on Medicaid who are “convicted sex offenders, child molesters, and rapists,” because sexual enhancement drugs are covered under the program.
We reported earlier that the Republican strategy to derail the reconciliation bill is to force Democrats to vote down politically juiced-up amendments so that they can paint Dems as sympathetic to sex offenders and fraudsters in November.
Perhaps the LA Dems had Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), who has been known to dally with prostitutes in the past, on their minds when crafting that statement.
WASHINGTON, March 24 (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate is considering a package of changes to the healthcare overhaul signed into law by President Barack Obama.
The package was sought by the House of Representatives in exchange for passing the Senate version of the healthcare reform bill. Senate Democrats hope to pass it intact and send the revisions to Obama for his signature.
But Republicans are planning to force a series of potentially embarrassing votes for Democrats on a number of amendments in a marathon voting session that could take hours if not days.
None of the amendments is expected to pass, but if one is approved, the entire package would have to go back to the House for another vote.
Here are some of the Republican amendments being offered, and the senators who are proposing them:
*Senator Judd Gregg – to block the use of any savings from the Medicare health plan for the elderly to pay for new government spending in the health bill.
…snip…
*Senator Mike Crapo – to ensure that families earning under $250,000 a year do not get hit with a tax increase.
*Senator Michael Enzi – to delete penalties for employers whose workers receive government subsidies to purchase health insurance.
*Senator John Barrasso – to ensure that premiums will not increase due to the healthcare reform.
*Senator Charles Grassley – would require the president and members of Congress purchase insurance through the exchange.
*Senator Lamar Alexander – a measure requiring a reduction in student loan interest rates.
*Senator George LeMieux – would force members of Congress to receive healthcare coverage through Medicaid.
…snip…
*Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison – would allow states to opt out of the healthcare reform law.
*Senator Orrin Hatch – would block cuts to the Medicare Advantage program.
*Senator Susan Collins – would waive any employer penalties for new workers hired who had been previously unemployed.
*Senator John Thune – to strike from the bill a new insurance program that would help the elderly and disabled stay in their homes.
*Senator John Cornyn – to drop the 3.8 percent tax on investment income.
*Senator Orrin Hatch – to stop a medical device tax from applying to devices used for veterans’ care.
*Senator Mike Crapo – to stop the medical device tax from applying to cancer diagnosis equipment.
From The Star-Ledger (Editorial):
It is depressing to watch Sen. John McCain transform himself from the refreshingly independent voice he once was to the snarling partisan he has become.
…snip…
[F]or most of his political career, he was among a handful of Republicans willing to reach across the aisle and find common-sense solutions.
…snip…
Now, in the wake of the Democratic win on health reform, he is acting like a spoiled child, saying he will no longer work with Democrats and the White House on any issue. “There will be no cooperation for the rest of the year,” he said after the vote. “They have poisoned the well in what they’ve done and how they’ve done it.”
Really? What the Democrats did is enact a needed reform by majority vote. They are avoiding a filibuster in the Senate by using a process known as reconciliation, just as Republicans did when they enacted the Reagan and Bush tax cuts.
McCain is free to disagree. But in a democracy, you don’t always get your way, even when you throw a temper tantrum.
HYSTERICAL RAISINS 
Garrison Keillor (on McCain):
Now Sen. McCain says there will be no further cooperation with the administration. OK then. Thanks for clearing that up. Now that bipartisanship has been buried for good, Democrats can get about the business of running the government, which is their duty as the majority party, and let the Republicans sulk in their rooms and work on their Facebook updates. They’ve made it clear that if Mr. Obama suddenly decided to come out in favor of Mother’s Day, they would fight against it as a ruthless exercise of federal power and a violation of due process. Fine. Talk to the hand.
Heh…damn tootin’ they can’t keep it up…Erectile dysfunction is least of their dysfunctional issues…
Oh, Oh and more bling and other accessories. The Caduceus – snicker, snicker, you are one clever nonnnie. And the baby in diapers…you have outdone yourself.
my first thought when capt underpants declared that he was suspending his senate cooperation for the rest of the year was how will we tell the difference?
i actually found that caduceus online. it was actually sort of a cartoon (if i’m remembering correctly), and all i had to do was shine it up a bit. i’ve used it at least once before. vitter’s bling is actually a doll. i just love finding accessories. do you like kbh’s yellow rose? i thought the hat needed a little sumpin’ sumpin’.
How dare Coburn cut off this vital medication to a reliable Republican voting demographic? The nerve.
;>)
it’ll cut down on his business. after all, he’s an obstetrician in oklahoma.
Coburn’s Viagra fails? Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
i bet his wife is switching his pills with sominex.
Is Sominex blue?
i didn’t look before i wrote that comment, but i just checked, and, yes, as it happens, they are blue.
Senator John Thune – to strike from the bill a new insurance program that would help the elderly and disabled stay in their homes.
A new low indeed.
I WISH they had enacted this one:
Senator Charles Grassley – would require the president and members of Congress purchase insurance through the exchange.
I wish they crafted the plan knowing this is what THEY would be having to live with.
a plan that allows the elderly and the disabled to stay in their homes could be good, if help was made available to them so that they are in no danger. however, i wouldn’t trust a rethug to write that amendment. as for grassley’s idea, i believe that that was in the bill. in 2014, all federal workers (including all the congresscritters) will have to pick from state exchanges. at least, that was my understanding.
I suffered five hours worth of Cspan just to see how long they would go. Must have been around 2am when they offered everyone free ponies that I was almost swayed. Boner pills for sex criminals? Coburn should note that flacid genitalia is the opposite of that problem. Are you impuning the purity of Kay the Pure!?! This is serious business. When someone as old as KBH fools around with the likes of that crazed Okie (who would only have sex for procreation) and she ends up “in the club” well, this is what starts religions! Can I get a witness!!
old kay doens’t have to worry, as the okie doc’s viagra failed.
i watched the whole thing on cspan. i wish i had some kind of magic marker that i could use on my tv set and them wipe off (see? i could have really used colorforms!), so i could have drawn mustaches and horns on the rethugs and blacked out their teeth. they were so unimpressive that it was difficult to pay attention.
This coming from the chicken little group– the death panel people saying, nahhh, we dont need to do anything about protecting the elderly & disabled to stay in their homes.
That would be considered “pork barrel spending” .
For frail elderly & disabled folks to lose their homes is a huge step towards a death panel scenario– not helping the most vulnerable.
While the repugs fight with all they’ve got to keep the Wealthcare status quo.
I understand your reservations about entrusting this program to the guvmnt, but it is not going to be a lucrative moneymaker for Big Fat Profit Ins inc. either.
It’s already in the bill, Thune wants to throw it out.
Essentially, Thune is throwing Grandma & people in wheelchairs under the bus, in their palignorant tantrum.
my bad. i misread it and didn’t see that he wanted to strike it out. i thought he wanted to put it in, knowing that the amendment would fail. you’re right, i’m wrong. i’m not a sore loser like the rethugs, and i can admit when i screw up.
p.s. excellent use of palignorant! 😀
Will Coburn’s anti-boner med screed be called the diaper amendment? This is a winner for Rethugs. Who isn’t against giving phallus enhancers to people in diapers?
it would cut down on the diaper rash, and thereby cut health care costs. i think they can do this through reconciliation.