Medicare Bill passes : 54/44

[creativelcro]

[StClone]

1. If Bush paid to be on this train

You can bet there is a wreck in it's future. Aside a stolen election what other success (sic) does he claim?

[PaDUer]

8. Next to go

will be social security.

[qanda]

2. Great!

I cannot wait for the seniors to show up in Washington, with their canes, asking for the heads of whoever is responsible for this fiasco.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

3. well fuck me twice!

[ElsewheresDaughter]

4. i thought it needed 60 votes to pass?

[Rose Siding]

6. 60 to pass "cloture"

meaning an agreement to a finite amount of debate. Dems could have blocked it that way. Seeing that there are over 40 no votes, I don't know why they didn't.

[Rose Siding]

5. That would have blocked cloture

What the heck are these clowns thinking? Why wouldn't they have known that a cloture vote guaranteed the financing of their political rivals?

And worse- they hand Bush, once AGAIN, the mantle of "leadership". Fools

[BuckeFushe]

7. My short email to Tom Daschle

You are a disgrace to the Democratic party. You have failed us as leader of the Senate, and it's time you stepped down and allowed someone with vision and BALLS to lead us against the misadministration.

[tjdee]

16. Daschle voted no!

What exactly should he have done here?

Stood over the Dems voting yes with a baseball bat? Most of the Democrats voted no.... blame the stupid 'big tent', not Daschle.

I really don't understnand the Daschle bashing that goes on around here. His role is largely technical, not so much political.

[wysimdnwyg]

9. Can we get a list

of the Dems who voted 'yes'?

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

11. Here's the roll call

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11574-2003Nov24.html

Democrats Voting Yes:

Baucus, Mont
Breaux, La
Carper, Del
Conrad, ND
Dorgan, ND
Feinstein, Calif
Landrieu, La
Lincoln, Ark
Miller, Ga
Nelson, Neb
Wyden, Ore

Add Jim Jeffords, as well. Sigh...

[Lydia Leftcoast]

13. Wyden?! My ex-Senator?

I hope all the DUers in Oregon give him what-for about that vote.

[davsand]

14. Jeffords voted yes? Is that true?

That article requires registration, so I didn't see it--is it true that Jeffords voted yes?

Laura

[BiggJawn]

27. Bayh voted "No"????

His masters at Eli Lilly &c. are NOT gonna be happy!

[salin]

38. Glad to see it.

I pondered that he might vote no - given the mood here - and that two of the repubs in the congressional delegation voted against it in the House. While he frustrates us often, he does still sometimes act like the democrat (albeit centrist) that first came to office - who put fiscal responosibility and tending to basic needs (although often at a basic level) first. In this case it was a fiscally irresponsible bill, that will likely in the long-run hamper the ability to meet basic needs (by setting the stage to disable medicare). We should give credit where credit is due - including his willingness to take Lilly interests on.

[prolesunited]

32. Wow, Bayh is surprisingly NOT

on that list. With Indiana being the home of Lily, I thought for sure he would go along with this monstrosity.

[Adamocrat]

34. Zell Miller...

Naturally. I'm so ashamed of the fact that I voted for him.

[Snellius]

29. Senate roll call vote:

Grouped By Vote Position

YEAs ---54
Alexander (R-TN)
Allard (R-CO)
Allen (R-VA)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bond (R-MO)
Breaux (D-LA)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burns (R-MT)
Campbell (R-CO)
Carper (D-DE)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Cochran (R-MS)
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Conrad (D-ND)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Craig (R-ID)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeWine (R-OH)
Dole (R-NC)
Domenici (R-NM)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Enzi (R-WY)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Fitzgerald (R-IL)
Frist (R-TN)
Grassley (R-IA)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Jeffords (I-VT)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Lugar (R-IN)
McConnell (R-KY)
Miller (D-GA)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Nelson (D-NE)
Roberts (R-KS)
Santorum (R-PA)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Smith (R-OR)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Stevens (R-AK)
Talent (R-MO)
Thomas (R-WY)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (R-VA)
Wyden (D-OR)

NAYs ---44
Akaka (D-HI)
Bayh (D-IN)
Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Chafee (R-RI)
Clinton (D-NY)
Corzine (D-NJ)
Daschle (D-SD)
Dayton (D-MN)
Dodd (D-CT)
Durbin (D-IL)
Edwards (D-NC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Feingold (D-WI)
Graham (D-FL)
Graham (R-SC)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hagel (R-NE)
Harkin (D-IA)
Hollings (D-SC)
Inouye (D-HI)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kohl (D-WI)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lott (R-MS)
McCain (R-AZ)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nickles (R-OK)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sarbanes (D-MD)
Schumer (D-NY)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Sununu (R-NH)

Not Voting - 2
Kerry (D-MA)
Lieberman (D-CT)

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=108&session=1&vote=00459

[salin]

39. Some very interesting defections - on both sides of the aisle.

Feinstein (sort of a surprise) and Wyden (raised my eyebrows) on the dem. side - don't know enough about Carper to read the vote as a surprise or not.

On the republican side: Hagel, Ensign, Gregg, Lott and Sununu? Those are not the usual suspects. What gives on this side? Fiscal issues (nah these clowns mostly voted for the irresponsible tax cuts)? ??

[seasat]

10. Well, if it hadn't passed...

Shrub LTD. would have accused Democrats of blocking it. They took our idea of the Home Land Security Department and accused us of being unpatriotic because of our opposition to it because it weakened federal employment protection. It was our idea. The Shrubbites wanted their own agency under excutive branch with no congressional control over the budget. With the passage of this Bill we can still claim that it is our original idea but the bill is flawed. We didn't obstruct it but will be there to fix it if you elect Democrats. I think that we should save our fillibuster for the energy bill. That thing is porker and will do more harm to our energy policy in the long run than help.

[Snellius]

12. It would have been so much easier to pass drug reimportation

In this whole confusing mess of 1000 pages, seniors may at most save from half to 1/3 on their drugs. Meanwhile, drug pushers will continue to raise the price through the roof. But all they had to do was allow drugs to be purchased from Canada, like any other commodity on the free market, and everyone would have saved much more. What a sham!

[Skidmore]

15. I sorta expected most of those turncoat Dems, but Dorgan?

That has me scratching my head. Why Dorgan?

[Rose Siding]

17. Who didn't vote?

Which two Senators didn't vote at all?

[Neecy]

19. the 2

Kerry and Edwards didn't vote.

[cspiguy]

25. NO GUTS

we know what Dean would have done.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

37. Seals the deal for me...

I've always leaned toward Kerry, despite the fact that he seems to have forgotten how to run an effective campaign. Not showing up to cast this vote (even if it was in a losing cause) sends a signal of weak leadership.

Count me as a Dean supporter from here on.

[seafan]

18. Kerry and Lieberman did not vote.

:shrug:

Even if their votes would not have made a difference in the end, it just looks bad to cut and run on something that is so vitally important to their constituents.

[Neecy]

20. I think you're right

I thought it was Edwards, but it might well have been Lieberman.

It seems strange to 'fight' against the bill and then not show up for the vote. All talk, no action.

[seafan]

22. Waiting for the senior revolt to start.

The rethugs have just sealed their fate.

[Skidmore]

21. Lieberman has never had my vote, but Kerry did have my ear

and he's just lost it along with Edwards.

[Gin]

23. Thinking of this bill and the vote...maybe it's a good thing to pass it.

Seniors are not stupid. This will have reprecussions when the truth comes out and is understood.

Maybe the Dems in the critical states voted yes to stay in office. Maybe the Dems in the safer states voted no for the same reason. I would rather have this bill than lose all the Senate seats with a no vote.

I could very well be wrong on all of this...but the picture is much broader than this one bill.

Let the chimp pound his chest. He will not win in 04.

[tjdee]

24. The WP link above lists all three as voting NO.

So umm...what gives?

[demdave]

26. 61 to 39 roll call by which the Senate voted to advance the Medicare bill

This is off the WP link you refered to.

I have 2 questions. Why are they saying 61/39 instead of 54/44. What do they mean by advancing the bill to a final vote? Isn't this the final vote? Thanks.

[Oilwellian]

31. There were 3 different votes on the same Bill

The 61/39 figure was a vote on Dashle's point of order made regarding the Drug Bill being a violation of the Budget Act. The 54/44 vote was the final vote on the Bill itself.

[demdave]

33. Thanks

[KansDem]

28. Possible 2004 slogan?

"Elect (insert Dem name here). He'll repair what Congress fixed!"

(or something to that effect)

[underpants]

30. Suspicious- I think W&Co. are tryng to hit one out of the park today

Suspicious- I think W&Co. are tryng to hit one out of the park today


U.S. November Consumer Confidence Rises to 91.7 From 81.7

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000006&sid=aWyRfSMDuw7w&refer=home

U.S. GDP Grows at 8.2 Percent Pace in 3Q
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12766-2003Nov25.html

The supposed “Big WIN” for the Republicans in the Medicare bill passed today. Oh the energy plan was shelved until the next session but that does not support my point so let’s forget it (as NBC did this morning by just mentioning it in passing).

The timing of this seems a bit suspicious to me. The “good news good news” is hitting the airwaves and newspapers TWO days before the holiday as opposed to releasing bad news or news they don’t want anyone to see on Fridays or just before major holidays.

I don’t usually buy into theories such as this but it strikes me as odd.

[SOS]

35. The End of Medicare

is now a done deal. Of course the paid-off media which collects $2 billion from pharma, AARP which rakes in $150 million from insurance and pharma and the greased Congress failed to mention the voucher system coming soon. Here's some info from In These Times:

HR 1 would achieve privatization in stages by putting great financial pressure on seniors to leave traditional Medicare and enroll in HMOs. Under HR 1, MedicareÕs guarantee of medical services would be replaced with a voucher that seniors would use to purchase coverage from either the traditional Medicare program (which would have to start charging a premium in 2010) or an HMO. Because sicker seniors would be more likely to stay in traditional Medicare, which neither limits choice of doctor nor interferes in the doctor-patient relation as HMOs do, the Medicare premiums would be higher than those of the HMOs. This would set off a Òdeath spiralÓ: Higher premiums would drive even more disproportionately healthy seniors out of traditional Medicare, Medicare would thereby be forced to charge even higher premiums, and the program eventually would Òwither on the vine,Ó in the immortal words of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Rep. William Thomas (R-Calif) chief architect of HR 1, was not exaggerating when he told MSNBC in June that he expected HR 1 to Òend Medicare as we know it.Ó

[Snellius]

36. Democrats knew they could have held out for a better deal

When the Republican conservatives in the House were balking at passing this bill, Bush called them in the middle of night and convinced a couple to vote for it by threatening that, if they didn't, he would come back with an even more liberal bill to attract more Democrats on his side. Bush needs an election touchdown on this issue. Desperately. The Senate Democrats knew this but they still maintained, those who voted for it, that this was their last and only chance. That is nonsense. If they had voted no, you can bet that within the week they would have come back with a bill that was a true compromise, not a scam bait and switch.