While they may have been courting him at one time, sources indicate they now feel they’ll never get his vote, so he can go Cheney himself.
Word hasn’t yet reached Grassley, who still seems to think his opinion matters.
Considering that Grassley inserted billions’ worth of tax cuts into the stimulus bill and then subsequently refused to vote for it, the only question is — what took them so long.





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Democratic motto: “Beat me, whip me, make me negotiate in bad faith.”
What was it that Obama said during the campaign. Why would one keep doing the same thing over and over and expect a different result?
This Iowa Boy has been all over my somewhat senile Senator to the tune of many phone calls per Redd and Jane, hundreds of letters, and a not so subtle suggestion that he retire.
Its time for change here in Iowa.
Call it GOP envy. I can’t recall the republicans ever negotiating in good faith. Then again, I didn’t pay a lot atention to politics before Clinton’s impeacment.
Until there is campaign finance reform little meaningful change is possible in the U.S.. Congress is bought and paid for by moneyed interests and few in Congress represent the needs of the people.
has anyone else talked to Davis (CA-53)’s people? Their position totally confuses me: reform good, on the fence about pledging and unwilling to openly embrace a public option (”it’s complicated”), but on the record supporting HR676 and criticizing Obama’s plan precisely because it didn’t have a public option. Color me confused.
What can you do to make him retire? Have wingnut welfare offer him huge $$? Once he retires that seat will go blue. Until he retires, it is doubtful a top tier candidate will challenge him.
Excellent work. Thank you.
Q: “What took them so long?”
A: The Democrats are willing to do whatever we, the people want, as long as they don’t have to alienate too many campaign contributors, friendly lobbyists, corporations in their districts, media executives, and just about anybody else with money and power. That leaves “us” trying to compel “them” to stand up to the wealthy and powerful special interests–even in the guise of Grassley!
Why do I keep seeing these visions of children being sacrificed to Molech whenever I think of Democrats writing legislation?
The only thing I can think of offhand is to make him ashamed to be a part of the Rush-Newt GOP. They are definitely not the party of 1974 when Grassley won his first Congressional seat.
“Molech”
You mean Governor Palin?
Here’s an interesting piece on the public option as FAIL on Agonist.com…
http://agonist.org/lambert/200…..support_it
The CEOs refused to stop using Recission to throw people off their policy and to avoid paying claims. The Public Option is the only way to insure those with pre-existing conditions and be sure their claims are paid. Imagine the nightmares of those with pre-existing conditions being told they were insured, paying premiums only to fall victim to remissions all over again. Someone needs to make this small leap in logic the same way Obama did about them worrying about the “incompetent government” putting them out of business.
nyceve is upstairs!
Pay to Play: $1.4 Million a Day Buys a Lot of Votes
So as the minority party’s ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Grassley is committed to subsidies as the vehicle by which to deliver high quality health care to all uninsured Americans. I can guarantee you that the moment that bill passes almost every business that offers health insurance to its employees will cancel their plan ridding themselves of of the nightmare of obtaining and administering a group health insurance plan. Then they can dole out those dollars as bonus compensation to employees who distinguish themselves, or simply pocket the savings. They won’t feel compelled to increase their employees pay (although some may) because Senator Grassley will offer federal subsidies to those whose income qualifies them for a subsidy.
The end result will be that the federal government will pay for health care in the form of subsidies, and there will be no “unfair” competition to bring down the price of health insurance premiums. So if the cost of your health insurance plan is $10,000 per year and you qualify for a 50% subsidy then the federal government will pay for one-half of your insurance premium or $5.000. As opposed to a single payer system where ones premium might be expected to be $5,000 annually and a 50% subsidy fro an individual/family paying that rate would be $2500 or half of what the federal government would pay under the Grassley plan.
What the Senator from Iowa fails to appreciate is that he has done nothing to reduce my insurance premium and he has compounded the problem by requiring the US taxpayer to subsidize the full price plans of the other 40 million Americans without health insurance, which will double the moment this bill passes, which will result in an increase in health care expenditures and even larger increases in the future. This is like the drug prescription benefit where public policy is shaped around the wants of the pharmaceutical companies, only larger by several magnitudes.
Nice job Senator Grassley! Way to look out for the public interest in high quality affordable health care and the rest of the American economy that depends upon healthy Americans with differing amounts of disposable after-tax incomes to provide the demand that is necessary for a free market economy to grow.
I don’t know what you left out of the bill that the health insurance companies want, but don’t worry I’m sure the great Senator from the State of Indiana will leap to their rescue. You have don enough for them already!
Wow! Grassley is just a Luntz-talking-point machine there at the end. “Quick, my time is running out, let me say all those things Frank taught us!”
doesn’t single payer make more sense than that? Then, the insurance corps will INCREASE the premiums so we’ll be paying the same anyway…sorta like the military contractors do….
I don’t see where Grassley gets his figures anyways, out o’ the air.
Apparently some Republicans are Okay with 45M+ people NOT having insurance.
Apparently some Republicans are Okay with paying double for our insurance.
I can’t imagine their electorate back home being Okay with them.
And Grassley, who has enjoyed that odious “government-run healthcare plan” for decades, also doesn’t give a good colonoscopy that polls show more than half of his constituents want an option to buy into that government-run plan.
The Constant Weader at http://www.RealityChex.com
P.S. Just when ARE Congressional Republicans going to vote to drop their own government-paid insurance plan?