#skinny repeal

[gaiussleechtank]

Just an idea that's trapped in my idea notes, but imagine if there was a magic reveal around the time Arthur became King, magic gets repealed and Merlin is generally accepted all round:

It was one of those days that, in Merlin's opinion, made the ego of the knights increase several times over. The sun was unfairly hot, increasing in heat as the day goes on, so obviously everyone had stripped every unneeded layer that was possible.

Everyone except Merlin.

Gwaine launches a punch at Arthur and nearly gives the guy a black eye. He swerves our of the way and staggers into the dirt just in time.

"Oi, Princess! What the fuck?" He mutters as he wipes the sweaty mud from his chest.

Arthur is staring at something off the field, following the King's line of sight directly to everyone's favourite manservant.

"Ah, of course." Gwaine smirked. "Merlin. Why am I not surprised?"

"He must be boiling." Arthur muttered, referring to Merlin's horrid lacklessness of clothes. There were way too many clothes on that man's body.

"Lancelot." Arthur snapped loudly.

"Yes, my lord?" Lancelot tried innocently as he approached the King warily.

Arthur grabbed Lancelot's arm and whispered, "You're closest to Merlin-"

"I don't agree with that."

"- so convince him to at least get him to take off his neckerchief, or even better his jacket."

Lancelot stared at Arthur with an unreadable expression before smiling. "Yes, sire."

The loyal Knight jogged over to Merlin, the servant looked up to his friend and they started to converse but then Merlin launched to his feet with a stricken expression. He grabbed Lancelot by the arm and dragged him into a tent.

#__#

"You know exactly why I can't take off my shirt." Merlin cried out as the flaps of the tent closed.

"Of course I know, Merlin. But you're not in hiding anymore. Arthur knows, everyone knows. And they know what you've done for the kingdom. They would understand where you got your scars from." Lancelot replied gently. "The others will admire your bravery and strength, I know I do. I know Arthur will."

Merlin stared at Lancelot, biting his lip. "They aren't pretty scars, they're ugly and nasty-"

"And show that against everything you've survived, you've beaten all odds." Lancelot stepped close to Merlin and took his hand, he would hug the warlock but he's sweating far too much. "Scars aren't meant to be pretty, they show the honest truth and the truth isn't always nice. But you're Merlin, you look the bad stuff in the face and tell it to piss off." Merlin snorted. "Look, I'm not saying to be shirtless, just take the neckerchief and jacket off before you get heatstroke and Arthur gets an aneurism."

Merlin's brow creased in confusion.

"Arthur asked me to since apparently I'm the one that's closest to you." Lancelot rolled his eyes.

"Bloody hell he's an idiot."

"You're the only one that can tell him that." Lancelot chuckled, heading towards the tent entrance. "Do something about your clothes because I'm sweating just looking at you."

"Yeah, yeah," Merlin waved the knight off. "Leave me in peace."

Lancelot left the tent grinning, going back to Arthur with a little congregation of knights and squires already forming.

"I did what I could, Arthur." Lancelot put his hands up in defence.

Arthur nodded distractedly in Lancelot's direction whilst keeping his eyes trained on the tent. When the tent reopened, everyone quickly dispersed, humming and talking nonsense as Merlin walks through the training field.

"Holy shitting fuck." Gwaine openly gawked at Merlin.

They knew he was lean, no longer the skinny twig he was when he first came to Camelot, but not built. Not this built. And gods, the scars that rippled over his muscles. Even through the mix of faded reds, pink and white, it took nothing away from Merlin.

Lancelot spoke the truth, the knights did admire Merlin, after learning everything that he had done over camp fires, nights at the tavern and the random comments. The squires looked up to him as a role model. The knights admired his strength in every aspect.

But right now?

The heat had melted every persons ability to think, and Merlin was scarred, sweating, and looking like the glorious god that the druids claimed him to be.

"Eyes up here, knight." Merlin motioned with his fingers.

"I'm just saying what everyone's thinking." Gwaine smirked. "Especially Arthur."

Arthur closed his mouth but continued to stare.

"Happy now, prat?"

"Y-yeah." Arthur managed to say.

#__#

"Five pieces of gold they fuck."

"You're on."

[jadagul]

I don't know about references but I know the "legislative subsidy" is widely considered a thing, and one of the main things that lobbyists and think tanks provide.

Modern legislation is long and complicated. Even legislation that's supposed to be simple is long and complicated—the "skinny Obamacare repeal" bill that the House passed in 2017, the one that was trying to sidestep all the hard questions, was 131 pages long! And responsible legislation that tries to actually address policy questions is longer. (The Inflation Reduction Act was 274 pages. Build Back Better was over two thousand, although its' a larger font so maybe "really" only a thousand or so.)

And we don't give Congress the resources to write bills that complicated. So someone else needs to write them. And that's either lobbyists or think tanks.

So like if you want to write an energy bill, you might have a bunch of goals. You might want it to encourage people to drive more electric cars; then you go to an electric car lobbyist and ask them to write you a bill. Or you might want to encourage more oil drilling. You go to the oil companies and ask them what they want and need. Or maybe you want a carbon tax; there's no industry group that really supports that, so you get a think tank to do it.

And most of the bills we pass are genuinely literally-textually written by an assemblage of lobbyists and think tankers who are ideologically aligned with the bill sponsors.

conservative think tanks will be named something like "the american educational initiative," and you read their policy proposals and it's like "let's repeal the thirteenth amendment and send slavery back to the states." meanwhile liberal think tanks will be named something like "the foundation for the redemption of america's soul," and their policy proposals are "a 5% increase in capital gains tax over the next ten years, but you don't have to pay it if you submit a note from your doctor saying it makes you sad."

[dragoni]

Senator John McCain’s last patriotic act was to vote NO to repealing ObamaCare #CountryBeforeParty

#RIPMcCain

[thepoliticalpatient]

After Paul Ryan screamed “death spiral” for 8 years, it may finally be happening because of his own bill. The irony is almost enough to make you laugh, until you remember this is a life or death issue for millions of people and cry instead.

A death spiral is basically an economic term for a positive feedback loop. In the case of healthcare, it looks like this: the cost of health insurance rises, and so the people who are benefiting the least from health insurance - people who are currently healthy and low-risk - stop buying it. Insurers then lose money, because that’s how insurance works - the healthy subsidize the sick - and so they have to raise premiums again to break even. With insurance then even more expensive, a new group of people are priced out of the system, and the loop feeds back on itself until insurance is absurdly unaffordable. This comic by Vox explains it well.

Paul Ryan and his ilk claimed that the ACA itself triggered a death spiral - indeed premiums had to rise when the ACA was enacted, in order to cover all the sick, expensive people who insurers are now banned from discriminating against. But all the evidence shows that this was a one-time market adjustment, which had begun to stabilize before Trump took office - not a death spiral. Death spiral was prevented in the ACA by the “three-legged stool” design of the law - the government subsidies helped people who might otherwise struggle to pay higher premiums, and the requirement to allow sick folks into the system was paid for in part by the individual mandate requiring everyone to purchase insurance, bringing healthy people who might otherwise be uninterested in health insurance into the system to help subsidize the sick.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 repealed the individual mandate, effective 2019, and yet we’re already seeing evidence that a death spiral is beginning. In 2019 we can expect to see millions of healthy folks leaving the system, which may well mark the beginning of a real shitshow.

Don’t believe for one second that this was unintentional. This administration is purposefully ruining our healthcare system in an attempt to put us into a situation where we have no choice but to repeal the ACA. Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell are putting the lives of millions of Americans at risk to achieve their political goals.

[liberalsarecool]

A skinny repeal would be devastating.

[uppityfemale]

When you need to one-up your American Hero status. McCain did the right thing. The republicans don't have a bill... Don't have a plan. They wanted to vote yes on something that they KNEW wouldn't work...that they KNEW would be a disaster.. With a promise to fix it "later". If this whole thing has been a football game the start of the session is the kickoff. The GOP has been limping this thing down the field by chance with no plan... No idea what will happen next. They're at the two yard line and they're saying, "we have no plan, but if you vote yes to get it in the end zone THEN we'll figure it out. We haven't been able to come up with anything that will help people but NOW we'll solve the problem... Just vote yes on a bad bill and we'll make a good one. Pinky swear." It's a bad idea. It's not realistic. And it's not how the United States Senate should be conducting business. McCain stood up to his party today in favor of Americans and in favor of working in a fair, bipartisan way. I am relieved and thankful for him.

[ihaveimpeccabletaste]

basically

[cognitivedissonance]

hello darkness my old friend

[whatareyoureallyafraidof]

Payback is a bitch!

[marvelsmostwanted]

Healthcare update referring to "skinny repeal" version of the Obamacare repeal bill - as of 8:00 pm EST 7/27/17

[jonathantaylorthomas]

[chronically-something]

The failure of the ‘skinny bill’ last night was in no small part thanks to the folks at National ADAPT. ADAPT protesters spent countless hours in Senate offices, being manhandled by police, arrested and held without accessible bathrooms, all to protect our care. THEY are the heroes I see. every single one of them. They fought for all of us with their whole selves, just as they have before, and will undoubtedly do again. Thank you ADAPTers!

Now would be a great time to donate the legal fund for those who were arrested over that last few months. If you can, give back to the folks that fought so hard for us.

Statement of National ADAPT on the ACA Repeal Vote

Last night, the Senate bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act failed by a close vote. Together with Senate Democrats, Senators Collins, Murkowski, and McCain voted against this legislation. We truly and deeply thank every single Senator who answered the call and who joined the American people in defeating this bill.

This vote heartens us. We do not believe for a second that this fight is over, but we have won an important battle. This victory belongs to the relentless advocacy of thousands of ADAPTers and others who called and wrote and hunted down their Senators, who protested and chanted and got arrested. It belongs to the many who slept rough and who were thrown out of their wheelchairs. This victory belongs as well to the millions of Americans who fought alongside our community against this dire threat. We have been honored by all you have done.

We are heartened as well by the fact that the final, hastily written bill did not include Medicaid cuts. Those cuts would almost certainly have been imposed later in the process, but relentless community activism over the past months has made cuts to Medicaid politically unpalatable for the time being. Advocacy works. Direct action works. Resistance works.

Nevertheless, we know that the battle is not the war. The majority in Congress has long campaigned on Medicaid cuts that will strip the disability community of our lives and liberty. That majority has also long promised to eliminate the Affordable Care Act. They have promised to drastically reduce access to affordable health insurance and Medicaid home and community-based services. The Medicaid expansion and the preexisting condition protections in the ACA have helped many with and without disabilities live lives, to raise families, attend churches, and participate in our communities and in the American dream. The majority in Congress will attempt to repeal our liberty. ADAPT will be there when they do.

Now we will focus our efforts on passing the Disability Integration Act, which secures in Federal statute the right of all disabled people to live in freedom and to lead an independent life. Join us in this fight. Together, we can FREE OUR PEOPLE!

[therightprometheanfire]

If you’re exhausted and it feels like 1:30 am on Election Night where at this point you know we’re fucked but we’re just waiting on the confirmation of it and you are literally sick to your stomach because the people in charge of your country are about to kill millions of people because they’re racist fucks who are desperate to undo a president’s legacy because he was black

clap your hands

[swolecheck]

YOU DON’T HAVE THE VOTES YOU DON’T HAVE THE VOTES - YOU’RE GONNA NEED CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL AND YOU DON’T HAVE THE VOTES

[thepoliticalpatient]

What Doug Jones’s win means for healthcare

Democrat Doug Jones wins the special election in ALABAMA for a seat in the Senate!!! This is a very happy post that I never dreamed I’d get the chance to write.

There’s a lot that could be said about this and what it means for our political climate in general, but I’ll leave that to other blogs and news outlets who will write on it plenty. I want to talk about what flipping this seat means for healthcare!!

The only remaining plausible path to defeating the tax bill just opened up.

The tax bill became a healthcare bill when Senate Republicans decided to put a repeal of the ACA’s individual mandate into it, a move that is estimated to take health insurance away from 13 million people, resulting in 16 thousand deaths per year. It passed a preliminary vote in the Senate 51-49 a couple weeks ago, with just one Republican Senator - Bob Corker (R-TN) - defecting.

The Republicans’ majority has just gotten that much more narrow - 51-49 now - which means that, once Jones takes office, reconciliation bills will be able to be defeated with just 2 Republican defectors. Assuming Corker stays a no vote, this means that losing just Susan Collins would now be enough to kill this tax bill.

This is good news for us, because it’s looking increasingly likely that Collins may indeed defect. She was a holdout until she secured a few assurances from McConnell - that measures would be taken to stabilize the individual market, including reinsurance and restoring the cost sharing reduction payments killed earlier this year by Trump. McConnell promised her these, and so she cast her yes vote. But House Republicans are saying they won’t vote for any such stabilization bill. Now we are left to wonder - will Susan Collins acknowledge that the stabilization she requested is very unlikely to occur, and if so, will she retract her yes vote? If she does, this bill is DEAD in a post-Strange Senate.

But all of this only holds true if the vote happens after Jones takes office. And so…

McConnell and Ryan will start trying to shove the tax bill up our asses as fast as they can.

Jones doesn’t take office until early January, most likely, so McConnell and Ryan will start going into overdrive to pass the tax bill before then. Their success in doing so is still a very real possibility. So here’s what we must do:

Call Susan Collins and ask her to keep her word. She said she wouldn’t vote for tax reform unless she got market stabilization. The stabilization bill is not going to get through the House. She must acknowledge this and then keep her word.

Call your Republican Senators and remind them of the consequences of rushing legislation. The first version of the tax bill that was voted on contained a very significant mistake. Nobody noticed because nobody had time to read the bill before voting. Encourage them to prevent future embarrassing events such as these by following regular procedure, holding hearings, and generally slowing the fuck down.

Call Lisa Murkowski and remind her that taking healthcare away from 13M is just as bad now as it was in July when she voted against it. Lisa Murkowski voted against skinny repeal in July, but now all of a sudden she’s for it, and I have no idea what the fuck happened.

Call your Democratic Senators and urge them to use every delaying tactic they can. They can’t filibuster a budget reconciliation vote, but maybe there are still some tricks up their sleeves.

Call key House Republicans and ask them to flip their votes. Another path to defeating the tax bill is flipping 11 House votes. It’s a longshot, but it’s worth a mention.

Here’s the info:

Susan Collins: (202) 224-2523 Lisa Murkowski: (202) 224-6665 Key House Republicans: CA-10 Jeff Denham - 202-225-4520 CA-21 David Vladao - 202-225-4695 CA-25 Steve Knight - 202-225-1956 CA-39 Ed Royce - 202-225-4111 CA-45 Mimi Walters - 202-225-5611 CA-49 Darrell Issa - 202-225-3906 CO-06 Mike Coffman - 202-225-7882 FL-26 Carlos Curbelo - 202-225-2778 FL-27 Ileana Ros-Lehtinen - 202-225-3931 IA-01 Rod Blum - 202-225-2911 NY-22 Claudia Tenney - 202-225-3665 NY-24 John Katko - 202-225-3701 PA-06 Ryan Costello - 202-225-4315 PA-08 Brian Fitzpatrick - 202-225-4276 PA-15 Charlie Dent - 202-225-6411 TX-23 Will Hurd - 202-225-4511 VA-10 Barbara Comstock - 202-225-5136 WA-03 Jaime Herrera Beutler - 202-225-3536 WA-08 Dave Reichert - 202-225-7761

Finally,

Let’s give credit where it’s due.

Doug Jones won because Black voters showed up in record numbers and voted for him at a rate of 90%+. Our Black brothers and sisters are responsible for this awesome win, while our sorry white asses voted for Moore at a rate of 70%.

—

http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/01/politics/alabama-senate-scenarios-roy-moore/index.html

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/12/12/16761514/doug-jones-win-tax-reform

http://fivethirtyeight.com/live-blog/alabama-senate-election-results/

[thesoundasitfell]

It’s 2 a.m. on the east coast. TumpCare is dead, for now. We won an enormous battle tonight and I can’t even celebrate--can’t even just go to sleep--because I know the minute my guard is down that middle-aged mutant fucking turtle is going crawl back out of his shell to try and kill me again.

If you’re represented by Murkowski or Collins, please call them tomorrow to thank them for having the courage to stand up for our healthcare throughout this nightmare process. If you’re in Arizona, call McCain and thank him for managing to grow a spine at the last possible second (dick). And if you’re represented by a Democrat, let’s call them too both to thank them for holding the line and ask them to stay vigilant.

And if your senator voted yes tonight? Holy fuck, call them. Light up their phones with the fury of a thousand suns and make them regret the day they first ever even entertained the notion of running for office. Be clear: just because they didn’t succeed in trying to kill us doesn’t make it okay that they tried. Make this vote haunt them. Tomorrow, next week, and for the rest of their hopefully-brief careers. Hell, for the rest of their lives. Make them afraid to ever go near a Republican healthcare bill again, and make their successors afraid to ever even try.

We can do that; tonight proves it. But only if we don’t let up. If you’re celebrating tonight, enjoy it. You deserve it and I wish I could join you. But tomorrow, please, keep calling.

Capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121