Apparently, our rather shifty congressional leaders, from both parties, have been quite busy of late conspiring about the various ways that lawmakers and their aides would be able to avoid having to participate in Obamacare health insurance exchanges like the rest of us poor schmucks. Now that hardly seem fair and we are, after all, all about what's fair, right? Now at least according to Politico, these talks involve the White House, House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and other congressional leaders and have essentially been going on for months now. I think it safe to say that they are seen as being extremely sensitive, given the potential for political fallout. Why should these clowns be allowed to crawl out from something that is their making? Where's the fairness in that?
These talks were apparently prompted by concerns on Capitol Hill that the provision in this gem of a law requiring lawmakers and congressional staffers to join the exchanges could cost them thousands of dollars in new healthcare costs, which could force many staffers to leave their government jobs in search of higher-paying employment. Too bad! Various proposals have reportedly been submitted to the Office of Personnel Management, which will administer the benefits and decide whether and how lawmakers and their staffs will be covered. One proposal exempts lawmakers and their aides, while another exempts staff members only, reports Politico. NO ONE should be exempted! As far as I'm concerned either we're ALL in this piece of shit together, or we're ALL out of it! It's just that simple
Michael Steel, a Boehner spokesman, told Politico that the speaker’s goal is "to spare the entire country from the ravages of the president’s healthcare law," explaining, "He is approached daily by American citizens, including members of Congress and staff, who want to be freed from its mandates." Steel added, "If the speaker has the opportunity to save anyone from Obamacare, he will." That statement would be a whole lot more convincing if I'd seen some sort of action that could be pointed to as backing it up. But there's none. So excuse me if I'm none to quick to buy what this guy, Steel, is selling. Every time the Speaker has had the opportunity to effect the funding of this monstrosity, he's taken a pass, which makes it a bit difficult to believe any of the claims that his office is currently making.
But by excusing themselves from a key component of the controversial 2010 Affordable Care Act, leaders on Capitol Hill just might be putting themselves in a bind, or sorts, being made to face a backlash from both an angry public and jealous politicians not able to pull the same stunt. And very rightfully so! Congress already is taking heat from the public over the sequester and other issues. By writing themselves an exemption to Obamacare, Politico noted that lawmakers could be seen as holding themselves to a different standard than the people who elected them. DUH, ya think? But what the Hell else in new? The majority of these crooks long ago lost the whole concept of how this representative form of government of ours is supposed to work. It's they who work for us, not the other way around.
And then we have Mitch McConnell's spokesman, Brian McGuire, telling Breitbart News, "Senator McConnell does not support, and is not involved in drafting, legislation that would do special favors for Congress when his constituents are still facing the increased premiums and taxes, the mountains of red tape, the loss of health care plans they like and want to keep and fewer jobs under Obamacare." He went on to say, "It’s no surprise that Democrats would want to exempt themselves from the train wreck they created in Obamacare," McGuire continued, "but Sen. McConnell believes the entire country should be exempt from this historic mistake. The law is a disaster and needs to be repealed." But again, McConnell has done nothing that would cause me to believe such claims.
That would be fine little analysis of the situation but for one thing, it's not only the Democrats who appear to be trying to make themselves exempt from what is the "train wreck" that the rest of us are going to be forced to have to contend with. I think both parties possess an equal amount of guilt in this little charade here. Look, the Obamacare law is set to take effect in January, 2014 and it'll be in November of that same year that voters will go to the polls to elect a new Congress. The theory goes that that vote could set the stage for the repeal of Obamacare. Voters will then have the chance to exempt themselves from Obamacare. But will they? After all, they had the chance to do the very same thing last just November, and yet they didn't. So what makes anybody think that they'll do so the next time around?
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