...but not the spine
Posted on 11/14/2013 2:17:29 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Furious congressional Democrats on Wednesday expressed exasperation with the White House for its bumbling implementation of ObamaCare.
The recent deluge of bad news on the rollout of the Affordable Care Act has sparked widespread anxiety among Democrats, who are trying to win back the House and retain control of the Senate.
Democratic leaders are straining to keep their members from turning against elements of ObamaCare amid pressure from angry constituents. They have pressed the White House to propose solutions to help assuage the anxieties of lawmakers deluged by complaints over canceled insurance policies.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said President Obama should never have promised that people would be able to keep their health plans.
“I listened to the president and I believed he was correct. I didn’t realize there were all these codicils attached to it. I think he was done a disservice. Someone should have stopped him and said — on his staff — ‘There’s this condition and that condition,’ ” Feinstein said.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has planned a special meeting of the Senate Democratic Conference with White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and other senior administration officials for Thursday afternoon.
On Wednesday, Reid declined to answer questions about the healthcare law’s faulty rollout until he had a chance to meet with White House advisers.
Obama called Reid on Tuesday evening to plot a strategy for healthcare and other issues as polls showed Democratic approval ratings sinking.
“We’re in the wild, wild west right now where everybody is working on their own ideas,” a senior Democratic aide said. “It would be better if we’re pulling in the same direction.”
On Wednesday, House Democratic lawmakers vented their frustration over the administration’s slow progress in fixing the law’s problems during a meeting with David Simas, the White House deputy senior adviser for communications and strategy, and Mike Hash, director of the Office of Health Reform.
Democrats said they were concerned about “being dragged into this nonstop cycle” of bad news, according to another Democratic aide.
The senior officials left House lawmakers unsatisfied by providing few hints to what steps the administration may take to stem the public backlash.
Republicans could barely contain their glee watching Democrats scramble to escape fallout from a law that GOP leaders predicted would be a disaster.
“Obviously, the panic has set in on the other side,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) said. “It’s pretty clear now there’s a stampede developing among House and Senate Democrats away from ObamaCare.”
Pressure on Democrats increased further Wednesday afternoon when the administration released numbers showing that only 106,185 people had signed up for health plans through ObamaCare during the first month of the enrollment period.
A mere 26,794 people enrolled through HealthCare.gov, the website that became a joke on “Saturday Night Live” because of its many technical glitches.
Already five Senate Democrats have jumped onto a proposal sponsored by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) that would force insurance companies to allow people to keep health plans they like, even if they fail to meet ObamaCare’s strict standard.
The co-sponsors include Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Mark Pryor (Ark.), Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), Kay Hagan (N.C.), and Jeff Merkley (Ore.). Pryor, Hagan and Landrieu face tough elections next year.
In the House, two conservative Democrats, Reps. John Barrow (Ga.) and Mike McIntyre (N.C.), have endorsed a Republican proposal that would allow insurance companies to continue offering plans that fall below the standards of the Affordable Care Act.
Hagan has seen her 15-point lead over North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis (R) vanish over the last two months. A new survey by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic firm, showed her up by only 2 points.
“The rollout and early implementation is not going the way it should, and North Carolinians deserve better,” Hagan said in a statement.
Close to a million people could lose their health insurance policies in California, and their complaints spurred Feinstein to sign onto Landrieu’s plan.
“The key in the decision for me was California constituents,” she said.
Unlike Landrieu’s legislation, the bill sponsored by Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) would not place a mandate on the insurance industry.
Democratic leadership aides have warned those proposals could cause insurance premiums to swell in 2014 by keeping younger, healthier people out of ObamaCare’s insurance exchanges.
The White House has criticized Upton’s legislation as a thinly veiled effort to gut ObamaCare, but it hasn’t threatened a veto. Democratic leaders in the House have not indicated whether they will whip votes against it.
Just a month ago, House Democratic leaders — pointing to the government shutdown — were publicly getting more bullish about taking back the lower chamber.
A Quinnipiac University survey released Wednesday showed Democrats tied with Republicans in a generic congressional match-up, down from the 9-point lead Democrats held over the GOP on Oct. 1.
One House Democratic aide warned that if the administration doesn’t provide a legislative fix by Friday, many members will “go crazy.” And unless it does, there could be a lot of defections to the Upton bill.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has a companion measure in the Senate. Every Republican in the upper chamber has backed it except for Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Mike Lee (Utah).
Sen. Mark Udall (Colo.), a Democrat up for reelection in 2014, on Wednesday unveiled the Continuous Coverage Act, which would allow consumers to keep their current health plans through the end of 2015.
Democratic leaders hope administration officials can help get their party back on the same page by laying out a blueprint to improve the law’s implementation.
Republicans will not back Landrieu’s plan because they say it places an unconstitutional mandate on the insurance industry.
A senior Senate Republican aide said it could force some insurance companies out of business by requiring them to maintain unprofitable insurance plans for small groups of policyholders.
Certainly possible.
I can't remember any legislative debacle that's even remotely close to this.
What's stunning is that 40% of the people still trust the Commie.
These f’n Commies need a swift kick in the azz.
We need more RINO's like a hole in the head.
For a long time there's been the reliable 30%. Now that Obama's locked an anchor (Obamacare) on the economy, millions of people are out of work (have no insurance) and succumbed to the crippling siren song of unemployment checks and food stamps, the Left has "grown" their base.
The consequences of 'political correctness'...scared to criticize a black man, especially when being polled over the phone.
VOTERS DEMAND TO KNOW: "Why didn't Di/Fi read the bill before voting for it three years ago, and warn voters about what would happen"?
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Mmmmmmmm....those angry cards and letters to Di/Fi really got to her---since she, like most of the Dimwits, didn't give a fig about constituents' opposition before this.
Di/Fi figures about a million voters could lose policies, thanks to her stupidity...now she's scurrying to save her sorry ***----signing onto Lousisana Dimwit, Mary Landrieu’s bill.
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Mary Landrieu (Dim-La) has legislation all the desperate Dims who stupidly voted for Boobamba/Care think could save their seats......mandating that those "rotten insurance companies" re/offer plans that were cancelled by Obama and Dims own stupidity (a pie-eyed impossibility).
As for "Little Mary Sunshine, " she's desperate to save her seat---they got her on tape on the Senate floor---parroting the ruinous Obama phrase "if you like your plan you can keep it."
Dimwits hope to dupe the voters---a-g-a-i-n---by creating the impression insurance companies----not Obamacare, and their votes----caused the cancellations.
“..........................With the media spotlight stuck on ObamaCare’s woes, Democratic campaign officials tried Wednesday to change the subject.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee began issuing ads attacking 31 House Republicans over the specter of another budget showdown — and possible government shutdown — in the new year.
Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the DCCC, also circulated a memo to House Democrats warning, “the worst may be yet to come.”
Israel blasted Republicans for “refusing to rule out another damaging government shutdown over defunding the Affordable Care Act and failing to produce a budget.”
Democratic strategists predict that the ObamaCare website will get fixed soon and that their party would be able to point to the law’s benefits and attack Republicans for supporting full-scale repeal.
“The other side of the argument is powerful,” said J.B. Poersch, the head of a Democratic super-PAC focused on Senate races.
“The pushback here is pretty simple: Republicans are all tied up with the health insurance companies, and the contributions prove it. And they’re not for anything. There’s no GOP plan or replacement.”
But other strategists warn that if ObamaCare doesn’t start working well — and soon — they could suffer a heavy toll in 2014.
“Democrats can sign onto different bills or push different things, but the message coming out of any particular candidate or campaign isn’t as important as what people are actually seeing, the facts on the ground,” said one senior Democratic strategist.
“Individual Democratic candidates can try to differentiate themselves, but past election results show that doesn’t work.”
More of the same....At least the party of destruction is consistent.
In the meantime, Sen. Cruz is busy writing a repeal and a fix for millions who have lost their insurance.
So, how about this for a strategy, follow a true leader for a change!
Or you can at least stay out of his way! (RINOs included)
...note how Pelosi has gone awol......another one of Durbin’s guarantee’s has fallen flat on it’s face....another missing grinning rat
...but not the spine
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REMINDER Three years ago, every Democrat voted AGAINST Wyoming Republican Mike Enzi's bill to protect policyholders from the ruinous effects of Obamacare-mandated cancellations, that we are seeing now.
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WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HASTEN THE COLLAPSE OF LIBERALISM? ........get a summary of Republican Mike Enzi's pro-policyholder amendment, with a list of EVERY SINGLE DEMOCRAT who voted against protecting policyholders.
Use the career-ending info in upcoming elections....in letters to the editor, ads, fliers, bumper stickers, lawn signs, etc.
Do not get in the way and let the Democrats drown. All democrats voted for it and so all should take the hit.
Do not vote for extensions, delays, modifications or anything. The GOP offered to delay and / or change, but was rebuked and mocked.
So let it burn and do not do anything to distract.
Right on. Ted Cruz said just the other day that the loss of policies was debated on the Senate floor after Obamacare was passed. The liars all knew and said nothing.
Seems to me that I remember doing a lot of kicking and screaming myself.
More outright lies from the left. They aren’t being dragged into shit. They couldn’t WAIT to line up and vote for socialized healthcare without even reading the damn bill or having proper dialog about it. They rammed it, now they can CRAM it...every last one who voted for it - Dems and Pubs alike. Shameful pieces of shite should be thrown out, if not jailed.
Remember Diane, you gotta pass it to find out what’s in it.
*sob!*
she’s also stating Obama should have been warned. She’s claiming ignorance on his behalf. Once more he has no idea.
He clearly takes the title of most clueless president ever.
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