Posted on 12/24/2009 9:03:04 PM PST by neverdem
WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON - When the feds whack New York, you usually hear Chuck Schumer lead the outrage. But on health care, he's been practically mute about some mighty hits headed our way.
Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Paterson both slammed the Senate bill Monday, charging it would cost the city more than $500 million and rip a $1 billion-a-year hole in the state budget.
Schumer, a veteran streetfighter for federal cash, has been suddenly recast as a defender of Washington - and a deal he helped cut that shafts New York.
"He's being uncharacteristically quiet in part because the numbers don't look that good," said Baruch College political scientist Doug Muzzio.
Schumer pledged Tuesday to "fight as hard as we can" to undo the deep cuts in Medicaid for New York when a final bill is negotiated with the House.
But he bristled at criticism that he stood by as other states won sweetheart deals. He fumed to the Daily News that while local pols are focused on their budgets, he's more concerned with helping citizens. And he insists he did.
"I want to help the state government, but people and jobs come first," Schumer said. He claimed "huge" wins for the state and city despite gripes from a mayor and governor who seldom cross him.
Schumer's top bragging point was a special provision to stop cuts in Medicare Advantage to 800,000 New Yorkers.
"I stopped it all," he said, a save worth "multibillions of dollars" to the seniors who use the alternative to traditional Medicare.
On jobs, "I used the influence I had" to beat back a "$30 billion assault" by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) on funds for tens of thousands of employees at New York teaching hospitals.
He also claimed a save of $700 million for children's health care.
Schumer, the No. 3 official in the Senate and perhaps the top adviser to Majority Leader Harry Reid, said he plays a quieter inside game nowadays. "When you have some clout, you can get some things done behind the scenes better," he said. "I choose the method that's going to be the most effective for New York."
Schumer's freshman protégé, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, accepted the deal without protest.
"If one vote can be a veto, as it is in this bill, she could say, 'Excuse me, I don't like this,' but it's hard to imagine her bucking Chuck," Muzzio said.
mmcauliff@nydailynews.com
I don't know. She wasn't telling the truth about Chuck U gabbing on the cell phone on the plane. I wonder...
Rats eating their own. Good.
Wasn’t she a “Republican” - obviously a RINO to beging with... I do believe she’s Schumer’s little poodle. Can we ever get rid of that odious sleazey man?
Stopped cuts to Medicare Advantage?? My government Advantage Plan has a 58% premium increase AND more out of pocket expenses.
The only thing they have left in their trick bag is to take what you have and make you feel guilty if you don't give it up.
Who remembers yhe “The Name Game,” by singer Shirley Ellis?
1964. Using the name Micah as an example, the song follows this pattern:
Micah, Micah, bo-bicah,
Banana-fana fo-ficah
Fee-fi-mo-icah
Micah!
Now let’s do Chuck!
That’s EXACTLY what I had in mind...
Chuck Schumer: Defender of Women's Rights, Insulter of Actual Woman
New York: Town of Rhinebeck Reschedules Vote on Anti-Gun Proposal!
Mayor Bloomberg's gun sales investigation costs city $1.5M
FReepmail me if you want on or off my New York ping list.
Merry Christmas to you as well neverdem!
She was a rat lawyer for BIG TOBACCO that had a healthy American appreciation of firearms from upstate NY. I don't know how she got the job House of Representatives other than Rahm Emmanuel somehow recruited her for the race in 2006.
Democrats have sold their tiny little barren souls.
A Christmas wish. May Chuck Schumer drop dead.
In fact, I’ll make it a Chanukkah wish to.
Hell, I’ll make it a Chinese New Year and Vietnamese “TET” New Year wish.
Nobody in their right mind likes Schumer. He is a piece of “dreck” (crap) as we say in Yiddish. He gives child-molesters a good name because he molests the whole country.
Obviously, on this Christmas Eve, I’m in good spirits (without the spirits). Guys like Schumer deserve to become Xmas ghosts, real fast. Would save humanity a lot of suffering from his stupidity if he would just go away, permanently.
And take those other New York dorks Nadler, Weiner, Clinton, Murphy, Ackerman, Towns, etc. with you, dumkoff.
Schumer's top bragging point was a special provision to stop cuts in Medicare Advantage to 800,000 New Yorkers.
Really????! I heard about the deal my Senator, Bill Nelson, got for us here in Florida. He started out proposing that 3 deep blue counties in south Florida be allowed to keep their Medicare Advantage option. I've heard since that the entire state was eventually allowed to keep it. Now, I'm reading that Schumer got the same exemption for New Yorkers. So, what other states are keeping Med Advantage - only blue states? It sure looks like the red states are expected to take a much larger portion of cuts while being expected to pay the brunt of the fees?
Schumer, the tumor, is the Kenyan’s bitch.
TTM, I like the way you think! Merry Christmas!
I wrote the “good” Senators of NY to ask what they had done to help us. NY is drowning in Medicare and this ass thinks he has done us a favor..
BYE BYE Christine !!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.