The awful deal last week by Virginia Democrat and state Sen. Phil Puckett to abandon his party in order to earn a cushy appointed post and a judgeship for his daughter in exchange for giving control of the state Senate to the GOP has resulted in what the Republicans were after all along: passing a state budget that would refuse to fund the Affordable Care Act in the state.
The Virginia General Assembly adopted a long-delayed state budget late Thursday, acting after an hours-long debate among newly ascendant Senate Republicans who fought among themselves over whether the plan threw up sufficient barriers to Medicaid expansion.
The Republicans, who gained control of the Senate Monday when a Democrat resigned from what had been an evenly split chamber, approved a spending deal hashed out by a bipartisan group of House and Senate negotiators.
But they first amended it in a way intended to make it harder to expand the federal-state healthcare program for the poor under the federal Affordable Care Act — Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s top legislative priority.
As midnight approached, the plan moved over for consideration by the House of Delegates, where it quickly passed. It was expected to then head to McAuliffe’s desk, but with no certainty that he would approve it and avert a government shutdown before July 1.
McAuliffe quickly issued a statement after the House vote: “When this budget reaches my desk I will evaluate it carefully and take the actions that I deem necessary, but this fight is far from over. This is the right thing to do for Virginia, and I will not rest until we get it done.”
A government shutdown in Virginia, home to the most government employees in the country per capita, would be lethal to McAuliffe. And the bill is designed specifically so that the governor cannot authorize Medicaid expansion without the approval of the General Assembly. And Republicans like State Sen. Richard Black are thrilled:
“This was a stunning victory for the Republicans. We passed a budget in a single night and we have effectively blocked Medicaid expansion.”
Denying health care to hundreds of thousands of Virginians is what Republicans consider to be "a stunning victory."
Let that sink in for a minute.
Apparently the only effective, if childish, act is to refer to Pill Phuckett ever after. Also, may he be shunned henceforth. (Not that Virginians are into shunning, but aren't politicians from that region supposed to have some rudiment of honor? Because I'm not seeing any honor here.)
ReplyDeleteThis defection is a perfect example of what President Obama and the health care reformers have been fighting against all along. Single Payer fanatics like Jane Hamsher of FireDogLake and her cronies at the Daily Kos chose to ignore that fact that the Republicans are a solid block of obstruction, which creates enormous temptations for squishy Democrats to sell out at the margins.
ReplyDeleteNaderites and Greenwald toadies like to squeal that the Democrats had a technical majority in 2009-2012 and they failed to deliver on all the progressive utopian wish lists, insinuating that they weren't even willing try, so it's permissible to waste your votes on third party vanity candidates and throw elections to the Republicans because it doesn't make any difference any. These petulant tantrums ignore the political reality that until voters deliver a solid margin of Democratic representatives, every progressive measure is at risk and none stands a decent chance of being enacted.
The rule remains the same: when Democrats win they move left, when Democrats lose the move right. And rightly so, for progressives who don't support the party have proven themselves and their cronies to by unreliable allies and an unsound base for operations.
"Denying health care to hundreds of thousands of Virginians is what Republicans consider to be "a stunning victory.""
ReplyDeleteThey truly deserve to be called bastards for this.
Spot on.
ReplyDelete