Democracy Has Prevailed.

January 29, 2012

More On Republicans' Respect For The Constitution

From yesterday's National Journal.  Grover Norquist, good shepherd of our Congress' anti-tax Republicans was asked about two separate scenarios for Congress post-2012.  The first - the GOP controls everything:
I think when we get through this election cycle, we’ll have a Republican majority, [though] not necessarily a strong majority in the Senate, and a majority in the House. The majority in the House will continue to be a Reagan majority, a conservative majority. Boehner never has to talk his delegation going further to the right.

If the Republicans have the House, Senate, and the presidency, I’m told that they could do an early budget vote—a reconciliation vote where you extend the Bush tax cuts out for a decade or five years. You take all of those issues off the table, and then say, “What do you want to do for tax reform?”

Then, the question is: “OK, what do we do about repatriation and all of the interesting stuff?” And, if you have a Republican president to go with a Republican House and Senate, then they pass the [Paul] Ryan plan [on Medicare].
The Ryan Medicare Plan is the one that would, according to the CBO:
Among other changes, the proposal would convert the current Medicare program to a system under which beneficiaries received premium support payments—payments that would be used to help pay the premiums for a private health insurance policy and would grow over time with overall consumer prices.
And:
Federal payments for Medicaid under the proposal would be substantially smaller than currently projected amounts. States would have additional flexibility to design and manage their Medicaid programs, and they might achieve greater efficiencies in the delivery of care than under current law. Even with additional flexibility, however, the large projected reduction in payments would probably require states to decrease payments to Medicaid providers, reduce eligibility for Medicaid, provide less extensive coverage to beneficiaries, or pay more themselves than would be the case under current law.
And finally:
Under the proposal, most elderly people would pay more for their health care than they would pay under the current Medicare system. For a typical 65-year-old with average health spending enrolled in a plan with benefits similar to those currently provided by Medicare, CBO estimated the beneficiary’s spending on premiums and out-of-pocket expenditures as a share of a benchmark: what total health care spending would be if a private insurer covered the beneficiary. By 2030, the beneficiary’s spending would be 68 percent of that benchmark under the proposal, 25 percent under the extended-baseline scenario, and 30 percent under the alternative fiscal scenario.
So of course Norquist's anti-tax team is just chomping at the bit to vote for it.

But I fear we're getting somewhat off topic.  What was that OTHER scenario Norquist was asked about - the one where the Democrats "still have control"?

Ah...let's take a look:
Obama can sit there and let all the tax [cuts] lapse, and then the Republicans will have enough votes in the Senate in 2014 to impeach.
There's Norquist's choice; extend the Bush tax cuts and shred Medicare OR Impeach Barack Obama.

Article 2 Section 4 of the Constitution says:
The President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
So what's the charge?  Is it treason for allowing a tax cut to expire?  For not favoring a wholesale dismantling of Medicare?  Or are those merely "high Crimes and Misdemeanors"?

Can someone explain it to me?

Senator Toomey?  You're one of my two Senators here in Pennsylvania and  you signed a Norquist anti-tax pledge.  Would YOU be in favor of impeaching President Obama if the Bush tax cuts expire?  Or if Representative Ryan's plan isn't implemented?

3 comments:

EdHeath said...

You know, the economic recovery is currently up for grabs, at best. Republican obstructionism and how Obama hires advisers from Wall Street have pretty crippled policy right now. Maybe Obama's new found populism is for real (I'll pause while you stop laughing). If things change, Lord knows what will happen (and of course things always change).

Impeaching Clinton for being a bad boy was bad enough, but impeaching Obama because the Republicans haven't got their way? I would love to see them try. I would love to see the United States once again humiliated all around the world, American exceptionalism made a mockery of.

Actually, what I would love to see or not doesn't matter, the Republicans will continue to create misery and damage this country regardless of what I do or think.

johnmariow said...

Obama's Health Care Law will be reviewed by the US Supreme Court during the summer.

Obama did not commit any high crimes and misdemeanors. But the Tea Party did.

I say we should impeach all the Tea Party Congress members who advocated a default in the national debt payment for the sole purpose of winning the 2012 elections. I think they are traitors and should be treated accordingly.

johnmariow said...

Paul Ryan's plan won't lower the national debt by a single penny because all the draconian cuts in the budget are negated by 4.2 trillion dollars in tax cuts that will be financed with borrowed money. To the contrary, Paul Ryan's plan will cause our economy to fall into a deep recession.

When a worker becomes eligible for Medicare, the Worker's medical insurance (provided by his employer) expires leaving his family uninsured. It will be happening in businesses throughout the United States. This will not only make retirement impossible for most Americans, it will also leave hundreds of millions of Americans uninsured. The uninsured will not be able to pay their hospital bills hence raising the cost of insurance for the relatively few rich that could afford insurance.

In essence, Paul Ryan's plan is a disaster area and any Republican President will be a one term President.