Attention!Congress Plots to Pay for Reviled TPP Deal by Raiding Medicare

Of course Congress does not act on its own. Raiding Medicare is not
something Congress could come up with unless it has been told to.
And who tells Congress what to do? Is it the American People? The
voters? The 99%?
Bite your tongue!
Think of it this way. A well trained dog responds quickly to its
Master's command. 99% of the people can order that dog around with no
success. The dog may look at them with some interest, but it makes no
move to obey. Its total commitment is to its Master, to the one who
has taken great pains to train, feed, and care for it. It is Loyal.
And that should explain our nation's congress. It is Loyal to its
Master. Congress may look with interest at us, even smiling and
nodding. But Congress will only obey the Master who has bought it,
fed it, trained it and keeps it safe.
For this Congress, no pot of money is off limits...except those
bulging pots of gold belonging to its Master.

Carl Jarvis

On 5/27/15, S. Kashdan <skashdan@scn.org> wrote:
> Shock: Congress Plots to Pay for Reviled TPP Deal by Raiding Medicare
>
>
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> By Gaius Publius [1]
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> AlterNet [2], May 26, 2015
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> http://www.alternet.org/print/news-amp-politics/congress-plots-pay-reviled-tpp-deal-raiding-medicare
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> It just doesn't get more cynical than this. Note that we're talking about a
>
> bipartisan trade deal, thanks to 14 Democratic senators [3] led by Ron Wyden
>
> and Chuck Schumer.
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>
>
> If Democrats fail to regain the Senate or put their next neo-liberal
> candidate in the White House--or both--they will have done it to themselves
>
> through cynical moves like this.
>
>
>
> Michael Hiltzik, writing in the LA Times [4] (my emphasis):
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> Medicare means many things to many people. To seniors, it's a program
> providing good, low-cost healthcare at a stage in life when it's most
> needed.
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> To Congress, it's beginning to look more like a piggy bank to be raided.
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> That's the only conclusion one can draw from a provision slipped into a
> measure to extend and increase the government's Trade Adjustment Assistance
>
> program, which provides assistance to workers who lose their jobs because of
>
> trade deals. The measure, introduced by Rep. David Reichert (R-Wash.),
> proposes covering some of the $2.7-billion cost of the extension [5] by
> slicing $700 million out of doctor and hospital reimbursements for
> Medicare.
>
>
>
> The plan on Capitol Hill is to move the Trade Assistance Program expansion
> in tandem with fast-track approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade
> deal, possibly as early as this week. We explained earlier the dangers of
> the fast-track approval [6] of this immense and largely secret trade deal.
> But the linkage with the assistance program adds a new layer of political
> connivance: Congressional Democrats demanded the expansion of the Trade
> Assistance Program, Congressional Republicans apparently found the money in
>
> Medicare, and the Obama White House, which should be howling in protest, has
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> remained silent [7].
>
>
>
> Let's pause. "Congressional Democrats demanded the expansion of the Trade
> Assistance Program, Congressional Republicans apparently found the money in
>
> Medicare"--and 14 pro-money Democrats voted for it in the Senate. The bill
> was dead [8] without them.
>
>
>
> Now Hiltzik again:
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>
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> The Medicare raid was so stealthy that critics in Congress, including
> members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, are just now gearing up to
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> oppose it. "It was sort of buried" in the bill, Rep. Keith Ellison
> (D-Minn.), the caucus co-chair, told me Monday. The caucus expects to
> circulate a letter opposing the arrangement later this week. Ellison, an
> opponent of granting fast-track authority on the TPP, says the Medicare cut
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> amounts to piling the costs of trade liberalization onto its victims.
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>
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> "There will be fabulous wealth generated by the Trans-Pacific Partnership,"
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> he says. "The people who are hurt shouldn't have to pay for it with their
> jobs and then have inadequate Medicare when they get older."
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>
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> If Fast Track passes in the House, it will need both Democrats and
> Republicans to do it. For just this maneuver alone--a move that will result
>
> in deaths [9]--may each of them rot that does it. (My complete coverage of
> TPP and Fast Track is here [10].)
>
>
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> Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@alternet.org'. [11]
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> [12]
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> Source URL:
> http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/congress-plots-pay-reviled-tpp-deal-raiding-medicare
>
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> Links:
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> [1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/gaius-publius
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> [2] http://alternet.org
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> [3]
> http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2015/05/schumer-organized-democratic-collapse.html
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> [4]
> http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-congress-plots-to-raid-medicare-20150518-column.html
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> [5]
> http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/114th-congress-2015-2016/costestimate/hr_1892.pdf
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> [6]
> http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-20150206-column.html#page=1
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> [7]
> http://www.rpc.senate.gov/legislative-notices/trade-adjustment-assistance-reauthorization-act-of-2015
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> [8]
> http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2015/05/schumer-organizes-democratic-collapse.html
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>
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> [9]
> http://thehealthcareblog.com/blog/2013/04/08/why-medicare-cuts-will-quietly-kill-seniors/
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> [10] http://gaiuspublius.tumblr.com/tagged/TPP
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>
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> [11] mailto:corrections@alternet.org?Subject=Typo on Shock: Congress Plots
> to Pay for Reviled TPP Deal by Raiding Medicare
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> [12] http://www.alternet.org/
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> [13] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
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