1. Representative Eric Cantor (R-Virginia), on May 8, 2013: "The House will vote next week for a full repeal of Obamacare."
House Republicans have now tried this at least 35 times, (some media sources put the count nearer to 40). If you consider the hours spent on their vain attempt to repeal what in 2012 Speaker John Boehner called "the law of the land", our cost conscious Republican congressmen have wasted 80 hours at a cost of approximately $50M on this. They claim, in part, that the ACA is too expensive.
At the same time, Republican congressmen in both houses have long called for reducing the cost of Medicare. This past week, President Obama asked Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to recommend some of their fellow Republicans to a 15 member, independent panel charged with finding ways to restrain the growing cost of our existing Medicare program.
On May 9, those same two Republican leaders sent a letter to the White House informing the President that, not only will they not recommend anyone to the President's Independent Payment Advisory Board, but that they want the panel repealed.
There is no logic to be found here, only a continued childish game of we-hate-the-President-so-we-aren't-going-play-with-him.
2. On a brighter note...the Minnesota House approved their same sex marriage bill by a vote of 75-59. The Senate is expected to pass the bill next week and Governor Mark Dayton (D) has said he will sign it. Same sex couples should be able to wed in Minnesota beginning in August of this year.
An interesting side note to this bill's movement through Minnesota's legislature is that in last November's election, just 6 months ago, the people of that state voted down a Republican supported amendment to their state constitution that would have defined marriage as between one man and one woman. During that same election, Democrats were voted into the majority in both legislative chambers.
Let's hear it for the people of Minnesota!
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