Tag Archives: US Senate

local news, political news, State news

Welcome back, Beto!

I’m getting a little ahead of myself, but Beto O’Rourke is making himself quite at home in what might be considered “enemy territory.”

O’Rourke is the Democratic member of Congress who wants to succeed Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz at the end of next year.

He keeps coming back to the Texas Panhandle. He’ll be here Tuesday, conducting a town hall meeting beginning at 6:30 p.m. at Austin Middle School in Amarillo.

What’s the deal? O’Rourke represents an El Paso district in Congress. He’s got a Democratic Party primary yet to win. He has returned back home to Texas during the August recess to resume his full-time campaign for the Senate seat occupied by Cruz.

O’Rourke has developed quite a fan following among local Democrats — yes, there are actually living, breathing Democrats in the Panhandle. They can’t get enough of this young man.

I’m curious about a couple of things regarding Rep. O’Rourke.

First, how much time is he going to spend mining a limited number of Democratic primary votes when there exist so many more in larger urban regions in, say, Dallas and Tarrant counties, in Bexar County, in Travis County, Harris County and, oh yes, El Paso County? Hey, it’s a big state and he’s got to get from place to place in a big hurry.

Second, if the young congressman gets nominated by Democrats next spring, will he come back to the Panhandle when the general election campaign kicks into high gear?

You and I know the rule of thumb regarding partisan Texas politics: Democrats generally have given up on the Panhandle, while Republicans take this region for granted. Just as national politicians campaigning for president focus on “battleground states” and ignore the trusty Red and Blue states, the same can be said for the intrastate campaign in Texas.

Do candidates for statewide office spend as much time in regions where the outcome is preordained? If I would run a Texas-wide campaign, I would focus my attention on those “swing regions” and seek to gin up turnout among my own partisans, be they Democrats in Austin and the Hill Country or Republicans in Amarillo and throughout West Texas.

I hope I’m wrong about Beto O’Rourke. Just maybe the young man will possess the energy and pizzazz to spend more general-election time far from his base of support.

You know, too, that I am no fan of the Cruz Missile.

Enough said.

medical news

Is bipartisanship making a comeback in the Senate?

Oh, I do hope my ears and eyes aren’t deceiving me.

I’ve heard during the past day or so that the failure of the Republican-authored bill to replace the Affordable Care Act has produced a remarkable event.

It is that Republican U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington are going to actually talk to each other about how they might find a path toward improving the ACA.

Alexander chairs the Senate Health Committee and is committed to working with Murray to commence bipartisan hearings next month that would fix some elements of the existing health care law.

I do believe this is how effective government is designed to work.

The Senate Republican caucus sought to craft an ACA replacement without any Democratic help. The House of Representatives did approve its version of an ACA replacement, also without Democratic input or votes. It fell to the Senate to complete the job. The Senate failed when they lost three GOP senators, killing the totally partisan measure.

Now the Senate is blundering its way toward a compromise solution. Sens. Alexander and Murray are leading the way.

They’re both Capitol Hill veterans. They’ve been around long enough to know how the place can actually work. Alexander and Murray aren’t alone in that knowledge, to be sure.

It well might be time for Republican congressional leaders — in both legislative chambers — to accept that the ACA is the law of the land and that it’s likely to remain the law of the land.

Many of us out here in the heartland have noted that the ACA is far from perfect. Its chief proponent, former President Obama, has implored Republicans to find a bipartisan solution to repair the law. GOP lawmakers, though, have been hung up on repealing the ACA.

A one-party solution hasn’t worked out for the Republicans.

There now appears some momentum building for a return to the proven strategy of working together — with both parties sitting at the same table — to find some common ground.

That’s how you legislate.

national news, political news

Listen to this senator

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1YpvX0dEHM

This video lasts 4 minutes and 34 seconds. It is part of a speech that U.S. Sen. John McCain delivered in the midst of an impassioned debate on the Senate floor about whether to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

McCain came back to Capitol Hill to cast a decisive vote against repeal and replacement of the ACA, effectively killing the Republican effort to affect one-sixth of the U.S. economy.

McCain’s speech, though, deals mostly with the political process that has rendered the Senate virtually impotent. The body has become infected with a win-at-any-cost mentality that McCain says strips the Senate of the title of being “the world’s greatest deliberative body.”

McCain — who’s battling brain cancer — took responsibility for being part of the problem. He would go on later to call for a return to “regular order.” He wants the Senate — and I presume the House of Representatives, too — to return to process that encourages compromise and cooperation among lawmakers of both political parties.

It’s not that way now. The word “compromise” has become an epithet. Sen. McCain is right to call for a return to the old way of doing things on Capitol Hill. It’s the only way out of the morass that has engulfed the nation’s legislative branch of government.

Listen to this snippet. It speaks volumes about a brave and heroic American. Our political system needs many more just like him.

political news

Yep, Mitch, it’s time to ‘move on’

Mitch McConnell sounds like a man who has cried “Uncle!” in his long-running effort to toss out a law that is linked to a man he once vowed he would make a “one-term president.”

The U.S. Senate majority leader didn’t succeed in limiting former President Obama to a single term; nor did he succeed in repealing his signature piece of domestic legislation, the Affordable Care Act.

It’s time to “move on,” he said this week after the latest — and most dramatic — failure to repeal the ACA.

Yes, Mr. Leader, it is time. Sure, you now have a chance to tinker with the ACA, to improve it. The Senate’s top Republican can work with Democrats — for a change! — in finding some common ground.

But the task of legislating, which McConnell knows as well as any one in the Senate, involves lots of complicated things. It involves building and rebuilding relationships with your colleagues from the “other party.” It means you have to deal with myriad crises that crop up around the world without a moment’s notice; and brother, we have a lot of ’em, right, Mitch?

It also means that the leader also has constituents back home in Kentucky who need matters dealt with that concern only them and only their state. I am going to presume that McConnell has a Senate staff that is tasked with tending to those needs on his behalf.

The Battle of the Affordable Care Act is over, Mitch. You lost. The other side held together.

The Senate can fix what’s wrong with the ACA, keep its name, and deal forthrightly with a heaping plate of issues that need its attention.

Oh, yes. We also have that “Russia Thing” that needs our attention.

national news, political news

OK, Mitch … time to get to work — with Democrats!

Mitch McConnell isn’t going to take any advice from me, given that he likely won’t even know I’m offering it.

I’ll go to bat anyway. Here’s my advice to the U.S. Senate majority leader, who has just witnessed the collapse of the Republican-authored overhaul of the nation’s health care system.

If I were Mitch, I’d get on the phone in the next day or two. Pick up the phone, Mitch, and place a call to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

McConnell would do well to say something like this:

“Hello, Chuck? This is Mitch. OK, pal. You win. You won this fight. You held your Democratic caucus together to fend off our effort to repeal Obamacare and replace it with something we crafted all on our own. I get that we didn’t do what we should have done at the beginning, which is seek Democrats’ advice and counsel on how to replace the Affordable Care Act.

“But look, Chuck. I know how this system is supposed to work. I’ve been around the Senate a long time, as you have and I understand fully that cooperation and compromise aren’t four-letter words. Except that I’ve got that damn TEA Party wing of my caucus that keeps giving me the dickens whenever I talk to you folks.

“Hell, man, Lyndon Johnson worked the Senate like a craftsman; he played senators like fiddles. He got things done when he ran the Senate.

“So, here’s my idea. Let’s all sit down together. I want to toss out the ACA. You support it in principle. But surely you have problems with it. Those damn premiums are too high. Insurers are bailing out in some states. Patients can’t always get the docs they want to treat them.

“Why don’t we put our heads together to fix the Affordable Care Act. We can call it whatever we wish. I tried to get it tossed. It’s still the law of the land. It’s going to remain the law of the land possibly until hell freezes over. But I’m willing to work with you to fix what you and I both know — along with members of our respective caucuses — that the ACA isn’t perfect. Far from it. It needs fixing.

“Are you in?”

Chuck Schumer, having heard all of this, likely would answer:

“Welcome aboard, Mitch.”

entertainment news

D’oh! There’s also Al Franken

I have committed an error of omission.

In a previous blog post noting the possible entry of two entertainer/political novices into politics, I forgot to mention one of the more notable former entertainers who’s actually making a name for himself on Capitol Hill.

Al (Stuart Smalley) Franken has served in the U.S. Senate from Minnesota and has become arguably one of the upper congressional chamber’s most eloquent progressive voices

Franken was elected initially in 2008, defeating Republican Sen. Norm Coleman.

Franken’s original claim to fame? He was a comedy writer for “Saturday Night Live” and then assumed the character “Stuart Smalley,” the guy with that strange sense of self-awareness.

He’s also written some political books and was a radio personality on Air America, the left-wing broadcasting network; he quit Air America to run for the Senate.

Has he performed well in the Senate? In my view … yes! Then again, I’m aligned with him politically.

I suppose Sen. Franken can be a positive example of how someone who’s never run for or held public office can rise to the occasion. Franken has done so.

I regret omitting him in that previous blog post. My bad, man.

https://highplainsblogger.com/2017/07/kid-rock-for-senate-oh-my/

 

local news, national news

They’re stepping into the arena

I once wrote a blog post about a bumper sticker I spotted in Amarillo that told of someone being afraid of “the government.”

This individual seemed to imply that his government represents someone other than himself … or herself. That’s not true, of course. Our government belongs to us.

I encouraged this individual to seek public office at the earliest possible moment.

Here’s what I wrote in 2009:

https://highplainsblogger.com/2009/07/i-have-seen-the-enemy/

I’m happy to report that two friends of mine have done precisely that. I’ve written about one of them already: Greg Sagan is going to run as a Democrat for the 13th Congressional District right here in the Texas Panhandle against Republican incumbent Mac Thornberry.

Today, I want to offer a brief word of praise for another friend. He’s also a Democrat who once taught journalism at West Texas A&M University. He moved about a year ago back to his native Alabama.

Butler Cain is another Democrat who now is going to run for the 5th Congressional District in Alabama, where the incumbent is Republican Mo Brooks, who is rumored to be considering a campaign for the U.S. Senate seat that was vacated when Jeff Sessions became attorney general in the Donald J. Trump administration.

Cain’s rationale for seeking this House seat follows the advice I gave to that unknown bumper sticker owner. He said on social media that he had grown tired of bitching about government, so he has decided to climb into the ring and start tossing — and receiving — those rhetorical haymakers.

He took a job as a journalism department head at the University of North Alabama. I’m not altogether clear what his political campaign will do to his standing at the school. My hope for Cain is that he’ll get to continue influencing young journalists in the making.

We have folks who continually gripe about this and/or that public policy decision. I guess I’m one of them.

Then you have those who decide that the time for bitching about it is over. They decide to make a tangible difference in the political system that angers many millions of us.

I salute them.

medical news, national news

Sen. Cruz crawls into the belly of the beast

Ted Cruz deserves some high praise.

The junior U.S. Republican senator from Texas came back home for the Fourth of July and ventured into the heart of the Loyal Opposition — where he got an earful from constituents about the Senate GOP plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Cruz went to McAllen, deep in the Rio Grande Valley and the base of one of the strongest bastions of Democratic voting loyalists in Texas.

Cruz’s constituents told him point blank that they detest the Republican plan to replace the ACA with something concocted in secret, with no Democratic input.

According to the Texas Tribune, Cruz took the criticism well. “Isn’t freedom wonderful?” Cruz said shortly after taking the stage. “Think about it: In much of the world, if protesters showed up, they would face violent government oppression. In America, we’ve got something different.”

Yes, we do, senator.

With so many of his Republican colleagues forgoing direct communication with their constituents, I want to applaud Sen. Cruz for listening to their complaints.

Will he act on what he hears? I’m not holding my breath for that to happen. I do applaud him nevertheless for stepping into the line of fire.

Read the Tribune story here.

medical news

Sen. Cassidy faces his critics

Bill Cassidy deserves a pat on the back.

The Republican U.S. senator went home to Louisiana this week and showed up at a town hall meeting in Baton Rouge. He got a rough welcome from his constituents.

Why the hurrah for Sen. Cassidy? Because he’s willing to talk to his constituents about something that’s on their minds: health care and the Senate’s plan to overhaul it.

Cassidy is on the fence regarding the Senate GOP’s plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. He famously said the Senate needed to approve a bill that passed the “Jimmy Kimmel test,” referring to the late-night comedian’s well-known tale of his newborn son’s birth and the health concerns he faced; Kimmel asked on national TV whether it’s right to deny people health care if they cannot afford insurance.

A lot of Sen. Cassidy’s Republican colleagues — both in the Senate and the House of Representatives — are not bothering to listen to voters’ concerns about the future of the ACA and whatever might replace it. I’m deeply disappointed to know that my own congressman, Mac Thornberry, also a Republican, has chosen to forgo any town hall meetings to discuss this issue with his constituents.

Bill Cassidy, though, has chosen to hear from his “bosses,” the people who pay his salary, who fund the government and who are most directly affected by the laws Congress enacts.

Good for him. Indeed, good for all our elected representatives who choose to listen to what their bosses expect from them.

medical news, national news

‘Repeal/replace’ becomes repeal and … whatever

My head keeps spinning. Why? I cannot keep up with Donald John Trump’s ever-changing strategy — such as it is.

The president has promised, guaranteed, signed in blood an effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it immediately with an alternative. The House of Representatives approved such a plan; the president high-fived the GOP leadership at a Rose Garden ceremony.

Then came the Senate’s version. The Senate GOP came up with a plan that looks a lot like the House version, which Trump then called “mean.” The Senate Republican leadership couldn’t find 50 votes to approve it. So it postponed a vote until they can get there.

OK, do you follow me? Here’s more. Today the president said it’s OK to just repeal the ACA and worry later — maybe much later — about a replacement.

Hey, wait! What about that promise/pledge to do it all at once? What happened to the president’s commitment to keep health insurance for every American? It’s gone, man!

Oh, yes. There’s also that other tweet that came out Thursday morning, the one that ridiculed a TV news anchor in personal and vulgar terms. Republicans are now fleeing from the president’s policy statements regarding health care repeal/replacement largely as a result.

The president’s overall campaign pledge to “make America great again” now appears also to be dead on arrival. This is not a sign of greatness, Mr. President. You are demonstrating weakness.

Here’s an idea: How about reforming the existing law, the ACA, by tweaking the things you dislike? The Congressional Budget Office has “scored” the Senate GOP plan with a grim projection that 22 million Americans will lose their health insurance.

We’ve got a health insurance law on the books already. Make that one better. You can do this, Mr. President. It will take some help from Democrats, who say they’re ready and willing to compromise.

That is how you legislate.