Sen. Health and Finance Committee bills now to be combined by Dem Sen leaders.

[elleng]

[Cleita]

1. And how does that work?

Does Senator Baucus still get to call all the shots? We are doomed if he does.

[damntexdem]

3. No, it's out of his committee.

Now the frail Reed will be the issue.

[Sebastian Doyle]

4. Insurance whore Baucus negotiates with husband of insurance whore Dodd

And their combined bill will look like....




...a big stinking pile of corporatist shit.

[Mass]

8. Reid, Dodd, and Baucus are those who will lead the bill.

I guess other senators will be involved, but have not seen a list.

[berni_mccoy]

11. Not Dodd, Harkin. Unless I missed something, Harkin is chair of HELP.

[Mass]

13. But he said Dodd would lead. I guess Harkin will be involved too.

but deferred to Dodd because it was Dodd who led the writing of the HELP bill.

[Sebastian Doyle]

17. Harkin said last week that he was going to let Dodd handle it.

Because Dodd was the guy who "unofficially" filled in for Kennedy all this time (actually mutating Teddy's bill so his wife's employer would be taken care of)

I would feel a little better about this if Harkin WAS in the negotiations, and I don't know what the Hell he was thinking. We can't trust Dodd on this any more than Baucus. And we sure as Hell can't trust Spineless Harry to keep them in line.

[The Wielding Truth]

2. Common sense to make a silk purse out of a pig's ear?

[sinkingfeeling]

5. Reid runs the meetings behind closed doors.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/13/senate.health.care/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

(This story was entitled: Health Care Reform Moves Behind Closed Doors this morning, before Finance Committee vote)

Joining Reid in the decision-making will be Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, the Finance Committee chairman; Sens. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and Tom Harkin of Iowa, senior Democrats on the health committee; and Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of
staff.

Then the Senate must find common ground with the House of Representatives, and so far there appears to be little -- House Democrats have said they won't pass a bill that doesn't include a public option.

Leaders in the House have been meeting over the past months in an effort to merge three bills passed out of committees and bring down projected costs. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, has said she expects a final version for consideration by the full chamber soon, but she hasn't provided a specific timetable.

[Oregone]

6. Now, things will get interesting

[rucky]

7. Is this good for the Jews?

[rurallib]

9. What does that mean? I am confused.

[rucky]

10. it's just a figure of speech.

not sure if this is a good thing or not.

[elleng]

15. From wherever you heard it, may I suggest that you forget it?

:thumbsdown:

[frazzled]

12. Apparently, it's just a random piece of bigotry thrown in for good measure

Don't expect a response. There's no rational answer.

[rucky]

16. I got it from my Jewish grandfather.

Not sure how rational my explanation is, but it's certainly not bigoted. Maybe a bit of self-mockery.

[frazzled]

18. Funny ...

None of my four Jewish grandparents ever said such a thing.

[rucky]

19. I guess it's less common than I thought.

[Sebastian Doyle]

14. Not unless they own insurance corporations.

Jews would be fucked by this horrible stinking pile of shit. As would Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Mormons, Jehova's Witnesses, Scientologists, Elvis worshippers, Satanists, Atheists, Spaghetti Monster worshippers, and anybody else I forgot to mention.