Tag Archives: CNN

Unless GOP-led Congress Acts, Texas Children Risk Losing Healthcare Next Month

As President Trump eggs them on, Republicans in the United States Congress are racing towards their own self-imposed finish line at historic speed.  Desperate for a major legislative accomplishment, they are clearing every possible hurdle to pass a massive, omnibus, and until last Friday afternoon, mysterious tax bill which will have major implications for generations of American citizens.  To give you an idea of the speed with which this legislative “process”  has occurred, the first actual bill was introduced in the US House on November 2nd, 2017– just 48 days ago.

But while Republicans have put all of their eggs into one HUGE “Tax Reform” basket, millions of American families have been left to worry and wait.  In a few short weeks, Federal funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program will begin to run out across the country, leaving real kids and families without the ability to pay for life-saving medications, doctor’s visits and medical procedures.  While every state is set to run out of funding by July of next year, children in Texas are at risk of losing their funding by the end of January.  Here’s more from Sam Petulla of CNN

Sixteen states will run out of federal funding for CHIP — the Children’s Health Insurance Program — by the end of January, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Three-quarters of all states expect to exhaust funds by the end of March unless Congress can agree to fund it. (Scroll to the bottom for the full list.)

CHIP provides health insurance coverage for just shy of nine million children whose families have too much income to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford the cost of insurance. It is increasingly used by families whose employer-provided insurance is too expensive. CHIP is provided for free or the program’s premiums are pegged to an amount based on a family’s annual income.
CHIP has come into the news lately because Congress has not yet reauthorized its funding mechanism and, as a result, states are running out of money. Once the money runs out, potentially hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of low-income kids could lose their health insurance. That could be a dire situation for some families.
Low and middle income kids like the ones in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley.   As Santiago Caicedo of KGBT News- Valley Central.com reports, Texas has a plan in place to cover additional funding, but it won’t last very long…

By the end of Feb. 2018, 400,000 children in the state of Texas could be without government subsidized health insurance through the Children’s Health Insurance Program, also known as CHIP.

“You have counties along the Texas-Mexico border where three quarters of the children are enrolled in either Medicaid or CHIP,” said Anne Dunkelberg, Associate Director for Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities.

[…]

In the meantime, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is giving Texas $135 million to continue the program through February. After that, CHIP will no longer receive funding from the federal government.

“The alternative is, do we pay bills, our gas, our light, or do we buy medication?” said Diana Martínez from McAllen.

Amazingly enough, the whole situation has been surprisingly quiet on Capitol Hill, with Republican leaders continuing to assure the press that the funding will be renewed, and Democrats, understandably, hesitant to make this a political issue.  Healthcare for our nation’s kids should never be political.
But at some point, we have to state the obvious.  If everyone is so confident that this is going to get done, then why hasn’t it already been done?  And WHY does something like a Tax bill take precedence over the health and safety of families?? The inauguration was held on January 20th.  This could’ve been passed long before December.  Should American families be worried that one of their top priorities continues to languish at the wayside, while Congressional leaders hoist all of their strength into tax cuts??
For the children of Texas, the choice is crystal clear.  Maybe Congress needs to reconsider its priorities, and put our children first.  

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With #SCOTUSBlock, Senate GOP Ignores Constitution, Discredits Scalia Legacy

To the nation’s Conservative movement, he will always be a legendary figure held in the highest regard.  To the nation’s Liberals, he may very well have been the bane of their existence.  But no matter one’s opinion of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s notorious views, it’s a safe bet that he always managed to provoke a strong and immediate reaction.  This was perhaps the Justice’s greatest strength.  If you were on the fence about a particular issue, Scalia knew how to make you choose a side.

At the heart of those controversial views was the rigid principle of Textualism.  Here are the Justice’s own words on textualism from a 2012 PBS interview

I have been very much devoted to textualism and to that branch of textualism that’s called originalism. That is, you not only use the text, but you give the text the meaning it had when it was adopted by the Congress, or by the people, if it’s a constitutional provision.

Although I have written a lot of opinions on the subject and spoken on the subject, and even written on the subject, I have never done hit in the depth that this book does.

The book is in two parts. one is — expresses, you know, my philosophy of judging and Bryan’s philosophy of judging. And the second part is a how-to-do-it part. Assuming you are a textualist, how do you go about doing it?

The process is not novel. I didn’t make it up. It shows that it is historically what American judges did, what English judges did. And it’s the other modes of interpretation that are novel and have to justify themselves.

So that was Justice Scalia’s firm belief, and the cornerstone of his judicial legacy.  But that legacy, which Conservatives say that they hold near and dear to their hearts, is currently being dishonored by the Senate Majority.  Just today, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stated that there would “be no hearings” for any Supreme Court nominee that President Obama would put forward.

Washington (CNN) In an unprecedented move, Senate Republicans vowed to deny holding confirmation hearings for President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee — even promising to deny meeting privately with whomever the President picks.

The historic move outraged Democrats and injected Supreme Court politics into the center of an already tense battle for the White House.

“I don’t know how many times we need to keep saying this: The Judiciary Committee has unanimously recommended to me that there be no hearing. I’ve said repeatedly and I’m now confident that my conference agrees that this decision ought to be made by the next president, whoever is elected,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday.

So here’s the problem with the Senate GOP’s attitude.  Barack Hussein Obama is still the President of the United States.  His term does not end for another 331 days, and a new President will not be sworn in until January 20th, 2017.  Given the immense caseload and important decisions that must be made by the court, 1 year is far too much time for the American People to have to wait for another Supreme Court Justice to be confirmed.

Directly from the White House, here’s what the Constitution says about the President’s duties…

[The President] shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate,shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.

Basically, the President is planning to do his job, while the Republican-controlled Senate (in which each Senator gets paid  $174,000 /year, in case you forgot) has publicly stated that it has no intention of doing its job.

If you or I decided one day, that we just didn’t want to work for a minimum of 331 days, what are the chances that we would even HAVE a job on January 20th??

Senator McConnell and his Republican friends are completely out of line this time.  If you don’t like the President’s nominee, reject them.  That is the Senate’s responsibility.  If they don’t want to confirm another Supreme Court Justice during President Obama’s remaining time in office, they don’t have to!  But what MUST do is hold hearings, give that person an up or down vote, and be ready to explain to the American People WHY they were not confirmed.  This should be a no-brainer for these many experienced Senators.  And if they can’t find the time to do their jobs, maybe the American People should find someone else that can.

And as for that $174k a piece that we’re shelling out??  Doesn’t seem very “Conservative” to pay people for NOT working.  Texas Leftist wonders what Senator McConnell and the rest of the GOP think on that.

End the #SCOTUSBlock!!

Senate

 

Actress Diane Guerrero Tells Her Story: “My Parents Were Deported”

To most Americans, Immigration reform is just a debate topic.  We hear about it all the time, from the comforts of our home television set, computer or tablet.  On a days we’re feeling bold, we may trade barbs back and forth between friends.  It’s just another issue to enliven the conversation… talk a little bit about tax rates, street repair, the undocumented.

But to those that are directly affected, immigration reform is all too real.  Families across this country are living in a constant state of fear that life as they know it could change drastically at the next door knock.

Over the weekend, one American actress decided to share her story of those fears realized with the whole world.  Here is an excerpt from Diane Guerrero’s powerful piece in the Los Angeles Times

In “Orange Is the New Black,” I play Maritza Ramos, a tough Latina from the ‘hood. In “Jane the Virgin,” I play Lina, Jane’s best friend and a funny know-it-all who is quick to offer advice.

I love both parts, but they’re fiction. My real story is this: I am the citizen daughter of immigrant parents who were deported when I was 14. My older brother was also deported.

My parents came here from Colombia during a time of great instability there. Escaping a dire economic situation at home, they moved to New Jersey, where they had friends and family, seeking a better life, and then moved to Boston after I was born.

Throughout my childhood I watched my parents try to become legal but to no avail. They lost their money to people they believed to be attorneys, but who ultimately never helped. That meant my childhood was haunted by the fear that they would be deported. If I didn’t see anyone when I walked in the door after school, I panicked.

And then one day, my fears were realized. I came home from school to an empty house. Lights were on and dinner had been started, but my family wasn’t there. Neighbors broke the news that my parents had been taken away by immigration officers, and just like that, my stable family life was over.

Not a single person at any level of government took any note of me. No one checked to see if I had a place to live or food to eat, and at 14, I found myself basically on my own.

As the only U.S. Citizen in her immediate family, Ms. Guerrero suddenly found herself an orphan.  As she shares in this heartbreaking interview on CNN’s New Day, her parents and brother are still in Colombia, and she had to depend on friends and neighbors through high school and college just to make it.

Guerrero also spoke to why her family came to the United States in the first place. They were fleeing an unstable situation in their home country, and tried to do things the legal way first…

What people don’t realize… it is so difficult for people to come here, get their papers and become documented.  My parents tried forever, and the system didn’t offer relief for them.

Under current law and an immense backlog, legal immigration to the United States can take as long as 24 years to be fully realized… literally an entire generation of one’s life.  For all of the people arguing for folks to “go to the back of the line”, they’re not talking waiting for a new toy at CostCo.  Would any American citizen be willing to wait that long to do… well, anything??

As the country waits to hear President Obama’s plans for sweeping Executive Actions that would set to prioritize how deportations are to be handled, let’s get yet another thing clear. Comprehensive Immigration Reform or not, we MUST have a plan for prioritization.  We all know that it is impossible to deport every single undocumented person at once.  We also know that the vast majority of these persons pose no threat to the communities that they are already living and working in.  The country’s law enforcement agencies continue to waste valuable time and money pursuing people that are doing nothing wrong, while the real criminals are left to do as they please.

For the sake our citizens and their loved ones, it’s time to act on these misguided deportation policies.  The health and safety of real families shouldn’t be up for debate.

 

Rick Perry Wants BOOTS On The Border, Not Humanitarian Aid

Long gone are the days when Rick Perry showed any semblance of compassion for the plight of undocumented children and families.  Instead of working to find a solution to his state’s most recent border crisis, the Texas Governor and 2016 Presidential hopeful is doubling down on photo ops and party politics.  Here’s more from CNN

Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he won’t encourage his state’s congressional delegation to approve President Obama’s request for $3.7 billion in emergency funds to mitigate the border crisis.

“The President doesn’t have to have this big amount of money,” Perry told Fox News Channel’s Brit Hume. “He could pick up the phone today, call the (Defense Department) and direct them to have the 1,000 National Guard troops on the border.”

[…]

Perry said the physical presence of the National Guard would send a clear, visual message to potential immigrants that U.S. borders are not wide open.

“They need to be right on the river,” he said. “They need to be there as a show of force, because that’s the message that gets sent back very quickly to Central America.”

It doesn’t take a thousand National Guardsmen and Guardswomen to decipher the message that the Governor is trying to send here.  The only thing Perry cares about now is using the current border crisis as a meal ticket to 2016.  Don’t forget… he is not someone that is unconnected to the realities of these issues, as he has dealt with them consistently since Barack Obama was a State Senator in Illinois.  For Perry to come out now and say that the only thing needed on the border is more troops is nothing short of lunacy.  He’s well aware of the detrimental need for more immigration lawyers and judges to process these children the correct way.  He’s well aware of the critical need for more humanitarian aid, including shelters, food and other supplies.

It’s a sad day for the people of Texas when our Governor can become so obsessed with his political aspirations that he completely ignores the needs of his state.  But in fairness, President Obama also needs to stop playing politics here.  It’s time for the Commander-in-Chief to come to the border… not for a photo op like Perry, but to assess the situation at a personal level.  Asking for aid from Congress is in part a political move, given the current brokenness of the institution.  We need some leadership on this issue Mr. President, and with the total ineptitude coming from our state’s top official and from Congress, that job (once again) falls to you.

GOP Congressman Peter King’s “Fact-Free Zone”

On CNN’s Starting Point, GOP Congressman Peter King once again proved that he operates in a “Fact-Free Zone” when it comes to President Obama’s Foriegn Policy record. When pressed by anchor Soledad O’Brien to explain why thought Obama was apologizing for America, he continued to deny his actual speech content. O’Brien stated that FactCheck.org and other independent fact-checkers were all in agreement that Obama has never apologized abroad.

O’Brien: Everyone keeps talking about this ‘Apology Tour’ and apologies from the President…

King: It is

O’Brien: And I’m trying to find the words “I’m sorry” or “I apologize” in any of those speeches. I have the text of all those speeches in front of me. [It’s in] none of those speeches at all…

King: But Soledad…

O’Brien: And if you go to FactCheck.org, they’ll say the same thing…

King: Right…

O’Brien: They’ve fact-check the whole thing and they say this whole theory of apologies is…

King: I don’t care what fact-check says. I don’t care!

O’Brien Well ok you may not care, but they [are] a fact-checker.

King: But no, what I’m saying is [this]… Any common-sense interpretation of speeches shows the President is apologizing for the American position.

Umm, ok Congressman. But he never acutally said it. To most people, you have to use the words “I’m sorry” or “I apologize” or else it’s not an apology. Your facts come up as completely FALSE. Yet another Republican talking point… dismantled.

As entertaining as Peter King can be on the political talk show circuit, this interview reveals a systemic problem. If he’s perfectly ok saying that he doesn’t care about facts, then why is he in Congress? American taxpayers pay him a handsome 6-figure salary of over $160,000 per year. He has a top-of-the-line health plan and likely will retire with a pension. And beyond all of that, we pay him to make critical decisions that affect virtually every aspect of American life. What we don’t pay him to do is simply ignore facts and fact-checkers like they don’t exist.

Blake Farenthold: 16-yrs old “have a say” in illegal immigration

This morning on CNN, US Congressman Blake Farenthold was pressed by Soledad O’Brien on why Congress has failed to act so often on Immigration reform. He insists that they have “acted”… after all, refusing to do anything is an action I guess.

But listen to the conversation they have around 1:20… he believes that if a child is 16, they “have a say” in whether or not to emigrate with their parents. Granted 16-yr old children are capable of a lot of things like what movies to see over the weekend or what to eat for lunch, but in the big decisions, I’m not sure I agree here.

What’s most “disturbing” about this… Rep. Farenthold’s district is on the US/Mexican Border at Brownsville, TX. Many people that emigrate illegally to the US aren’t just doing it for work permits. For some of them it’s a matter of life and death. Matamoros, Mexico is in the midst of a viscious drug war where residents are dodging bullets, grenade attacks, and being kidnapped in the middle of the night to be found the next day decapitated. No one is supporting illegal immigration here… it’s wrong. But given the realities of what some people face in their home country, I can understand why one would pick the lesser of two evils.

It sounds like Mr. Farenthold should do more than just boast about the immigration cases on his desk. Maybe he should open them up and actually LOOK at them.