The more you learn about the tax bill, the worse it is.
To win Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski’s vote, Republican leaders added a provision to allow drilling for oil and natural gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Members of the Senate of both parties used to be protective of this pristine area.
What a disaster. All for one vote.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
How dreadful. A reminder that Murkowski was a brief and temporary ally.
And they are working all other potential objectors in the same way.
GIve ’em what they want, or what their donors want, in exchange for a “yes” vote on the whole bill.
ASAP.
They do not want people to have time to register objections or offer alternatives.
The debt ceiling will be allowed to balloon and that will be used as the reason to cut “entitlements” and anything except corporate welfare.The Solution to unconscionable and planned debt: Cut Social Security and Medicare.
The same perverse logic is happening with state budgets where the aim is to offload pensions…these underfunded for years but with multiple tax breaks for “economic development.”
Today’s news included some interviews with CEO’s of large publicly traded companies. The CEOs said that the first beneficiaries of the tax bill would be their stockholders and gurus of productivity. They were unlikely to create new jobs or raise salaries and increase benefits for workers.
If any Republicans fail to vote yes, you can be sure their colleagues, donors, and President will demonize them.
Didn’t the Democrats and Obama cut Medicare to the tune of $700 billion-plus when they adopted Obamacare legislation? None of us should be foolish enough to think the Democrats are the Good Guys. They aren’t.
I live in NY and teach in Long Island. The State Assembly has been controlled by the Democratic Party since January 1975. The Democrats have signed off on charter schools, APPR, testing mania, a long list of horrible members of the Board of Regents, including Chancellor Merryl Tisch, new pension tiers that feature much less lucrative benefits, changes to teacher prep and certification requirements that have led to drops in college teacher education programs of as much as 50%, etc. Democrats have raked in as much charter school cash as the GOP. Governor Andrew Cuomo has been no friend to teachers and in fact, has been an enemy for much of his time in office.
So, please spare me the revision. Obama gave us Arne Duncan who eviscerated local control with his misguided edicts.
Save it for your book on the state of the Democratic Party. We are hoping for 3 Republican senators to break ranks on his bill. You probably have every single Democratic senator voting against it. Right now, they are the Good Guys.
Fed Up Teacher,
I understand your frustration and I share it.
But right now, every single Democrat in Congress is trying to stop the GOP madness. They are indeed the Good Guys, standing up to a president who is a bigot and determined to reshape the economy to please “the people who sent them there”: The Koch Brothers.
Fed Up Teacher, it’s too bad that you spread misinformaton about “Democrats and Obama cut[ting] Medicare to the tune of $700 billion-plus.” This lie was debunked in 2010, I helped to do so. It’s a nice talking point, but it takes about 10 seconds find out how wrong you are. It also makes it harder for people like me to take you seriously when you actually make a valid point about education. Being informed is not about picking “Good Guys” or bad guys. It’s a little more complicated.
GregB,I really resent your comment. In fact, it sickens me. The Washington Post’s Sarah Kiff reported on August 14, 2012 that the Affordable Care Act indeed cuts $716 billion from the Medicare program over the 2013-2022 period by reducing reimbursements to hospitals and private health insurance companies compared to what they would have received absent the ACA. While this cut doesn’t directly impact Medicare benefits, it undermines the program.
I don’t take you seriously because you appear to be a shill for the Democratic Party, regardless of how that organization treats teachers, parents and kids. I am the first one to admit that in my state the State Senate Republican majority are sellouts to the charter school industry. What makes it even more terrible is that Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan’s father was a Long Island public high school science teacher and department chairman prior to entering politics himself and that Flanagan sent all three of his kids through local public schools and his wife currently works for a public school district. In 16 years in the Assembly Flanagan didn’t care whatsoever about charter schools but as soon as he got into the Senate he got addicted to charter school campaign contributions.
You on the other hand seem to find a need to protect and defend the Democratic Party whether or not they pursue many of the same terrible policies as the Republicans. In this you are little different from NYSUT, which is why dozens of Democrats who have received piles of cash from NYSUT’s VOTE COPE political action committee voted against us with “heavy hearts” and passed a truly atrocious teacher evaluation law. Those of us living with the law in New York know just how bad these people are.
So in summary, I am not wrong about the cuts to Medicare. They are fact. They were detailed in John McDonough’s 2011 book, Inside National Health Reform and are being used to fund Medicare. You can make the argument that Republicans have long sought to cut Medicare, but in doing so you are agreeing that both parties are bad. You seem to be a poster child for my belief that Democrats will continue taking us for granted because few people outside of Diane Ravitch will criticize Democrats for their anti-teacher, anti-public education actions.
Sometimes you really need to read instead of listening to RW propaganda
The $700 Billion Medicare Myth http://www.medicareadvocacy.org/the-700-billion-medicare-myth/
The $700 billion myth is straight from the Congressional Budget Office. Yes, Paul Ryan wanted to make the same cuts to Medicare reimbursement but once again that is my point. The Democrats aren’t any better than the GOP. The fact the Democrats can count of folks such as yourself defending them regardless of their terrible votes allows them to get away with it.
Fed Up,
If you think the Dems are no different than Trump, then your cynicism is far beyond my understanding. You have given up. You will let the plutocrats Win without putting up any resistance because to you there is no alternative.
FET, resent all you want. Ronald’s link is accurate, as are any hundreds of pieces of analysis out there. Not one service Medicare provides was affected by the rhetorical ruse you cite. In fact, services were expanded. If you will notice, since the ACA went into effect, there have been no Chicken Little confirmations of severe Medicare cuts nor complaints by those who receive it. If there were, I’m sure your friends at Fox would have been crowing about it for some time. Who needs evidence and experience? But then again, propaganda that conforms to one’s preconceived world view tends to comfort those who choose to believe it. Too bad it doesn’t actually change observable, verifiable facts.
And we’re spending our time arguing about Al Franken.
It Started as a Tax Cut. Now It Could Change American Life.https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/29/business/republican-tax-cut.html
The United States doesn’t need an enemy. The country already had the Republican Party and Trump to destroy it.
AMEN, Lloyd.
Yep. I also agree!!!!
Coincidentally, this morning I read a passage in a novel about a man who was trying to flee occupied France in WWII that echoes your observation: “My friends were also ashamed for their country. One can, if one is young and healthy, quickly get up after a defeat. Betrayal cripples.” Betrayal in the sense of treason, that is.
I agree, Lloyd.
The bill allows for 2,000 acres total for oil platforms and permanent development in support such as airstrips and piers. That is out of almost 20,000,000 acres or 1/10 of 1%, which could raise $1 billion in revenue. Seems reasonable.
Focusing on alternative energy would create more jobs. It’s time to phase out the oil and coal industries.
“Renewable Energy Is Creating Jobs 12 Times Faster Than the Rest of the Economy”
http://fortune.com/2017/01/27/solar-wind-renewable-jobs/
I concur. See my comments below.
The worst is seeing Susan Collins acting like just another Trump acolyte.
The fact she could come out of a meeting with Trump saying words like “I feel good now that Trump promised blah blah blah…” makes her seem like a complete idiot or a corrupt toady. Since when does a “promise” from Trump mean anything?
Why say “a complete idiot OR a corrupt toady”?
She can be both, let’s face it.
What is sad is that Senator Lisa Murkowski was bought off. She is willing to destroy the environment, take healthcare away from people, increase the deficit and give money to the wealthy and corporations who don’t need more money. I used to think better of her than this.
Murkowski is sad, and so is Susan Collins, who appears ready to approve this radically inegalitarian tax bill because Trump promised her something she wanted. What sensible person would accept a Trump promise?
You have essentially answered your own question. “What sensible person would accept a Trump promise?”
No sensible person would. Ergo, they are not sensible people.
We are living witnesses to the type of people who grab power and destroy civilizations. Every major civilization that has failed through history must have had their own Trump, their own Koch brothers, their own ALEC, their own Betsy Devos, et al. and their own deplorable citizens that supported the ignorant sewer sludge they helped put in leadership positions.
Readers of this blog, often champion democracy (Rightly so!). Our democracy gives an equal voice in the Senate, for all states. Alaska and California are equal in representation. This prevents the large (population) states, from trampling on the rights of the small (population) states.
In 1959, when Alaska got statehood, Alaska residents were jubilant, that the state would be able to expand mining and petroleum production. The feds went in and immediately seized control of these industries, (by federal regulation).
Charles,
Nothing you said excuses the despoliation of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Oil production and extraction in the ANWR, will NOT “despoil” the area. This area, which is less than 2,000 acres, is under strict environmental protection laws. Furthermore, over 75% of Alaskans support drilling in the ANWR. The opposing editorial states that the coastal area of ANWR is a “zone” that is “off-limits to development.” According to Sen. Sullivan, “that’s simply not true. In fact, this area was specifically set aside by Congress in 1980 in the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act for potential oil and gas development, and previous Interior secretaries have said that it should be developed.”
see
http://www.radiokenai.us/senator-sullivan-developing-alaskas-wildlife-refuge-is-a-win-win-win/
See what the former commissioner for the Alaska Department of Natural Resources has to say:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/developing-alaskas-wildlife-refuge-is-a-win-win-win/2017/11/30/23a53b2c-d5f2-11e7-a986-d0a9770d9a3e_story.html?utm_term=.ac136b30160d
Oil production in ANWR will:
-Be under strict environmental protection laws
-Create many high-paying American jobs
-Protect our national security
-Contribute to our energy independence
-Lower prices for crude oil, and also at the pump
-Reduce the flow of money to terrorist oil-producing nations.
(I worked as an engineer, for ARAMCO Oil company in Saudi Arabia). The ANWR is about the size of the state of South Carolina. The proposed drilling site is an area, about the size of Dulles Air Port (Loudoun County VA). The modern drilling and extraction methods, permit drilling at a slant, and there need not be derricks scattered all over the ANWR.
Oil has been extracted from Alaska (and other Arctic areas in Canada, and Russia) for many years, with minimal environmental degradation.
The USA is on track to be world’s largest producer of petroleum, within a few decades. Drilling and extraction from the Arctic fields, will hasten this occurrence.
The future is not fossil fuels.
Your statement is correct. We have been running out of fossil fuels, ever since Colonel Edwin Drake drilled the first well, in Titusville, Illinois. As they say in Texas “God ain’t making no more oil”. As the oil plays out, an alternate form of energy will be required.
Nevertheless, the present IS in fossil fuels. The more oil that is produced in the USA, the less we must import from the Mideast, and nations like Venezuela, that do not give a hoot about the environment.
Persons who are truly concerned about the environment, should be pushing for oil production in nations which have strict environmental protections, like the USA.
My mistake, Titusville, Pennsylvania, (not Illinois)
This message just came out in an email from the WH. This is blatant disrespect for the environment. There is NO ‘responsibly developing the coastal pain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’. It is a wildlife refuge. Good grief! Development is now going to “promote the economy, give jobs, increase energy and national security and benefit the global environment”. That makes NO sense at all!! Messing up a wildlife refuge increases national security? Benefit the global environment? Is this fellow crazy?
……..
On the environmental front, Dan Sullivan argues in The Washington Post that responsible development of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain is a huge opportunity for the United States—including when it comes to protecting the global environment. What critics often miss, says Sullivan, is that the “debate has not kept up with Alaska’s world-class environmental standards or advancements in technology.”
“Responsibly developing the coastal plain of [Arctic National Wildlife Refuge]… is truly a win for the United States,” as it will promote the economy, job development, energy and national security, and the global environment.
It was necessary. They had to buy Murkowski’s vote.
The Maine Senators are interesting. Collins is worth about 3.5 million so she probably gets a huge tax cut. She voted herself a raise!
OTOH, Angus King is wealthier than Collins- x 4- and he opted NOT to vote himself a huge tax cut. That’s pretty damn admirable if you think about it. King voted against his own self interest.
Did you see what they did today? They’re all going home for holiday break without funding the children’s health insurance program. They had time to give themselves huge tax cuts but they couldn’t find a spare moment to make sure some really sick kids get health insurance. Just despicable behavior.