If he is, he isn’t going to find it from me. I never have liked him, he is nothing more than an opportunistic pretender to all things conservative Republican but hasn’t a clue as to what a conservative Republican is. Just like the rest of his former Freedom Caucus colleagues.
U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, a Republican from Humble, announced Sunday afternoon he is resigning from the hardline Republican group that helped sink GOP attempts to repeal former President Obama’s 2010 health care law.
“I have resigned from the House Freedom Caucus. In order to deliver on the conservative agenda we have promised the American people for eight years, we must come together to find solutions to move this country forward,” Poe said in a statement. “Saying no is easy, leading is hard, but that is what we were elected to do. Leaving this caucus will allow me to be a more effective member of Congress and advocate for the people of Texas.”
“It is time to lead,” he added.
Click here to read the article by Abby Livingston on TexasTribune.org
Ted Poe, leader? Good grief. Look in the dictionary under ‘oxymoron’ and you will find ‘Ted Poe, leader’.
That said, maybe, just maybe, Republicans of all types will finally figure out that they need to work together to govern. Sometimes you have to compromise, get the best deal you can, then get another one down the road. The ‘Freedom Caucus’ has nothing to do with freedom and everything to do with campaign donations.
The farther away we get from the passage of Obamacare, the more respect I have for the Democrats that voted for it even though they knew they would likely lose their jobs. They compromised, got the best deal they could and voted for it because they believed in the mission. The Freedom Caucus members are the opposite of those guys. They care about their base and getting reelected, nothing more.
Resign on Monday, and save us all the trouble of getting rid of you.
“They care about their base and getting reelected, nothing more.”
As it should be. I believe they ought to put Tom Price’s bill that Obama vetoed up for a vote to smoke out the liars who have said all long for the last seven years they want to repeal Obamacare. My hunch is the likes of Ted Poe, Kevin Brady, Mike McCall, Pete Olson, Pete Sessions and all of the Texas delegation save Babin, Gohmert and Weber would not vote for it.
Leaving pre-existing conditions in as a requirement for insurance is not insurance and is the main driver of the cost increases. Ted Poe has shown he has zero conservative instincts and is a spineless rube as a congressman.
DanMan,
We’ll have to disagree on the reason for a congressman’s being. I think that a rep should represent all of the people of a district, not simply those that vote for her. Nor do I think that getting reelected should be the goal.
As for your pre-existing comment, I agree. The problem is that it is there and it isn’t going away, no matter how many times people squeal about it. I think it is worthwhile to improve what you can, when you can, instead of insisting upon ‘my way or the highway’ and leaving a bad bill in place with no improvements. Just my 2 cents.
who are you talking about? is Poe going trans too?
So you respect dems that push for every socialist cause they can but have none for those that oppose said efforts. That’s so solid I bet I could cut through that conviction like a hot knife through butter.
DanMan,
If you were responding to me, I have exactly zero idea of what point you were trying to make.
“…not simply those that vote for her.” who is the her?
“The farther away we get from the passage of Obamacare, the more respect I have for the Democrats that voted for it even though they knew they would likely lose their jobs.” I seriously doubt they knew that. Perhaps Obama, Pelosi and Reid knew it but poor ol Bart Stupak was still getting fluffed by Obama for a worthless piece of paper right up to Christmas eve 2009..
“I think it is worthwhile to improve what you can, when you can, instead of insisting upon ‘my way or the highway’ and leaving a bad bill in place with no improvements.” The original promise that was never removed was to repeal Obamacare. Leaving pre-existing conditions deal moves the debate from the insurance realm to the welfare realm as you seem to be aware of. That a faction that listened to their constituents didn’t go along with a total sell-out is what causes you to deride them as unworthy of respect.
The repub leadership has shown its hand. They were either lying when they voted for Tom Price’s bill in January 2016 or they are lying now but they won’t vote for what they are on record supporting a mere 15 months ago that aligned perfectly with their original promise. They didn’t have to fold but they did. And you vilify the ones that didn’t. Solid./
DanMan,
So you want me to use “him”? Okay. Use “him” instead of “her” for generic congressperson.
Actually, they did know, DanMan. If you will recall, the right (we, teaparty, conservatives, whatever you want to call them) flooded the switchboards and told them. The teaparty was already forming and making waves. If you go back and read the accounts, you’ll see that they did know that their vote was going to cost them their jobs. And if one or two didn’t know, then they didn’t belong in politics in the first place.
There is no question that for seven years Republicans used Obamacare as a wedge. None. There is also no question that the prior votes were show votes. No argument there. But now you have a completely different world. And that world requires either small, incremental improvements or leaving the existing law intact. I think it is better to improve it while you can. You don’t. Okay, we disagree.
I still don’t get your trans reference. And I’m not hip enough to have a clue what “Solid./” means. Cheers.
So Dan, you do realize that a flat repeal of Obamacare is impossible, right? The structures that existed prior to passage of ACA are gone, so there’s no real way to revert back to them.
As for pre-existing conditions, what’s your plan? Let people die with no care at all because their insurance got cancelled when their employer went bankrupt, and they were unable to find anything affordable in the meantime? That happens more than you would think.
We need to quit using the term “insurance” for health care. It’s health care, where the entire population pays in to support the system so that it is available to all when needed. What sort of society lets people die simply because they are poor?
Every sort of society. And worse – they just let people die not simply because they are poor but for a whole bunch of other reasons too. They just keep on dying and no one is trying to do anything to stop it. Now sarcasm off. What structures are you talking about? Revert to what? This is capitalism. All you have to do is tell insurance companies that you can sell health insurance in Texas in compliance with State Law and in 2 weeks they will come up with plethora of products of all price ranges that people will actually buy.
toodles
Joe Gomer says:
March 27, 2017 9:13
I can’t immagine the conservatives trying to pass a healthcare bill. By nature a healthcare legislation must address the needs of the cross section of society in the USA. That being people from all spectums of society both poor and rich conservative or liberal. To effectively do this you must aproach it from a be-partisien view. They should have reffered it to a broad based bi-partisen committee for long term deliberation, with experts from the health care field including doctors, hospital administrators, pharmaceutical companies. Then we have the insurance companies involvement, include the VA, nuirsing home administrators, You can’t design a piece of legislation withour involving all the stake holders. After the legislation is drafted and approved by the committee they should take it on a road trip and present it at a series of town hall type hearings. For something this important you can’t treat it lightly. I am for Single payer health care but realize you have to gradually transition into it.
I continue to be perplexed by this call for single payer health care. Granted, health care is important, but so is food. Why not a single payer food distribution system? Or housing? Should the government guarantee housing with a certain level of amenities to everyone?
For that matter, if you are going to be a productive member of society, you need transportation, so everybody gets a car and a certain amount of free gas.
And clothing – free government clothing should be a priority. Heck, Joe, why not just have the government take over all of the economy instead of just 1/7th. After all they’ve done a great job with the VA and I don’t know a single doctor that doesn’t want more Medicaid patients . . . .
Quite a large number of food products are subsidized by the government.
Housing definitely is subsidized by the government. (deductions), some people got a billion dollar write off and carried it forward for years.
Transportation if one means by car is not required by everyone, public transport ion is the main method of travel in much of the world.
The VA? I know veterans that swear by it, but then I, also, know people that think their capitalist type insurance did not live up to its promise and swear at it.
I am sure that I could find (some) fault with anything created by man.
Ted cratered under Trump’s threat to have him primaried, and the Koch’s generous PAC bribe. We fully do not expect Ted to lead anything, nor to represent Texans. He never has done either of these things. He is a PR construct, a Cartoon Ted to the folks at home; good old Judge Ted Poe will make sure that Obama doesn’t take your guns away, you know the song. In Washington, he is a seat-warming drone who votes the way his owners tell them. The Real Ted just switched owners.
Re healthcare: There is no going back to the old Wild West before the ACA. That was going to bankrupt the Country quicker than the military-industrial complex. The Dems compromised and compromised with Republicans all the way until a final vote, when all of the GOPers got their marching orders and did what they were ordered instead of what was right. If the Dems had known the GOPers were going to all chicken out, there would have been a public option.
In their very embarrassing opposition to the ACA over seven years, the GOP tried every form of sabotage. Obamacare would be in much healthier shape had not the Republicans continually attempted to kick the budgetary underpinnings from it.
The problem with all the healthcare consideration is that people mistakenly consider it part of the free market economy, let the market take care of it, and all that bs. As a result we have private insurance corporations wasting 20{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of our healthcare dollars in “overhead”: administrative costs, dividends, and bribes. In contrast, Medicare has an overhead cost of 01.8{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}.(one point eight percent!) Oh my! Sometimes government bureaucracy works better and more efficiently than corporate kleptocracy.
Trump promises better insurance for everybody. The only way to do that is single-payer Medicare for all.
“There is no going back (you lie) to the old Wild West (you lie) before the ACA. That was going to bankrupt (you lie) the Country quicker (you lie) than the military-industrial complex (you lie). ”
With all due respect: Prove me wrong.
There are scarcely enough words to list all of the different ways that your post deviates from reality. Do you actually live in the real world?
“The Dems compromised and compromised with Republicans all the way until a final vote” Really? How is a compromise possible when you won’t even let them see the actual bill? Remember “you have to pass the bill so you can see what’s in the bill”? If a bill is so bad that you can’t persuade a single Republican to actually cast a vote for it, it’s not in any way a compromise.
” That was going to bankrupt the Country quicker than the military-industrial complex.” Really? Is there any data that you might cite to support your absurd allegation? Even nut case far-left Democrats like Sheila Jackson Lee never said that. Their justification for taking governmental control of almost 15{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of our nation economy was the some people couldn’t afford insurance.
“In their very embarrassing opposition to the ACA over seven years, the GOP tried every form of sabotage. ” You mean like putting together an absurdly expensive website that didn’t work? Or setting up pricing structures that forced insurance companies out of the market? No, wait that was the Obama administration. Seriously, where are you getting these talking points, Mars?
“Obamacare would be in much healthier shape had not the Republicans continually attempted to kick the budgetary underpinnings from it.” Considering that the Obama administration spent it’s last 7 years without ever submitting a budget to Congress, and Congress spent the last 7 years without actually passing a budget. . . . Honestly, name a single instance where part of O-care failed because it was under-budgeted.
“As a result we have private insurance corporations wasting 20{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of our healthcare dollars in “overhead”: administrative costs, dividends, and bribes.” I’m sure you have data to support this allegation? Please cite please.
“Medicare has an overhead cost of 01.8{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}.(one point eight percent!) Oh my! Sometimes government bureaucracy works better and more efficiently than corporate kleptocracy.” Perhaps the more amazingly irrational statement of all! From the Government Accountability Office website (http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-409T) ” GAO has designated Medicare and Medicaid as high-risk programs because they are particularly vulnerable to fraud, waste, abuse, and improper payments (payments that should not have been made or were made in an incorrect amount). Medicare is considered high-risk in part because of its complexity and susceptibility to improper payments, and Medicaid because of concerns about the adequacy of its fiscal oversight to prevent inappropriate spending. In fiscal year 2010, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)–the agency that administers Medicare and Medicaid–estimated that these programs made a total of over $70 billion in improper payments..” There is no bigger kleptocracy than the Federal Government.
I continue to be amazed by the liberal fetish to have the government take over responsibility for large portions of our everyday lives. Are you so pathetically inept that you can’t be responsible for taking care of yourself?
How is Medicare fraud “government kleptocracy”? What makes you think insurers are not defrauded in a similar fashion? Fraud is not due to government or insurer malfeasance, it’s criminals stealing.
When somebody steals from you once, it’s theft. Two or three times, it’s a run of bad luck. But when the government designs a system that is so full of holes that doctors and “patients” can commit massive acts of fraud on an ongoing and long term basis. And when the agency does absolutely nothing to correct the problem, even after decades of theft and abuse, yeah, I’d call it kleptocracy. It’s certainly criminals stealing, and it’s inept, uncaring, government bureaucrats doing nothing to fix the problem.
While insurers may be defrauded or cheated occasionally, it doesn’t happen nearly as much, because the insurer has a vested interest in making sure it doesn’t. That’s the difference between capitalism and socialism. If a company loses money they have to explain to the stockholders or lose their jobs. It the government loses money, they simply take more from the taxpayers.
I’m going to guess that you have never been involved in running systems that process thousands or millions of transactions. It is nearly impossible to detect fraud when processing that sort of volume, since, in general, fraud looks just like normal transactions. So do mistakes. How do you determine if there was fraud, or just an honest mistake, like transposing numbers in a billing code, or misreading something?
So, what’s your plan to root out Medicare fraud? You make it sound like it’s really easy, but the lazy government workers can’t be bothered. How do you think you, personally, can improve Medicare fraud detection?
If you do some searching, you will learn that private insurers estimate that 5-10 percent of claims paid are fraudulent. That is pretty close to the Medicare number. So much for your vaunted private insurer efficiency.
Gee Ross, I kinda sounds like you’re OK with the government losing or wasting $70 billion a year or so. So much for fiscal responsibility. If a private insurer is OK with a 10{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} fraudulent claim rate that’s their business. They are accountable to their share holders. If the share holders don’t like it they can either change the corporate management or sell their shares. Participation is totally voluntary.
When the Federal government loses 70 billion dollars, that’s MY freakin’ money. money that I had no choice about participating with. What’s more, given the current situation, it’s money that they’re borrowing that my children, grand children, great-grand children, ad infinitum will apparently be paying for.
How to fix the system? Here’s an idea. Let’s stop trying to use a Federal government to do things that properly belong on a state or local level. The United States is too large and too diverse to try to develop systems and standards that effectively apply to everybody. The healthcare needs of a single 25 year old pipeline worker in Anchorage are completely different than then needs of a 70 year old married retiree in Orlando. That gay marketing executive in New York City really doesn’t have a lot in common with the farmer in Ogalalla, Nebraska with a family of 5. Why try to make a national healthcare system that can fit all 4?
More to the point, as I said above (and I quote): “I continue to be amazed by the liberal fetish to have the government take over responsibility for large portions of our everyday lives.” The best way to cut out much of the fraud is to cut out much of the system.
So are you saying he has much in common with Dan Patrick? I will never forget working with Dan in a home in Bear Creek., he did none of what he promised and moved up the ladder.
Hey fellas, we wouldn’t be having this discussion about health care if ‘conservative’ Chief Justice John Roberts had not authored the 6-3 decision of SCOTUS that upheld the subsidies 6.4 million people received to purchase health insurance under Obamacare.
yep
So if I understand you Mr. Jennings: You are saying it would have been better to pass this “worse than Obamacare bill” as long as they all unite.
“The farther away we get from the passage of Obamacare, the more respect I have for the Democrats that voted for it even though they knew they would likely lose their jobs. They compromised, got the best deal they could and voted for it because they believed in the mission. ”
What CRAP! What “best deal”? To see how much of the country they could take over in one law. Did you forget how much they had to bribe each congressman the get that vote?
I for one am thankful for the Freedom Caucus and their opposition to the largest welfare bill in 30years. I called Ted Poe’s office today to let him know how sad I was with his decision to lay down and roll over. I am a fan of Mr. Poe but he is wrong on this issue.
Pam Joyce,
That is your opinion and you are entitled to it. I do not agree with your view and think that the bill that was not voted on is far better than the ACA.
My statement is in the context of those Democrats that voted for the bill knowing full well that they lived in areas where they would most likely lose their jobs. Their political views are not mine, obviously.
You may well be thankful for the efforts of the Freedom Caucus in defeating the AHCA. What you now have is that the ACA is still the law of the land. You say it is a terrible bill and is the largest welfare bill in 30 years. Yet you applaud those who kept it in place instead of improving it and helping all of us. Oh well.
David you really are all over the map in this essay. You deride repub congressmen for kowtowing to their base and celebrate the fortitude of dem congressmen rejecting their base for the greater good you say you don’t agree with.
I still maintain for the whole of the country health insurance should have nothing to do with government mandates. The limit of the federal involvement should be defending contracts associated with insurance.
People with existing condition had many options before Obamacare. Those options were removed and placed on the majority to pay for their treatments that are more limited than they had been and at much greater cost to all involved by virtue of washing everything through several federal agencies. And there were limits to services provided. Remember the lady that asked Obama if her mother could receive a pacemaker in her 90’s and he said no?
I heard Al Green utter the exact same “People like you will sacrifice the good for the perfect!” that repubs are repeating when I shut down his Town Hall meeting in August 2009 when I simply asked how adding 15{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} more of the population could possibly save us money? and followed by asking if he could name a single congressional financial estimate from the last 30 years that had come in on budget?”
His SEIU goons jumped up and shouted down the rest of the crowd and it was over. Silencing opposition is SOP in politics. I’ve seen it firsthand…
https://youtu.be/U3XTC5YhUH8
Nice try. That was the opening bub. You weren’t there, I was. The show ended at 7:35.
Um, yeah, DanMan, I was very much at that meeting.
So why are you showing the beginning? Did you stick around for the end? Can you give us an estimate of the purple shirts you saw there as a percentage of the crowd? How many buses they had?
Can you describe what happened when I got to ask my questions? It stood out as the only one that was not like the others. Surely you remember that and the reaction from AG because it was very interesting to see such a huge departure from the 90 minute show he was directing.
DanMan, that is the end of the meeting. Perhaps you are thinking of a different meeting? I don’t know but I do know that that is the end of that meeting. If you listen, you can hear Green tell people to go forth and prosper.
I have another video of a veteran asking a question: https://youtu.be/OyOKJQ-EFF0
I wrote about the meeting at the time for Lone Star Times but they crashed and everything was deleted. I do not recall you asking a question but then again, I hadn’t met you at the time.
Hey DanMan,
That meeting was one of the posts I saved before LST’s demise.
https://bigjolly.com/astroturf-al-al-green-town-hall-8-25/
How about that?
He had been fairly placid for the duration but I know when he broke into his big preacher voice and boomed about sacrificing the good for the perfect it brought out the chants and I got rushed by a greasy haired guy that said he wanted to clarify what the congressman meant. Amid all that noise me and a whole lot of other people got the heck out of their and I was commended for asking the only questions against the proposed law.
If it calmed down as it appears it did it was because all that was left was his supporters. Every question (and most really just testimonials for more government) before mine seemed to be a plant and that’s what we all were saying as we left.
I know I left while the SEIU folks we raising the roof.