Reconciliation

OK, if you wish to risk having your mind turn to mush you can go here and read the full text of the reconciliation bill:

Glaring Omissions

I confess, I merely skimmed it. I read the contents page and then scrolled through it to see what I could learn.

What I learned was that it tells me nothing about reform of healthcare. There was no deletion of Lousiana Purchase, Cornhusker kickback, Connecticut hospitals, Montana asbestos or any of the sweetheart provisions which were supposed to go. There was no language that I could discern prohibiting federal funding of abortion. There was nothing about the tax increases, penalties for non-purchase of insurance, guarantee of coverage with pre-existing conditions, etc. etc.

What I did find was almost half of this is about Pell Grant increases, subsidies to small and traditionally black colleges, re-financing other loans and increases of federal expenditures in a variety of cat and dog programs. And, a lot of delete a comma and change "happy" to "glad".

One reason they've been reluctant to get this stuff online is that people might just look at it and be astonished.

Update:

New info in the Fishwrap this morning discloses what my quick scan missed. The Cornhusker provision apparently was removed (the convolutions of legislative language undoubtedly might have masked it in seemingly innocuous language which didn't mention Nebraska specifically but which made the provisions exclusive to that state.)

Lousiana's deal has somehow been tweaked from $100M to $300M for those poor storm victims who haven't got their stuff back in a small bag after five years! Connecticut and Montana remain, and if you've got a job so that you therefore pay Medicare wages, your withholding will increase and will also be applied to royalties, interest, dividends and capital gains.

The language about the student loan programs nationalizes it, making the government the sole source of student loans which will be administered through a single bank nationwide from South Dakota.

Meanwhile, two California legislators threatening to vote "no" have had the water turned back on for their constituents in the San Fernando Valley. Magic, ain't it?