Revealed: Letters From Republicans Seeking Obamacare Money

[idb]

So, if taking the money is the only responsible thing that the Rep governors can do, what do you call those that refuse to sign their state up?

 

[whitehall]

What the hell is this? A desperate effort by the radical left for an issue? Sure republicans represented their districts by requesting federal money. That's what politicians freaking do. There is no conflict of interest when republicans also represent their districts by calling for the repeal of a ten foot stack of regulations enforced by the dumb assed federal agency that gave us a million dollar rerun of "star trek".

 

[Greenbeard]

So, if taking the money is the only responsible thing that the Rep governors can do, what do you call those that refuse to sign their state up?

One-termers.

 

[Dot Com]

reminds me of when they bemoaned stimulus then miraculously showed up to the ribbon-cutting ceremonies in their districts that the stimulus made possible

Republican hypocrites on the stimulus | Crooks and Liars

 

[Mac1958]

.

Certainly predictable.

Once the goodies start flowing from Central Planning, you have to take them or you're out. We've passed the tipping point.

.

"Goodies" like health clinics in underserved areas?

Sometimes I honestly can't tell if you people are fucking serious.

A perfect example of the way it works.

Certainly some good is going to be done when the flood gates are open. But then the more naive believe the line that it's all good, they're more than willing to excuse and ignore all the waste, bloat, fraud, sloth and abuse that comes with it. They're willing to accept whatever measure of good that comes from all the bad.

Just like the beaten wife defends her abusive husband.

.

 

[Greenbeard]

.

Certainly predictable.

Once the goodies start flowing from Central Planning, you have to take them or you're out. We've passed the tipping point.

.

"Goodies" like health clinics in underserved areas?

Sometimes I honestly can't tell if you people are fucking serious.

A perfect example of the way it works.

Certainly some good is going to be done when the flood gates are open. But then the more naive believe the line that it's all good, they're more than willing to excuse and ignore all the waste, bloat, fraud, sloth and abuse that comes with it. They're willing to accept whatever measure of good that comes from all the bad.

Just like the beaten wife defends her abusive husband.

.

I'll confess, after this response, I still can't tell if you're fucking serious.

We're talking about funds for community health centers.

 

[Synthaholic]

Obamacare is presently the law of the land. Insurance rates are going up, taxes are going up, etc. to support it.

It takes a liberal to find something "wrong" with the people who are paying all that extra money, using legal means to get some of it back. The libs are trying to pretend that means the people who paid, must have approved of the plan in the frist place.

What will we hear next from the liberal hysterics? Next time a conservative gets mugged, and demands that the thief give him his money back, will the liberals announce that this means the conservative approved of the mugging in the first place?

False. Didn't you see the news out of California the other day, and Obama's press conference?


Rates are plummeting!

 

[Synthaholic]

Revealed: Letters From Republicans Seeking Obamacare Money



It’s the height of hypocrisy: They call for repeal of the law but plead for its dollars on behalf of constituents.






Even before President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law, Republicans were vowing to repeal it. It’s no wonder, because polls showed that the basic elements of the ACA were quite popular, and there was a real danger that it would become more so as people found out that the plan denounced as a “monstrosity” by the National Republican Senatorial Committee would not trample on their liberties so much as help protect their health. Desperate to avoid this, the GOP-controlled House has voted no fewer than thirty-seven times to repeal Obamacare in the three years since it was enacted.


Now letters produced by a Freedom of Information Act request reveal that many of these same anti-Obamacare Republicans have solicited grants from the very program they claim to despise. This is evidence not merely of shameless hypocrisy but of the fact that the ACA bestows tangible benefits that even Congress’s most extreme right-wing ideologues are hard-pressed to deny to their constituents.


As I reported here last September, Congressman Paul Ryan, who as Mitt Romney’s running mate in 2012 called for its repeal, sent a letter requesting ACA money for health clinics in his district two years earlier. The Nation has obtained documents revealing that at least twenty other Obamacare-bashing GOP lawmakers have similarly pleaded for ACA funds on behalf of constituents. Among them are Kristi Noem, a Republican lawmaker from South Dakota likely to run for the Senate next year, as well as Ohio Senator Rob Portman, who has been touted as a potential GOP presidential candidate in 2016.


In one of two letters sent by Portman to the Department of Health and Human Services, the senator requested ACA funds to help a federal health center in Cleveland, where the money could help “an additional 8,966 uninsured individuals” to receive
”essential services,” in his words. In Noem’s case, the congresswoman requested ACA funds to construct a community health center in Rapid City to provide primary services to the uninsured. Both Noem and Portman won office in 2010 campaigning vigorously against the law and have since worked to repeal it.


Though notably less transparent, the behavior of these GOP lawmakers parallels that of GOP governors like Arizona’s Jan Brewer, who blast the president’s health reform package while embracing the millions in Medicaid funds that it provides.


The letter writers include GOP rank-and-file Congress members, leaders and committee chairs, all of whom have supported the repeal effort. David Valadao, for example, a freshman representative who campaigned last year on his opposition to Obamacare, requested funds in a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius two years ago for a program to improve “the general health” of the Fresno County area, which he then served as a California assemblyman. Congressman Jeff Denham, a two-term GOP lawmaker who won his seat with support from Tea Party activists, penned a letter recommending the same application for Fresno County. The county Department of Public Health won the grant. Valadao’s and Denham’s offices declined to comment.


*snip*


Texas Senator John Cornyn, the Republican whip, wrote to the Centers for Disease Control to recommend a grant for Houston and Harris County. Congressman Michael McCaul, a Republican and the chair of the Homeland Security Committee, wrote a letter praising the same grant request, calling the effort a “crucial initiative to achieve a healthier Houston/Harris County.” Senators Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, Mark Kirk of Illinois and Thad Cochran of Mississippi also recommended grant request approval for public health or health clinic funding.


House Republicans and the Senate Republican Policy Committee have trashed the ACA’s Community Transformation grants as an Obamacare “slush fund.” In the letters seeking these grants, however, GOP lawmakers have heaped praise on their potential. Cornyn writes in his letter that the grant would help “improve the health and quality of life of area residents.” Congressman Aaron Schock, a Republican from Illinois, congratulated a local nonprofit for winning a Community Transformation grant, noting that the program will give “people the tools to live healthier and longer lives.”


*snip*

Why should they not do both of those things? Now, no doubt, is how stupid libs are. A lot of people on Medicare currently opposed it back in the 70s.

"opposed" is past tense. Republicans haven't seen the light - they still oppose it, and still want to do away with it, while talking out the other side of their mouths once they are back home, standing in front of a giant check, taking credit for bringing money home to the state, praising the Obama programs they just finished trashing while in Washington.

Hypocrites.

 

[blackhawk]

Not unlike these Democrat hypocrites who bemoaned all the national security and anti terror measures enacted under Bush but who have remained by and large silent while Obama continued most of them.

 

[nitroz]

It goes on and on.

These Republicans are some of the most dishonest people to ever hold elective office in this country.

I say make them practice what they preach.

 

[hjmick]

Really? What Obamacare taxes are you talking about, and how much had people paid in these taxes in 2010?

Answer: none.

Why are the same Republicans who are trying to repeal it and vilify it in their press briefings also praising it when asking for the funding?

Taxes in general, and again, you knew that.

Again, no hypocrisy here, as if something is availible, they should benefit from it. Working to repeal it, and using it when it is the law are seperate items.

And any funding request has to suck up to those who authorize it. Again nothing new here, especially your hack twattling.

You're admitting that conservatives are fake, phony hypocrites, without the personal integrity to live the words they speak to others?

I agree with that!

So are Democrats, don't pretend otherwise.

Ultimately, they would be foolish and derelict if they did not take advantage of the things for which ACA provides to benefit their constituents.

 

[Avorysuds]

The "height of hypocrisy" is when Obama passed a unconstitutional law after taking an oath to protect the constitution.... If that does not seem hypocritical to you then we could move to Obama claiming to be "the most transparent admin in US history" only to be the exact opposite.

But hey, keep attacking Republicans but voting Dem because you're just that useless of a citizen.

 

[OKTexas]

It goes on and on.

These Republicans are some of the most dishonest people to ever hold elective office in this country.

Guess you haven't bothered to check the contradictory statements your dear leader has made. But hey I'm sure you're not concerned about them most of you commiecrats aren't.

 

[Avatar4321]

politicians trying to get money. Totally new low.

 

[Synthaholic]

It goes on and on.

These Republicans are some of the most dishonest people to ever hold elective office in this country.

I say make them practice what they preach.

Go Mustangs!

 

[Synthaholic]

Taxes in general, and again, you knew that.

Again, no hypocrisy here, as if something is availible, they should benefit from it. Working to repeal it, and using it when it is the law are seperate items.

And any funding request has to suck up to those who authorize it. Again nothing new here, especially your hack twattling.

You're admitting that conservatives are fake, phony hypocrites, without the personal integrity to live the words they speak to others?

I agree with that!

So are Democrats, don't pretend otherwise.

Ultimately, they would be foolish and derelict if they did not take advantage of the things for which ACA provides to benefit their constituents.

So they should use the "But...they MADE me take the money!" excuse?

"I didn't wanna! Really! I HATE Obamacare - more than any other Congressman! That's why I'm taking the money and praising the Obamacare program that gave me the money!"

Is that it?

They are hypocrites - not for taking the money, as you all keep trying to deflect to - but for railing and voting against it, while praising it in front of the giant check.

Just like the stimulus.

 

[Synthaholic]

The "height of hypocrisy" is when Obama passed a unconstitutional law after taking an oath to protect the constitution.... If that does not seem hypocritical to you then we could move to Obama claiming to be "the most transparent admin in US history" only to be the exact opposite.

But hey, keep attacking Republicans but voting Dem because you're just that useless of a citizen.

SCOTUS says you're a dumbass.

 

[idb]

The "height of hypocrisy" is when Obama passed a unconstitutional law after taking an oath to protect the constitution.... If that does not seem hypocritical to you then we could move to Obama claiming to be "the most transparent admin in US history" only to be the exact opposite.

But hey, keep attacking Republicans but voting Dem because you're just that useless of a citizen.

Didn't the Supreme Court rule that it's constitutional?

 

[Synthaholic]

politicians trying to get money. Totally new low.

Since you are a wingnut and a cultist, you are only familiar with scammers, so it's understandable for you to assume every funding request must be sought dishonestly.

 

[Avatar4321]

The "height of hypocrisy" is when Obama passed a unconstitutional law after taking an oath to protect the constitution.... If that does not seem hypocritical to you then we could move to Obama claiming to be "the most transparent admin in US history" only to be the exact opposite.

But hey, keep attacking Republicans but voting Dem because you're just that useless of a citizen.

Didn't the Supreme Court rule that it's constitutional?

In the same decision they argued it wasnt a tax so they had standing to hear the case and that it was a tax to keep it Constitution.