Saturday, October 29, 2005

Fuck the Poor

Blondesense posts this little item, lost in all the hoopla over Libby:
The Senate gave a rousing "Fuck The Poor" to the elderly and disabled by voting to cut Medicare and Medicaid spending over the next 5 years by a measly $10B. If they would quit the war in Iraq, imagine how much could be spent helping our least brethren in this oh so (not) christian country. In typical party politics that have nothing to do with the actual human beings that live in this country, the committee's 11 Republicans supported the legislation. The committee's nine Democrats opposed it.
What she didn't post, but linked to, was this:
In doing so, Democrats cited what they believed was inadequate assistance for victims of Hurricane Katrina. In particular, Democrats wanted to temporarily extend Medicaid coverage to thousands of people currently ineligible for the program even though they have lost their jobs and their home.

"Eight weeks ago yesterday, Katrina made landfall. Eight weeks ago today, the levees broke. And eight weeks later, I cannot in good conscience join in cutting health care, when Congress has left the health care needs of Katrina's victims unaddressed," said Sen. Max Baucus (news, bio, voting record) of Montana, the top Democrat on the Finance Committee.

Republicans said they weren't thrilled with the bill, either, mainly because they said it did not go far enough to overhaul Medicaid, the nation's health insurance program for the poor. But they rejected the notion that beneficiaries would get a reduced level of care as a result of the changes they approved.

"We are not cutting health care services to the beneficiaries," said Sen. Rick Santorum (news, bio, voting record), R-Pa. "We have squeezed some fraud out. We have squeezed providers."
Well, if Dogfucker says it, it must be true, right?*snark*

When will we start seeing famine in our country?

Oh. Right. New Orleans.