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Grand Obstructionist Party
Last Thursday, the Senate held a cloture vote that would postpone the 21 percent pay cut to Medicare doctors and increase their payments by 2.2 percent through November of this year. The Senate vote was 56-40, with Senator John Ensign voting no, along with every other Republican.
The Republican “Party of No”, all voted no on the cloture vote for the “American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act of 2010”.
The next day, Friday, the Senate did pass a special measure to delay the cuts for six months.
Dr. Cecil Wilson, president of the AMA, said in a statement on Friday, "Congress is playing Russian roulette with seniors' health care”.
"Congress has finally taken its game of brinkmanship too far, as the steep 21% percent cut is now in effect and physicians will be forced to make difficult practice changes to keep their practice doors open," Wilson said, adding that a longer-term fix is needed.
"This is no way to run a major health coverage program -- already the instability caused by repeated short-term delays is taking its toll," Wilson said. "About one in five physicians say they have already been forced to limit the number of Medicare patients in their practice. Nearly one-third of primary care physicians have already been forced to take that action. The top two reasons physicians gave for these actions were the ongoing threat of future cuts and the fact that Medicare payment rates were already too low."
Not only would the “American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act of 2010” postpone Medicare cuts for doctors, but it would also extend Tax cuts for business’s and extend unemployment benefits. The unemployment benefits would also be extended through November and prevent 1.2 million Americans from losing their benefits.
All the “no” votes from Senate Republicans have been a constant obstruction to getting America’s economy moving in the right direction and the Republican “no” votes are at the core of preventing new jobs from being created by private industry.
Senator Ensign and the rest of the Republicans in the Senate have voted “no” on almost every Bill that would help create private industry jobs, such as the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009”, jobs that Americans so desperately need. But the Republicans tell you, don’t worry, this November vote for them and they will stop being obstructionists and maybe, just maybe, they might agree to vote “yes” on some legislation that would create, some jobs (most likely in the oil industry since they support BP and want you the tax payer to pay for part of the damage caused by BP‘s negligence), but you must vote for them first before they will vote “yes” on anything.
A cloture vote is merely a vote to bring the Bill to the full Senate floor for full consideration, and then after all the debating and amendments are done, a vote would be cast. But Republicans have used this tactic over and over again and have prevented any debate on almost every piece of legislation. This group of Republicans will go down in history as the most obstructionist Congress ever. The previous congress currently holds the record for filibusters.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said after the vote, "Every single Republican voted to give doctors a 21% pay cut, and prevent millions of seniors and veterans from getting the medical care they need."
Republicans are willing to see YOU fail, in order for you to vote for them. When Republicans say they want the President of the United States to fail, they are also saying that they're willing to accept any and all collateral damage, and that means you.
Republicans put their “Party before their Country“, and all Americans living in the United States and abroad.
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