Wondering on Wednesday (v81)

Well, what's going on out there tonight that give us pause?

We've got your RNR -- Replace, Not Repeal -- meandering through a couple of House Committees.  I tried to read the bill last night, like Speaker Paul Ryan told me to, but when it looks like what you see below, it's a little hard to figure out what they're really talking about:

The Social Security Act is amended— (1) in section 1902 (42 U.S.C. 1396a)—

(A) in subsection (a)(47)(B), by inserting ‘‘and provided that any such election shall cease to be effective on January 1, 2020, and no such election shall be made after that date’’ before the semicolon at the end; and

(B) in subsection (l)(2)(C), by inserting ‘‘and ending December 31, 2019,’’ after ‘‘January 1, 2014,’’; (2) in section 1915(k)(2) (42 U.S.C. 1396n(k)(2)), by striking ‘‘during the period described in paragraph (1)’’ and inserting ‘‘on or after the date referred to in paragraph (1) and before January 1, 2020’’; and  (3) in section 1920(e) (42 U.S.C. 1396r–1(e)),  by striking ‘‘under clause (i)(VIII), clause (i)(IX), or clause (ii)(XX) of subsection (a)(10)(A)’’ and inserting ‘‘under clause (i)(VIII) or clause (ii)(XX) of section 1902(a)(10)(A) before January 1, 2020, section  902(a)(10)(A)(i)(IX),’’. 

If I were cynical (hey - I heard that!) I'd think that they are relying on folks like me to look at that gobbledygook and instead just read the propaganda.  I did look at that, and I'm still a little confused.

I'm wondering which part of it says that I can go back to the doctor I had before that failed disastrous sad horrible Obamacare took my doctor away from me in the first place?

Oh wait that's right. There wasn't anything in the Affordable Care Act that said companies had to change products, drop insurance, change carriers, or change networks. I don't know what I was thinking.

I'm also wondering about Ryan's ability to truly champion the America Health Care Act the way our old friend Nancy Pelosi did, back in 2010. While this passage is not as famous as her widely out-of-context remark about "having to pass the bill before we can read it", this one's pretty special.

We will go through the gate. If the gate is closed, we will go over the fence. If the fence is too high, we will pole vault in. If that doesn't work, we will parachute in, But we are going to get health care reform passed for the American people for their own personal health and economic security and for the important role that it will pay in reducing the deficit. 

Seriously, I didn't make that up - you can read my post from six years ago here.  And against that backdrop Ryan offers #readthebill? Sheesh, he needs to be more motivational than that!

I also wonder if anyone else has taken a look at Pelosi's comments. I mean, gates and fences and pole vaulting and parachuting could be just the keys to working around that wall we've heard so much about.

Or, maybe that won't be too much of an issue.  It seems the Trump Administration is looking for ways to pay for the wall, and they're not making a lot of friends with some of their ideas, including gutting the budgets of the TSA (and FEMA too) by 10%, and the Coast Guard by 14%, in fiscal year 2018 which begins in October.

I don't know about you, but I'm wondering how slashing the budget for two agencies that actually work to protect us here in the homeland makes sense when the goal is to protest us here in the homeland.

Thoughts?