Morning

Wacky Wednesday.

Happy Hour

get happy

Standards

For one, they try to prevent you from getting sued, but I guess it isn't Bari's money anyway.

“I’ve been hearing that standards will be eliminated or severely cut back. Bari has told people that she wants to get rid of standards and is shocked that they have so much power. She also asked openly, ‘What’s the point of standards?’” one CBS News insider claimed.

Optimism!

The optimistic take is that Republicans have fucked health care up so much that people will be mad. Which, I guess, but..

The president was back at it on Monday, promising an imminent solution to America’s growing health care crisis — on which he has repeatedly failed to deliver in the past.

“I tell you, we’re going to be working on that very hard over the next short period of time, where the people get the money,” President Donald Trump said, referring specifically to Americans thrown into crisis by expiring enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies. “We’re talking about trillions and trillions of dollars, where the people get the money,” he added, without giving details about a vague idea to send cash to affected policyholders to replace subsidies while bypassing insurance firms.

Trump’s off-the-cuff answer was a typical example of the waffle he sometimes conjures to escape a jam in a photo-op. But he could not disguise the downside of his “win” in the government shutdown, which looks set to end after Democrats failed to secure their top demand: the extension of those enhanced Obamacare subsidies.

Trump and Republicans once again own the issue of health care, with millions of citizens — not just those on ACA plans — afflicted by rising premiums and high deductibles against the backdrop of a wider cost-of-living crisis. And just as in his first term, Trump lacks a comprehensive, detailed plan to bring relief to citizens who lack health care, who can’t afford the plans they have or who know that the loss of a job could leave them without any coverage at all.

If the GOP cannot fix the immediate issue of the subsidies — and convince voters they have a serious solution to this and other affordability questions — their 2026 midterm election hopes could take a dive.

Ethered

There — I fixed the analysis so it is actually accurate to what happened when 8 Senate Dems caved instead of keeping up the righteous fight to deliver lower health care costs for Americans.

[image or embed]

— Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (@jayapal.house.gov) November 11, 2025 at 2:09 AM

Click to embiggen as always. 

"Far-Left"

Genuinely interested in the New York Times style guide for the use of that adjective.

Following up on some good @nypost reporting. https://t.co/hosIykQcN9

— Ben Oreskes (@boreskes) November 10, 2025

NYT's reporters are famous for not crediting other outlets, but some of them love to give a nod to the NYPost.

Good Job, Chuck

If the good senators (all of them) didn't let this all get rushed through with unanimous consent, they could've had more than 5 minutes to see what was in the thing they were voting for.

Remember this next time they tell you that the slow and measured speed of the world's Greatest Deliberative Body, the cooling saucer, is important.

...you too, Chris.

This is outrageous. Another reason the CR should not pass.

It creates a new offense, tailored perfectly to allow Trump to write a government check of millions of dollars to 8 Republican Senators.

GOP Leader Thune just made 8 of his colleagues rich. Off taxpayer money. https://t.co/1gOwplvsnw

— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) November 11, 2025

Morning

Get your morning on.

Happy Hour

It is time.

WE WILL NEVER STOP FIGHTING FOR YOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUU

Democrats have been fighting for months to address America's healthcare crisis

For the millions who will lose coverage
For people with cancer who won't get the care they need
For working families who can't afford to pay $25K more a year for healthcare

We will keep fighting

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) November 10, 2025

Democratic Whip Dick Durbin

I know it's much less of a real role than it can be in parliamentary systems, but the Whip is supposed to round up votes in support of the Leader's agenda.

My point is not that he is bad at his job. My point is that he is very good at it!

Yell Before It Is Too Late

I do wish people would understand more that members of congress and their staffs leak "things which might happen" to the press for two reasons: as trial balloon (by the people pro the thing happening) and as warning (by the people against).

You have to yell at them before they do the thing.  It is too late after.

I don't imagine that me yelling at them on this blog matters much, but behind the scenes, powerful interests are yelling at them constantly, generally pushing them in the wrong direction.

Or you can just trust that Chuck Schumer is doing the right thing, updated hourly, because he has such a consistently good record recently.

Just ask the Baileys. 

Sure Why Not

I'm sure this will get as much attention when it doesn't happen, like the "DOGE Dividend."

President Trump said Sunday that most Americans would receive a $2,000 dividend payment as a result of his administration’s tariffs levied against foreign countries.

Though I guess this is a setup to yell at the Supreme Court when they take your $2,000 checks away.

What's It All About Then

This was all about the filibuster.

— Karen Tumulty (@ktumulty) November 10, 2025

And not because of the fears of what an unrestrained Republican Senate would do, but because of fears that their own excuses for inaction and their favorite tool of responsibility avoidance would evaporate.

I have watched the Senate for years, and you really can't be too cynical about their reasons for doing what they do. It isn't that every senator starts out like that, but the institutional culture is extremely strong and deviators are punished. They haze uppity freshmen - including regularly leaking bullshit to journalists who take the word of senior senators over those freshmen - until they get in line. 

It's basically a cult. Playing along is the easy way and it's definitely the only way to get a committee chair by the time you are 74.

I Don't Like Being Lied To

I originally wrote this post as if caving was inevitable, and included a lot of very mean things that would make senators cry, but then thought "better" of it and deleted most of the mean things. Silly me!

Many of you seemed to be commenting on the original, deleted bits! Maybe they were posted somehow.

Anyway, whatever their reasons, this was not 8 "rogue" senators or even 10. It was a lot of them with grinning Chuck Schumer's blessing. They took the weekend to orchestrate the whole thing and make sure everyone played their hero/villain roles appropriately.

No senator who isn't calling for Schumer to be replaced should be listened to, because they are all being dishonest. That is, I believe, all of them, as of this moment.

Monday

Fool me once, shame on, shame on you. Fool me - you can't get fooled again.

Gotta Admit, He's Not Wrong

Though of course he has no idea why and they have no interest in improving it.

Sure Why Not

We'll see if Axios is correct!

Senate Democrats on Sunday indicated they are ready to advance a package of bills that could end the government shutdown, multiple sources told Axios.

Why it matters: It is the most significant movement toward a bipartisan breakthrough in the talks to re-open the government in over a month.

At least 10 Senate Democrats are expected to support a procedural motion to advance a package of spending bills and a short term funding measure, multiple sources from both parties told Axios.

The deal would include a promised vote [in the Senate only] on extending Obamacare tax credits in December, the sources said.

Please clap.

Certainly Not The Best, Probably Not The Brightest

Welp:

“Reporting this up the chain was a hot potato: No one wanted to touch it,” the senior official said. They believed fear of being perceived as overly critical of Israel — whose supporters wield significant political power — drove that thinking. Biden officials worried that attaching their names to a recommendation to limit American support for Tel Aviv would hinder their future career prospects, the former senior official said, “which is in itself appalling.”

Eventually, high-level concerns about the information spurred discussions that included Biden. McGurk led the pushback to reducing support, two officials said; the controversial Biden adviser often behaved as “Israel’s lawyer” when U.S. officials questioned the country, another senior Biden-era colleague told HuffPost.

Upheld 6-3

There have been some completely insane "religious freedom rulings" but one suspects "banning prayer at a protest" will somehow be fine.