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Posted on 10/15/2013 2:33:35 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said it was “pathetic” if Republicans have shutdown the government and threatened defaulting on federal debt over whether congressional staffers get an employer health insurance contribution.
“That’s it? That’s what this is all about?” Durbin said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “We’ve shutdown our government and risked defaulting on our loans over whether our employees are going to get employer contribution? That’s pathetic.”
Lawmakers are at an impasse on how to pass a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government, which has been shut down for more than two weeks. They are also working against an Oct. 17 deadline for raising the nation's borrowing limit.
House Republicans on Tuesday afternoon released the text of legislation that would extend the debt ceiling and re-open the government, but would also chip away at ObamaCare.
Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) applauded the House for including his “No Washington Exemption” amendment that would end employer contributions that congressional staffers currently receive. Under ObamaCare, staffers would have to enroll in the healthcare exchanges. Vitter has said if they received an employer contribution it would be an “unfair” government subsidy.
"The question will be whether this standoff is going to continue over that — members protecting their wallets and their special elite status," Vitter said during a floor exchange with Durbin. "The only significant difference between their package and what Senate Democrats have agreed to here will be that 'No Washington Exemption' language in regards to ObamaCare."
Democrats have said Vitter’s amendment harms staffers and would greatly increase their healthcare expenses. Durbin said he just wants his staffers to be treated the same as other federal employees who receive an employer contribution — most major companies also contribute to employee health expenses.
“[Vitter] doesn’t want the employer to make any contribution for my health insurance or my staffers,” Durbin said. “This is common — there is nothing sinister or sneaky about it.”
House Republicans are expected to vote on their fiscal bill tonight, but Senate Democrats have said it is dead on arrival in the Senate.
Socialism is the new norm for this idiot.
Keep your dick turban to yourself
What is truly pathetic is that so few really understand.
That the scum that said “American treatment of terror detainees at the Guantanamo Naval Base is comparable to torture at the hands of Nazis, Soviet gulags and even Cambodian mass murderer Pol Pot.” and other vile things about our brave American soldiers can refer to anything or anyone else as pathetic is, well PATHETIC!
Durbin’s pathetic.
Your durbin’s too tight, dick — it’s cutting off blood to what passes for your brain. These Republicans, defying centuries of tradition, are standing in the breech to protect Americans from tyranny they’ve loudly and repeatedly rejected. Have YOU done anything useful today?
A list of former Dick Durbin staffers and where they went after they left.
http://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/search_result.php?mem=Durbin%2C+Dick
Well, if it’s so insubstantial, why doesn’t he agree to cut those subsidies?
Ohhhh, the squealing from the stuck PIGS.
Durbin’s current legislative director came from the lobbying firm of B&D Sagamore.
http://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/rev_summary.php?id=76516
It is pathetic that you consider yourself above the people you commie pos.
Durbin: Let the peasants eat cake.
Man I truly hope Durbin is in the wrong place at the wrong time when his own party and that bastard in the white hut yank SNAP and stir up the welfare rats hornets nest..
“threatened defaulting on federal debt over whether congressional staffers (& UNION MEMBERS) get an employer health insurance contribution.”
Pathetic that you and Obama are choosing who gets waivers depending on whether they are Democrat supporters, you a-hole.
You wrote and voted on the damn law so YOU and your family and friends LIVE WITH IT too! Why are ‘staffers’ so ‘special’? Why aren’t they jumping on this “WONDERFUL” law that you and the other left wing kooks passed since you know better how to run our lives?!
Isn’t it so special and wonderful that EVERYONE should want to sign up?!
Well, well, Durbin. You finally got one right! Except that it is NOT pathetic. Why should you, who work for us, get special exceptions? Explain that to us, please!
Durbin’s correct. We should just repeal the entire bill.
I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not just the NSA that has dirt on these politicians. Obviously their staffs have a lot of dirt, too. And apparently they’ve let their bosses know they’ll expose them.
Always remember, Durbin the pr*ck called our soldiers Nazis. For that alone, this scum traitor should be shipped one-way to North Korea.
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