Political Issues Overriding Economics
I have not seen where the Senate has confirmed RFK (in name only) yet. Maybe it is happening as I type this commentary? A few thoughts come to pass as I read certain articles.
There always seem to be a few amongst the Democrats who will shoot the party and themselves in their respective feet or the foot of the lone naysayer. It is like we have a bunch of Charlie Browns (respect to CB’s owners: “41% owned by WildBrain Ltd., 39% owned by Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc., and 20% owned by the family of Charles M.) in the Democrat party who for some reason wish to hold the rest of the party captive to their desires. I left the nation out of this as little is thought of the needs of its 300+ million in the decision.
. . . the senate finance committee voted to advance RFK’s nomination for a floor vote.
Republicans voted together to advance his nomination, while Democrats all opposed.
His nomination will now face a full senate vote, despite concerns about the work he’s done to sow doubts around vaccine safety and his potential to profit off lawsuits over drugmakers.
To gain control of the $1.7 trillion HHS agency, Kennedy will need support from all but three Republicans if Democrats uniformly oppose him.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD (R-La.), who is also a physician and sits on the finance committee, voted to advance Kennedy’s confirmation. Last week, during Kennedy’s hearings, Cassidy repeatedly implored Kennedy to reject a disproven theory of vaccines cause autism, to no avail. He ended the hearing by saying he was “struggling” with the vote.
“Your past, undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments, concerns me,” Cassidy told Kennedy.
Even so Cassidy did vote RFK out of committee. A lot of concern in Cassidy’s questions and requests did not show up in a vote “no” vote. So, Republican Cassidy tossed his concern aside and voted yes on moving RFK to the Senate floor.
Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) are all seen as potential no votes, too, because they voted against President Trump’s defense secretary nominee and have expressed concerns about Kennedy’s anti-vaccine work.
In a CBS “60 Minutes” interview that aired Sunday, McConnell declined to say how he would vote on Kennedy’s nomination but reiterated “vaccines are critically important.”
Susan Collins is a nice person. She did whine to the police about someone who left a “chalk” message on her sidewalk. It asked her to “Please support abortion rights.”
While claiming to support abortion rights she voted against Federal laws supporting abortion rights. She has also helped to place the current Justices on SCOTUS. I do not believe she can be depended upon for a “no” vote on RFK.
Murkowski and McConnell may vote no. McConnell is angry at Trump and Repubs. Murkowski may be in her last term as a Senator and may go with Dems. I do not believe we will see a rejection of RFK.
Dems need to decide how they are going to reject Trump’s demands and box Musk in going forward. The goal being to minimize the damage being there for the present. The other goal is to prepare for the next election 2 years out and at least gain the House. Both the House and the Senate would be a dream. Still problematic is how to corral all the Dems into one voting machine.
Is Chicago’s Mayor Daley still around for lessons?
Parts of MedPage Today‘s “RFK Jr. Clears Major Hurdle in Nomination for HHS Secretary,” are included today.
“The other goal is to prepare for the next election 2 years out and at least gain the House. Both the House and the Senate would be a dream.”
While I agree with your post, I emphasize this sentence to remind us all, and criticize Democrats that the next election is NOT 2 YEARS OUT. It’s actually just a few months from now. Three outstanding House seats will be decided in Special Elections in the next few months that can flip House control to Democrats. Two in Florida on April 1st, and one in New York (date TBA).
While I’m on several Democratic Party mailing list and have received numerous appeals for funding and discussing the importance of these elections, overall there has been very little news reporting and widespread discussion of the critical importance of these three House seats. The following appeal from yesterday.
My point is simple. Considering the critical importance of these three seats and the intense anger and frustration of half of the country with the Trump/Musk trainwreck, why isn’t there major media and Democratic Party attention to these upcoming elections. I have previously suggested a “Dollar for Democracy” nationwide campaign and an incredible opportunity with recently missed by not have a Super Bowl ad.
I keep hearing pundits and news anchors asking, “What can Democrats do?” They never mention these three House seats. Considering the generally low turnout in Special Elections, and the intensity anger and frustration within the Democratic Party and many others as well, it could truly be possible to turn out an overwhelming Democratic vote in these Special Elections.