god dammit congress what is wrong with you!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L11Bxolo44
I'm pretty sure it's not all of Congress that needs a kick in the jimmies on this one. As usual, there's a big red (R) next to the guilty.
S.928 has 43 Democratic co-sponsors (along with the bill's Democratic sponsor, Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY). It just so happens that there are 44 Dems in the Senate. So that covers all of them. Bernie Sanders and Angus King are on board, as are 21 of the Senate's 54 Republicans, including Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio, along with not-crazy Republicans like Jeff Flake, John McCain, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski. (even if a number of them signed on only after Stewart's shaming expedition in September).
It's stuck in the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and has been since it was introduced in April 2015. So if he wants to shame the fuck out of some people, that's where to start. I'll note that NC's elder statesman-for-sale Richard Burr is on that committee, and is not a cosponsor. In fact, of the committee's 12 Republican members, only 3 have signed on: Collins, Murkowski, and Mark Kirk (R-IL). Who they really ought to hammer is Lamar Alexander (R-TN). As committee chair, he's the one with the power to move this thing through.
EDIT: Apparently, we didn't even see the most egregious behaviors:
In the office of Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), where the responders had been unable to arrange an appointment, they were greeted by an angry staffer who expressed irritation that they asked for five minutes to make a case.
Risch's office said the staffer was not the person who ordinarily deals with such issues, because many of the office personnel were back in Idaho. Still, the staffer ended up giving the responders half an hour, even if the talk grew heated at times. A spokeswoman for Risch, Suzanne Wrasse, said that the men were treated courteously, and that their words were heard.
"The staff on the issue will most definitely get all of the information on the meeting and will give it the due consideration," Wrasse said.
Risch, it should be noted, co-sponsored the bill for
one day back in June, before withdrawing support the next day. Probably so he could factually claim he had sponsored the bill.
EDIT#2: Trump is
murmuring again about making a run as an independent.Sounds to me like "If the whole party keeps saying I'm wrong, I'm taking my ball of fucked-up voters and going
home rogue and you guys will lose in November."
To which I say.....DO EEEEEET!!!!! Make Trump Great Again! Unfurl the banner of the Trumpocracy of Trump and let Trump ring from Trump to shining Trump!
Split parties are the best parties.