CSPAN: The GOP is trying to pass LAST MINUTE Pension reform!!!

[LSK]

I just heard a Dem say they are trying to pass something late on a Friday while nobody is listening.

Another Dem said nobody had time to read it.

Another Dem said it did not come out of committee??

Whos watching???

[LSK]

1. its something about pensions?? IS ANYONE WATCHING???

:shrug:

[Suich]

2. Don't know...just turned it on.

Whatever it is, I know it doesn't benefit anyone I know!

[MuseRider]

4. LOL

(not really funny) but that is a given if it comes from the Republicans!

[LSK]

5. apparently some Dems dont know what they are voting on either

[MzNov]

3. the minimum wage bill with cutting more taxes for the rich

Dems threatening not to adjourn for the recess until they pass a higher min. wage. But the repukes will try to put one of their 4am amendments slashing the estate tax, which didn't pass about a month ago? they are sleaze to the core.

Is this what you mean? Perhaps there are others.

:dem:

[marmar]

6. I think it's some bill that would transfer some pension obligations...

from companies (i.e. airlines) that are crying that they can't meet those obligations to, you guessed it, us.

[LSK]

7. the GOP is going to "fix" broken pension rules

:scared:

[marmar]

11. Exactly...

When they fix something, we all end up walking funny.

[Monkeyman]

10. Its a bill that if passed will allow Pensions to be cut its in the wording

[rusty charly]

18. crying that they can't compete with socialized european companies...

so give us universal health care, and go compete.

[marmar]

20. De acuerdo...

The airlines, the auto companies, etc etc are always singing the blues about how health care costs for employees and retirees are breaking the bank...SO why aren't their lobbyists standing on Capitol Hill with signs every day demanding universal single-payer health care? :shrug:

[LSK]

21. did you see the Wall Street Journal article about GMs pension woes???

The employee pension plans are fully funded.

Its the CEO pension plans that are struggling with funding.

[marmar]

24. Yes. Thom Hartmann went over the story in detail...

Un-fucking-believable. The CEO pension plan is the one that can't sustain itself, but guess which one will get slashed first?

[rurallib]

8. "minimum wage bill" that has some really bad ammendments

like ending the estate tax in exchange for a higher minimum wage. This way the Dems will vote against it and the :puke: s can say they tried to apss a minimum wage but the lying Dems blocked it.
Also has a horrible pension ammendment.

[LSK]

9. HR4: Pension protection act

http://clerk.house.gov/cgi-bin/lgwww_bill.pl?200004

The text of H.R.4 has not yet been received from GPO
Bills are generally sent to the Library of Congress from the Government Printing Office a day or two after they are introduced on the floor of the House or Senate. Delays can occur when there are a large number of bills to prepare or when a very large bill has to be printed.

THIS IS A FUCKING RUSHED BILL. WTF WTF WTF

:grr: :grr: :grr:

FUCK YOU REPUKES!!!!!!!!1

[Suich]

12. Time to open the wine!!!

If they're trying to pass something at 10:17 on a fucking Friday night, it's a bad deal!!!

Sam Johnson is voting against?????

[LSK]

13. maybe he didnt even read it all

[Justice Is Comin]

14. They're scum.

They are desperate to try to say to their constituents over the recess that they tried to pass a minimum wage increase, so they bundled it in with the death tax cut. The Democrats have to give the 7,500 wealthiest sons a bitches in America an 800 billion dollar tax cut if they vote for this bill because they're tied together.

Of course unanimously they're voting against it, so the republicans are going to try to have the balls to say they tried to pass the minimum wage. That's why it's in the middle of the night and typical of these bastards.

There's scum and there's something even lower--republicans.

[napi21]

15. Something weird is going on though. I just hear a Pug from TX

say he urged all to vote NO on this bill, and so did the Dem from Mass! I wonder who is eally behind this and how many there are?

[LSK]

16. whatever it is, it has to do with airline pension plans

[napi21]

17. Yea, and about special treatment of some over others.

I just turned it on about 10 mins ago, so all I can gather is the different AL names mentioned, and they are all legacy carriers.

I don't know, but nothing good ever comes out of this congress when they are working this late, and on a FRIDAY TOO!!!!!!

[LSK]

19. different treatment of executive pensions vs normal pensions

[LSK]

22. BONER is speaking now

[Octafish]

23. REMEMBER in NOVEMBER!

DEMOCRATS!
INDEPENDENTS!
THOSE WHO CARE ABOUT THEIR FUTURE!
ANYONE WHO GIVES A DAMN ABOUT AMERICA!

Crook. Gangster. Nutjob.
Mass Murderer. Traitor.
And he doesn't care what happens to you.

[Sydnie]

25. Boehner has a real boner for this bill!

Bite me Boner!

[LSK]

26. hi Sydnie, no CSPAN thread can be complete without you

:hi:

[Sydnie]

27. Thanks LSK

I've had a really rotten day ... knowing that someone is happy to see my mug makes my day!

:hug: :hi: ... and thanks!

[LSK]

28. tried to pass it quick with a voice vote

Yeahs and Nays better be coming up. (not that the Dems have enough votes)

[LSK]

29. a Repuke is objecting because he has not seen it

[Sydnie]

30. This is just outrageous

They have been sitting on this legislation since 1999 and NOW it's a last minute vote, without the members on either side seeing it, much less reading it.

This is bullshit!

[LSK]

31. look at the thick stack of papers he just had

Was the that bill???????????????

[rusty charly]

34. and the yeas

force another look?

"motion to recommit" ?

(i'd like to recommit some of these guys...)

[LSK]

36. yes, voting to send it back to committee

Watch it go down in flames.

[LSK]

32. because Sen Kennedy knows something in the bill

Then everyone should know whats in the bill?????????????????????????????

:wtf: :wtf: :wtf:

[LSK]

33. 907 pages - estate tax reductions are included

:grr:

[LSK]

35. 4 hours to go over 907 pages on a Friday night

FUCK THE GOP
FUCK THE GOP
FUCK THE GOP
FUCK THE GOP
FUCK THE GOP


:grr: :grr: :grr:

:nuke: :nuke:

[LSK]

38. 15 minute voting time limit over, holding the vote open....

Almost half of them havnt voted yet...

[rusty charly]

40. it's close

watch for arm-twisted vote switches (buy offs)

[Sydnie]

37. Ohh Ohh ... Pelosi said "When we take over

"you all will get a heads up" meaning that no sneaky bills when they take over with "poison pills" in it snuck in at the last minute before a recess.

I like the way that sounds!

[rusty charly]

39. but i want the dems to pull every trick on them, in turn

all is fair in love and war, and all

[rusty charly]

41. so it passed?

[Sydnie]

42. Nope ... recommit failed

not everyone voted either. Have they already left town? Where were they?

[karlrschneider]

43. I just got here but looks like the vote on the actual bill is starting now

5 minute vote (which could be 5 centuries)...:eyes:

[LSK]

44. actual bill passed

Motion to recommit failed.

Next stop: the Senate.

[karlrschneider]

47. Yep, just saw that.

thanks

[brooklynite]

45. Here's the language of the bill...

http://www.rules.house.gov/109_2nd/text/etetra/THOMAS_172_xml.pdf

TITLE I—REFORM AND EXTEN-SION OF ESTATE TAX AFTER 2009
SEC. 101. REFORM AND EXTENSION OF ESTATE TAX AFTER 2009.
(a) RESTORATION OF UNIFIED CREDIT AGAINST GIFT TAX.—Paragraph (1) of section 2505(a) (relating to general rule for unified credit against gift tax), after the application of subsection (g), is amended by striking ‘‘(determined as if the applicable exclusion amount were $1,000,000)’’.
(b) EXCLUSION EQUIVALENT OF UNIFIED CREDIT
INCREASED TO $5,000,000.—Subsection (c) of section 2010 (relating to unified credit against estate tax) is amended to read as follows:
(c) APPLICABLE CREDIT AMOUNT.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this section, the applicable credit amount is the amount of the tentative tax which would be determined under the rate schedule set forth in section 2001(c) if the amount with respect to which such tentative tax is to be computed were the applicable exclusion amount.
(2) APPLICABLE EXCLUSION AMOUNT.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this subsection, the applicable exclusion amount is as follows:
(i) For calendar year 2010, $3,750,000.
(ii) For calendar year 2011, $4,000,000.
(iii) For calendar year 2012, $4,250,000.
(iv) For calendar year 2013, $4,500,000.
(v) For calendar year 2014, $4,750,000.
(vi) For calendar year 2015 and thereafter, $5,000,000.
(B) INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.—In the case of any decedent dying in a calendar year after 2015, the $5,000,000 amount in subparagraph (A)(vi) shall be increased by an amount
equal to—
(i) such dollar amount, multiplied by
(ii) the cost-of-living adjustment determined under section 1(f)(3) for such calendar year by substituting ‘calendar year 2014’ for ‘calendar year 1992’ in subparagraph (B) thereof.
If any amount as adjusted under the preceding sentence is not a multiple of $100,000, such amount shall be rounded to the nearest multiple of $100,000.’’.

TITLE IV—INCREASE IN MINIMUM WAGE
SEC. 401. MINIMUM WAGE.
Section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 61938 (29 U.S.C. 206(a)(1)) is amended to read as follows:
(1) except as otherwise provided in this section, not less than—
(A) $5.15 an hour beginning September 1, 1997;
(B) $5.85 an hour, beginning on January 12, 2007;
(C) $6.55 an hour, beginning June 1, 2008; and
(D) $7.25 an hour, beginning June 1, 2009;’’.
SEC. 402. TIPPED WAGE FAIRNESS.
Section 3(m) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203(m)) is amended—
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively;
(2) by striking ‘‘‘Wage’ paid to any employee’’and inserting ‘‘(1) ‘Wage’ paid to any employee’’;
(3) in subparagraph (B) (as so redesignated), by inserting before the period the following: ‘‘: Provided, That the tips shall not be included as part of the wage paid to an employee to the extent that they are excluded therefrom under the terms of a bona fide collective bargaining agreement applicable to the particular employee’’; and
(4) by adding at the end of the following:
(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, any State or political subdivision of a State which on or after the date of enactment of the Estate Tax and Extension of Tax Relief Act of 2006 excludes all of a tipped employee’s tips from being considered as wages in determining if such tipped employee has been paid the applicable minimum wage rate, may not establish or enforce the minimum wage rate provisions of such law, ordinance, regulation, or order in such State or political subdivision thereof with respect to tipped employees unless such law, ordinance, regulation, or order is revised or amended to permit such employee to be paid a wage by the employee’s employer in an amount not less than an amount equal to—
(A) the cash wage paid such employee which is required under such law, ordinance, regulation, or order on the date of enactment of the Estate Tax and Extension of Tax Relief Act of 2006; and
(B) an additional amount on account of tips received by such employee which amount is equal to the difference between the cash wage described in subparagraph (A) and the minimum wage rate in effect under such law, ordinance, regulation, or order, or the minimum wage rate in effect under section 6(a), whichever is higher.’’.

[LSK]

46. i dont think thats it

Its supposedly 907 pages and called H.R. 4: to provide economic security for all Americans, and for other purposes

[LSK]

49. they are trying to pass that now

[LSK]

48. now the are bringing up the Estate Tax