Olympia "Filibuster" Snowe - your state is #2 in food stamps per capita -

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

do you think Mainers might need some frigging healthcare to go along with that?

How do you sleep at night?

[SIMPLYB1980]

1. Would be funny if she jumped at the last moment.

61? :tinfoilhat:

[LastNaturalist]

2. The "moderate" Republican is like Chupacabra.

Probably non-existent.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. They are a dying breed. :^( Their party locksteppers pretty much

either crushed them or chased them away.

[WCGreen]

8. Nah, they're Democrats now....

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. Well, that;s where they got chased away to.

[LastNaturalist]

14. Jeffords, Specter, Chafee, Gilchrest, McHugh...

[LastNaturalist]

18. Hagel, LaHood, Buckley Jr., Gates, the Eisenhower kids...

[thunder rising]

23. Specter is a better Democrat than any of the Blue Dogs.

[LastNaturalist]

24. Actually, he's kind of a worm. He clearly did it to win re-election (which is questionable....

at this point). Still, I'll take any new Democratic converts.

[Cha]

3. Wow..that almost doesn't compute..

with the Independent streak of New Englanders. They must be really hurting for jobs.

Olympia Snowe needs to hear from all her constituents who need Health Care and would be helped by this Bill.

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. I plan on calling and complaining. Although she never even really

read my stupid letters concerning having a public option. I just got back a glowing reform letter saying she was going to do all the things I said not and that it would make everything all better. x( I am so sorry for those times in the past that I voted for her.

[northernlights]

10. the traditional freeper dichotomy

they claim independence while cashing their welfare checks.

I remember reading that food stamps here were at 15% a couple years ago...before the "recession" started.

The real surprise to me, having lived here all of 6 years, is that they vote some dems in. :shrug:

[thunder rising]

25. And they dream of STATE JOB!!

[mcablue]

6. Don't people on food stamps qualify for medicaid?

People on food stamps have very low income. I would assume they qualify for medicaid. Someone fact-check that please.

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. Yeah. You can qualify for Medicaid but not food stamps, but if you qualify for food stamps

you also qualify for Medicaid (MaineCare.)

[mcablue]

12. So how would the Senate bill help people on food stamps get insurance, if they already have it?

I want to understand that bit.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

15. How about if it's indicative of the state of the economy in Maine as a whole?

If you are the Number 2 state for food stamps, I'm gonna take a wild leap and suggest that your economy overall must be in pretty crappy shape and there are probably a lot more people close to the edge. I don't think that's a big leap, maybe you do.

[mcablue]

17. Not sure. Maine has the 20th LOWEST unemployment rate, and she keeps getting elected on landslides

So I wouldn't jump to that conclusion at the moment based on the food stamp stat.

[thunder rising]

27. Well I guess they just love how she dresses. Oh, and that look is to die for.

[eShirl]

33. .

[GreenPartyVoter]

26. Honestly, I worry that the bill will work things out so that states

try to cut their medicaid and shift the upper income level to insurance. If that happens to my family we would be screwed.

Beyond that, this is not only about people on food stamps. This is about getting the most people covered with the best, cheapest possible coverage. And it's about reigning in the insurance companies so that people aren't turned away or dropped, and they don't have to deal with exorbitant rate increases or drug prices from big pharma. That's a lot of what I wanted to see in this bill that I feel has been watered down, if it's still even in there.

[BrklynLiberal]

7. It has been true for soemtime now tha those states that appear to be the biggest complainers

of "Big Government" pay the least taxes and receive the biggest benefits from the Federal govt.

http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/show/22685.html

Maine has been one of the states that has received back more from the Federal Govt than it paid to the Federal govt every year since 1981

[levander]

13. Why do yall care about Olympia Snowe?

Yall don't need her vote. You already got 60.

[AlinPA]

20. The hell with her, she's no better than the rest of the slime on the republican caucus.

[jwirr]

16. Ah, you may have found out why she can vote any way on this thing.

Most food stamp recipients are also eligible for Medicaid. Could it be that there are not as many people without insurance in her small state as other states?

[mcablue]

19. Can you provide a link to your claim that Maine is #2 in food stamps per capita?

Please.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

21. Here you go.

http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/122972.html

[mcablue]

22. Ok. So it's not "food stamps per capita"

Those statistics refer to households taking food stamps.

Maine is ranked among the states who receive the least amount of food stamps per capita:

http://www.statehealthfactsonline.org/comparetable.jsp?ind=26&cat=1&sub=7&rgnhl=21

[thunder rising]

28. Let's see, households with children would certainly dilute your statistic. Not to mention only one

recipient per married couple.

per/Household is a pretty good indicator of how many families are in deep shit.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

29. 2nd highest percentage of households receiving foodstamps

in the Bangor article.

The table you linked to just showed the COST per person, not percentage receiving benefits.

Why is it so important to you to show that the people in Maine don't need healthcare reform?

[mcablue]

30. I'm not saying they don't need healthcare reform. I'm saying your headline misrepresents statistics

You said "food stamps per capita."

What is "food stamps per capita"? It is the amount of food stamps that Maine distributes divided by each recipient.

How many foodstamps? 3 food stamps? 57 food stamps? My link tells you how many foodstamps, and the amount is not among the highest.

YOu did not mention number of people or households. You mentioned "foodstamps per capita" and I told you exactly how many foodstamps per capita Maine is receiving (94).

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

32. You have linked to the average Benefit $

I said #2 in foodstamps - I did not say food stamp dollar- I think most people would realize I meant usage.

I gave you a link that shows that Mainers have the second highest use per household in the nation, which is what I basically said in my OP.

Here is another article from last year that says one in eight Mainers Uses food stamps!
http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/4937630.html

But go ahead and continue to tell us that since they get food stamps and get Medicaid, Mainers have no need for health reform.

[Better Believe It]

31. Scary! The threat of a bogus phantom Republican filibuster. Head for the hills!

This could be one of those alleged Republican filibusters that you can't watch on C-Span.

Well, she's not that all important 41st vote against ending a non-existent filibuster.