Tuesday, August 10, 2010

James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010

This bill has the simple task of paying compensation, mostly health care costs, for the thousands of people who worked in horrible conditions after the attacks on 9/11 to try and find survivors in the rubble.

It would cost about $8.4B over 10 year and then might cost another $4B after that. True to their way of operating, the Democratic controlled congress identified a way to pay the cost. They proposed to close a tax loophole used by corporations to avoid paying taxes.

For bizarre and probably overly political reasons, the bill came to the House floor under a rule that required it get a 2/3 majority. But still it should have passed.

155 out of 167 Republicans voted against the bill and it failed passage.

I am still not clear why they voted against it.

The biggest reason I have found is that it included additional tax revenue from closing a loophole.

It appears that 155 Republicans (and 4 Democrats) put the interests of corporations ahead of the interests of those heroes who worked so hard to recover from the attacks on 9/11.

I have friends who really have just come to hate Conservatives/Republicans. I don't hate them, partially because I am related to many of them. But I don't understand their priorities. This concept that all taxes for any purpose no matter who pays them are bad and should be cut or eliminated is fiscal insanity. But its an insanity that they cling to with both arms.

I guess I should pity them their insanity, but when they do stuff like this I realize that is the victims of their insanity that I must reserve my pity for.

11 comments:

Steve Harkonnen said...

For one, it stretches through until 2031 and it's been criticized by both sides of the House as "being bloated."

I still don't know the specifics why they killed it either, but I do know this: we're broke.

Uncle Walt said...

We can debate the definition of broke, and we can also debate how the deficit and debt got to be where they are.

But this bill paid for itself by closing a corporate tax loophole. So broke or not, this bill didn't change the 10 year deficit projections.

Broke we may be, but this bill doesn't make us any broker

reddog said...

Are you an old Sub Sailor?

SSN 575 '75-'78

Uncle Walt said...

Yeah,
SSN 682 78 - 81
SSN 612 83-85

Steve Harkonnen said...

You know, all political junk aside, I always held a deep respect for bubbleheads. Have either of you ever read the book Blind Man's Bluff? One of my favorites.

Uncle Walt said...

Its a very good book, though I have never really understood why the Submariner's that the author talked to broke their security pledges. Some of what is in that book is still technically classified, even though its been pretty thoroughly compromised by now.
But I enjoyed teh book none the less.

reddog said...

EEOOWW! Thresher class. Yearning for crush depth. You're a brave sailor.

575 was always trying to kill us in many other ways but we were buoyant as a cork.

The few, the proud, the brave. Liberal submarine sailors. Good on ya. I don't really count. I still maintain it was all a big misunderstanding. They told me the Deep Submergence Program was all about oceanographic research, like Jacques Cousteau.

"Aye, Calypso! The places you’ve been to
The things that you’ve shown us
The stories you tell"

Well, maybe but not the way I thought.

Uncle Walt said...

There were not many liberals on the boats back then, probably still aren't.

But then I was a History major so I had a different understanding that most of my shipmates.

And I wasn't a ring-knocker so I went to a real school.

Sue said...

I don't know how you stumbled upon my blog, but THANK YOU for your good wishes! Visit anytime!

Uncle Walt said...

Sue,
You are welcome.

I am not sure how I stumbled upon your blog myself, just a happy circumstance.

You are also welcome back here anytime. I love my readers and really love comments and good debates.

beakerkin said...

Walt

I was there for both blasts at the WTC in a civilian capacity.

1) Most people who were involved in the rescue effort were there in an official capacity are covered by employees union benefits.

2) While most people grasp the need to remunerate victims. The widows of firefighters are covered
by union benefits for death in the line of duty.

Certain jobs come with risk and these jobs do have death benefits.
One can state that this is an extraordinary event but we may have made these packages a bit too large.

I reject the moral authority of the Jersey Girls who were not even present on 9-11. They do not represent me and do not represent the majority of those present.

As Steve noted we are broke