Hey! Those Senators Are Smarter Than We Are!!

Here's a portion of the health care bill now before the Senate:
SEC. 2006. SPECIAL ADJUSTMENT TO FMAP DETERMINATION FOR CERTAIN STATES RECOVERING FROM A MAJOR DISASTER.

Section 1905 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396d), as amended by sections 2001(a)(3) and 2001(b)(2), is amended— (1) in subsection (b), in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘subsection (y)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsections (y) and (aa)’’; and (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:

‘‘(aa)(1) Notwithstanding subsection (b), beginning January 1, 2011, the Federal medical assistance percentage for a fiscal year for a disaster-recovery FMAP adjustment State shall be equal to the following:
‘(A) In the case of the first fiscal year (or part of a fiscal year) for which this subsection applies to the State, the Federal medical assistance percentage determined for the fiscal year without regard to this subsection and subsection (y), increased by 50 percent of the number of percentage points by which the Federal medical assistance percentage determined for the State for the fiscal year without regard to this subsection and subsection (y), is less than the Federal medical assistance percentage determined for the State for the preceding fiscal year after the application of only subsection (a) of section 5001 of Public Law 111–5 (if applicable to the preceding fiscal year) and without regard to this subsection, subsection (y), and subsections (b) and (c) of section 5001 of Public Law 111–5.

‘‘(B) In the case of the second or any succeeding fiscal year for which this subsection applies to the State, the Federal medical assistance percentage determined for the preceding fiscal year under this subsection for the State, increased by 25 percent of the number of percentage points by which the Federal medical assistance percentage determined for the State for the fiscal year without regard to this subsection and subsection (y), is less than the Federal medical assistance percentage determined for the State for the preceding fiscal year under this subsection.

‘‘(2) In this subsection, the term ‘disaster-recovery FMAP adjustment State’ means a State that is one of the 50 States or the District of Columbia, for which, at any time during the preceding 7 fiscal years, the President has declared a major disaster under section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act and determined as a result of such disaster that every county or parish in the State warrant individual and public assistance or public assistance from the Federal Government under such Act and for which— ‘‘(A) in the case of the first fiscal year (or part of a fiscal year) for which this subsection applies to the State, the Federal medical assistance percentage determined for the State for the fiscal year without regard to this subsection and subsection (y), is less than the Federal medical assistance percentage determined for the State for the preceding fiscal year after the application of only subsection (a) of section 5001 of Public Law 111–5 (if applicable to the preceding fiscal year) and without regard to this subsection, subsection (y), and subsections (b) and (c) of section 5001 of Public Law 111–5, by at least 3 percentage points; and ‘‘(B) in the case of the second or any succeeding fiscal year for which this subsection applies to the State, the Federal medical assistance percentage determined for the State for the fiscal year without regard to this subsection and subsection (y), is less than the Federal medical assistance percentage determined for the State for the preceding fiscal year under this subsection by at least 3 percentage points.

‘‘(3) The Federal medical assistance percentage determined for a disaster-recovery FMAP adjustment State under paragraph (1) shall apply for purposes of this title (other than with respect to disproportionate share hospital payments described in section 1923 and payments under this title that are based on the enhanced FMAP described in 2105(b)) and shall not apply with respect to payments under title IV (other than under part E of title IV) or payments under title XXI.’’.





ALL OF THE ABOVE IS LEGALESE, SENATESE, CONGRESSESE, POLITICIANESE FOR....

LOUISIANA.


That's it... all of that language to say Louisiana.... and it's going to cost us $100,000,000.00. Oh, yeah, this is just so a Senator from Louisiana will vote for this stinking piece of crap legislation.

Also, there is the rumbling to make the Senate clerks read the entire bill aloud, perhaps as many as three times before it's finally brought to a vote. Hell, no Senator is going to sit and READ the entire bill let alone listen to it. In fact NONE OF THEM EVEN WROTE THE THING. It was written by the Apollo Alliance. They are an environmental group founded to promote a 'green society.' The list of founders reads like a playbook for the left, too:


The founding board members of the Apollo Alliance are:

* Senator Maria Cantwell, US Congress (D-WA).
* Leo Gerard, International President of the United Steelworkers.
* Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr., US Congress (D-IL).
* Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club.

National Steering Committee

* Ruben Aronin, Global Green USA
* Andrew Beebe, Energy Innovations
* Robert L. Borosage, Institute for America's Future
* Dan Carol, CTSG, Young Apollo
* Maggie Fox, Sierra Club
* Bracken Hendricks, Apollo Alliance
* Van Jones, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
* Mindy Lubber, Ceres
* Mark Ritchie, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
* Joel Rogers, Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS)
* Marco Trbovich, United Steelworkers of America (USWA)

There's not a Republican nor a Libertarian in this group lending no credence to a bi-partisan effort. Now there's a bit more Hope and Change for ya!