***Official Political Discussion Thread***

[gry60]

U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Hear Case About Coal Pensions

The high court declined to take up a case that would have challenged financially troubled coal companies’ use of bankruptcy law to end federally mandated payments to the industry’s multiemployer pension plan.

www.wsj.com

In 2019...

Judge rules coal company can eliminate Kemmerer retirees' health care, union contract

Retired coal miners from Kemmerer likely lost their company health benefits Friday when a judge decided that Westmoreland Coal Co. could eliminate retirement health care and a union contract in

trib.com

Retired coal miners from Kemmerer likely lost their company health benefits Friday when a judge decided that Westmoreland Coal Co. could eliminate retirement health care and a union contract in order to sell the Kemmerer coal mine to a Virginia businessman.

Kemmerer, WY voted 83% for Trump, 77% for Cheney, and 83% for Sen. Lummis in 2020.

Welcome to Lincoln County, WY

Welcome to Lincoln County, WY

www.lcwy.org

But Manchin and Sinema think there is a compromise to be found with the people who represent those bozos...

 

[elpablo21]

 

[RustyShackleford]

Damn, they are using the nuclear option now

 

[junglejim]

@aepps20

Need to dwalk31 as well

 

[elpablo21]

 

[noskey]

Damn, they are using the nuclear option now

Full blown "I'm very disappointed" energy from the Left. Wonder how this will end...

 

[junglejim]

I think they were talking about an October timeline anyways so this seems about right. Push both bills through next year using reconciliation

 

[elpablo21]

I just don’t understand why you wouldn’t keep trying to put something on the table when you have 4 months left.

This due diligence nonsense with Manchin and Republicans is wearing thin. They have a year and a half left to get anything else done

 

[KHUFU]

George Floyd act, stalled. Everybody else! Apologies and protections provided, passed. Black people still at the bottom of the totem pole, yet everyone wants us to join with them. I see no other group on CNN, MSNBC, Fox news, CBS, ABC, standing for Black people in regard to this blockage.

 

[DLF]

 

[wavycrocket]

Manchin is a F’n clown. Got damn

 

[RustyShackleford]

 

[dinyc3st]

Manchin is a F’n clown. Got damn

Out here begging to the GOP like a crackhead......

 

[dwalk31]

And I get that because people that don't live in the South, have a preconceived notion about how people are from the South. I'm just saying that just because Florida has Miami, Missouri has KCMO & STL, & Texas has Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, etc. doesn't mean those places have a lack of Deep South coursing through them. Texas and Florida are on the bleeding edge of voter suppression and having driven through a vast portion of the South, there are just as many places sundown towns in "crappy" Southern states as the ones people pretend are not "real" Southern states.

I'm not from the South and have only lived here for a decade of my life but I've felt just as "I'll keep riding and get gas in 10 minutes cause this feels off" riding through south Alabama/north Florida as I've felt heading to Louisville, heading to Indy, heading to Cincinnati, etc.

That’s real

 

[dacomeup]

 

[dinyc3st]

What an idiot....

 

[elpablo21]

 

[Wargames]

Wow I hear she is really smart too.... de Blasio use to give her the toughest jobs and she use to succeed. Who did the poll though makes me doubt the accuracy.

 

[Belgium]

AP confirms

 

[gry60]

Student loan cancellation? No appetite for it.

Infrastructure projects? No appetite for it.

The Jan 6 commission? Let bygones be bygones.

But check this out:



Bipartisan effort to hand out the Bez billions of dollars just because a lost a space contract to SpaceX (procedural vote was 72-27 yay).

 

[IATT]

 

[marikomorose]

Student loan cancellation? No appetite for it.

Infrastructure projects? No appetite for it.

The Jan 6 commission? Let bygones be bygones.

But check this out:



Bipartisan effort to hand out the Bez billions of dollars just because a lost a space contract to SpaceX (procedural vote was 72-27 yay).

gt foh! i really feel like the 2pac prophecy could very well happen in my lifetime. sooner than later actually.

so accurate.

 

[Wargames]

@aepps20

Look at all the sycophants try to stay relevant

Student loan cancellation? No appetite for it.

Infrastructure projects? No appetite for it.

The Jan 6 commission? Let bygones be bygones.

But check this out:



Bipartisan effort to hand out the Bez billions of dollars just because a lost a space contract to SpaceX (procedural vote was 72-27 yay).

all these ****ers need to be voted out..... ALL of them.

 

[IATT]

 

[RustyShackleford]

Brahs, just read this...

Bernie Sanders wants to stop NASA funding for Blue Origin
The Endless Frontier Act? More like the Endless Amendment Act.
ERIC BERGER - Yesterday at undefined

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders inserted himself into the debate about NASA's Artemis Program on Monday.
The independent and two-time presidential candidate did so by submitting an amendment to the Endless Frontier Act, which is now under consideration by the full Senate. Sanders' amendment, No. 1925, has a simple purpose: "To eliminate the multi-billion dollar Bezos Bailout."

FURTHER READING
Congress fires warning shot at NASA after SpaceX Moon lander award

The "bailout" in question refers to an earlier amendment filed to the Endless Frontier Act during a committee meeting earlier this month. Overall, the Endless Frontier Act is primarily about advancing US scientific and research efforts, but it has become fettered with modifications by US senators. Sanders is seeking to strip language from an amendment that has already been successfully attached to the scientific act.

This earlier amendment, submitted by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), modified NASA's Artemis Program. Cantwell's amendment, in part, called for $10.03 billion in additional funding for NASA to carry out the Human Landing System program. This legislation was filed as Blue Origin and Jeff Bezos were urging Congress to add $10 billion to NASA's budget—enough money to fully fund the development of a second Human Landing System. It was passed 11 days ago without any debate by the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Sanders' terse amendment seeks to excise the Cantwell language that provides additional funding for a Human Landing System.

In theory, Cantwell filed her amendment to the bill because she genuinely wanted competition in NASA's efforts to build a landing system to send astronauts to the Moon, beginning as early as 2024. In reality, Cantwell's amendment is probably more accurately interpreted as an effort to support Blue Origin, which is based in the state she represents.

NASA genuinely wanted to have a competition for the lunar lander. But it selected only one company—SpaceX—in mid-April after Congress appropriated just a small amount of money in the fiscal year 2021 budget. SpaceX's total bid was only $2.9 billion, less than half that of its competitors, including the Blue Origin-led national team.

However, the way Cantwell's amendment was written would likely have slowed down NASA and its return to the Moon. Were the Cantwell amendment to be signed into law, NASA would have to reopen the competition, thus delaying work on the agency's return to the Moon and putting an already difficult target of 2024 into further jeopardy. Her amendment also ignored NASA's own plans to both create a lunar-lander competition as well as keep the possibility of a 2024 landing on track. Under NASA's plans, SpaceX would work at full speed toward the 2024 landing while a second company would be brought on to compete for subsequent landings.

Harumph
Sanders did not speak publicly about his amendment, but his intentions seem transparent. He is a frequent critic of billionaires in general and Jeff Bezos—the founder of Amazon and the world's richest person—in particular. He was notably upset by Amazon's efforts to prevent a union from organizing earlier this year in Bessemer, Alabama. Therefore, Sanders' amendment is best seen as a shot at Bezos.

Where this leaves NASA and its Artemis Program is difficult to forecast. Even if Sanders' amendment fails, the amended Endless Frontier Act must go through the US House, where the Cantwell amendment may get stripped out. And even if the bill becomes law this fall or winter, this "authorizing" language about funding still could be superseded by the appropriations process.