Republicans have introduced a new amendment banning any federal funds from gender affirming care in several must-pass bills, with very little public pushback thus far.
Why would you not be surprised? There's zero chance this would ever pass a Democratically-controlled chamber of Congress. Focus your ire on Republicans, who are the people pushing this anti-trans and anti-human rights agenda
The Democratic Party is a party of "Enlightened Centrists." They might sit down at the negotiating table thinking they're there to protect trans rights, but unfortunately, they're mistaken. There is no negotiating table. There's a telling table. The table is a construct where Republicans tell Democrats what they're going to do. The Democrats have not yet fully realized or embraced that their responsibility at the table is to say "No."
The result? The full ire belongs to the republicans. But we also get to feel frustrated with the Democrats for their place in the increasing rise of fascism. They treat republicans like sane, rational actors when they need to be treated like a gorilla in a cockpit.
Is that the event that finally puts people in the streets and out of supporting this shill economy? Something has to give.
And yes, this isn't an economic post. But it is. Because we are beholden to a ruling class who absolutely is on a different planet than the vast majority. And they ultimately pay attention to money.
If we're going to step into this territory of beliefs dictating federal funding, let's start with cutting all federal funding in the country that goes to ANY religious organization, church, school, hospital, etc. Oh, let's also stop funding absolutely every fucking thing in the country that has a bible in it, or provides access to any religious text. Let's also stop funding for any entity that allows religious prayer, wearing religious symbols, religious pictures, etc. None of these types of amendments have any fucking thing to do with medicine, it's all just politics.
OR, we could just stop pork barrel legislation and just vote on the legislation and its purpose, without taking any other unrelated shit that fits someone's personal agenda or fills their pockets with money from bribery er, I mean, lobbyists.
EDIT: Maybe she could just resign from congress and go fuck off for the rest of eternity. She is a malignant cancer on the country.
let’s start with cutting all federal funding in the country that goes to ANY religious organization, church, school, hospital, etc
Why stop there? Tax exemption is a subsidy, and offering tax exemptions on purely religious grounds is clearly "law respecting the establishment of religion".
Dems will absolutely roll over and give the GOP whatever they want. That's what they do. They have no fucking spines to stand for anything. "Civility" and "reaching across the aisle" and "bipartisanship" are more important to them than literally anything else. They're going to politely allow the GOP to march us all into fucking camps while pretending like they're allies.
Christ. I didn't expect things to get this scary this fast. As someone getting care under an ACA plan this becoming the New Thing In Congress is terrifying.
These kinds of things are pretty typical in budget negotiations and very rarely make it into the final bill. Republicans throw in a bunch of stupid bullshit, they agree to remove most of it in exchange for actually passing a budget, and they get a few nominal wins to take back home to their constituents.
I'd be very surprised if anything super significant makes it into the final bill. Even Republican voters themselves barely care about trans issues.
Christ. I didn't expect things to get this scary this fast. As someone getting care under an ACA plan this becoming the New Thing In Congress is terrifying.