Right now, we are fighting to keep Congress in session, and also to keep the Blue Dogs from killing the public option in the House bill. The Blue Dogs want to pare back subsidies for the middle class from 400% of the FPL to between 100% to 300% of the FPL, create state-based co-operatives and have the public option as a "trigger."
We need you to tell the Democratic leadership, the White House, the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and the Tri-Caucus to STAND UP TO THE BLUE DOGS!
The Blue Dog Democrats aren't interested in passing real health care reform on the Energy & Commerce committee---and we need to let Henry Waxman know it.
It's why we have to keep up with the phone calls today! Please CALL Speaker Pelosi, Hoyer, Clyburn, and the White House with these talking points below! Remember, first thank them for supporting the House Tri-Committee health care plan, and then tell them why they can't go on vacation before dealing with health care reform:
I'm calling to thank [Name of Member] for supporting the House health care plan, and for supporting the public option and the national insurance exchange. I don't want Congress to go on vacation before they deal with the passage of health care reform! As an American who's faced denials of claims and has been facing higher insurance premiums, the public option and the national insurance exchange is NECESSARY to hold down the costs of private insurance and give us the kind of care we need. Please DO NOT delay the passage of health care reform in the House. We need you guys to stay in and work for us. Also, I've been hearing that the Blue Dog Democrats want to cut back subsidies for my family, that they want a fake state-based co-op plan, and have a trigger on the national insurance exchange by having it as state-based insurance exchanges at first. What they want is unacceptable for me and my family. Don't give into their demands. I'm an American who needs the choice of the national insurance exchange and the public option.
CALL Speaker Nancy Pelosi at (202) 225-4965 and try her local office at (415) 556-4862 if you can't get through.
CALL House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer at (202) 225-3130
CALL House Majority Whip James Clyburn at (202) 226-3210
Can you please CALL these THREE chairmen in the House of Representatives, with your concerns about the Blue Dog Democrats trying to block health care reform and ask them NOT to listen to the Blue Dogs or give into their demandsl?
Ways and Means Committee Chair Charlie Rangel (202) 225-3625)
Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Henry Waxman (202) 225-2927)
Education and Labor Committee Chair George Miller (202) 225-3725)
Also, don't forget to call the co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and ask them to take a strong stand against the Blue Dogs' actions by asking the House leadership not to give into their demands to weaken the health care reform bill, and especially the Medicare-like public option in the bill.
CALL Rep. Raul Grijalva, co-chair of the CPC, at 202-225-2435
CALL Rep. Lynn Woolsey, co-chair of the CPC, at 202-225-5161
And don't forget to CRACK THE WHIP on the rest of the Congressional Progressive Caucus so they stand as a strong voting bloc in opposition to the Blue Dog Democrats!
We'll also need the Tri-Caucus members to hold firm against the Blue Dogs' demands to weaken health care reform for their constituents back home, so please call the leaders of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus, and the Congressional Asian Pacific AmericanCaucus! We need you guys to ask if the caucus will accept the Blue Dogs' demands, and ask them to fight back against the Blue Dogs.
CALL Chairwoman Nydia Velasquez, Congressional Hispanic Caucus at (202) 225-2361
CALL Chairwoman Barbara Lee, Congressional Black Caucus at 202-226-9776
CALL Chairman Mike Honda, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus at (202) 225-2631
Right now, we really need you to CALL the White House with the talking points and tell them that the Blue Dog Democrats must UPHOLD the majority view of Americans who need a strong, robust Medicare-like public option, and not to give into their demands to weaken the public option in health care reform!
CALL The White House at 202-456-1111 and E-MAIL THEM with the talking points above, and ask for Congress to stay and work on health care reform instead of going off on vacation!
Also, if you can't afford direct calls--try this toll-free phone number at 1.800.828.0498. to call the Democratic leadership in the House and the Senate!
And if Congress goes home for vacation? You know what? We'll be right there in their faces, at rallies, OFA gatherings, HCAN events, and Moveon.org events. I want you to stop worrying, and start fighting at home if this happens. Step away from the computer, find a health care event near you, sign up, and start making these Members of Congress regret they ever went on vacation without passing health care reform.
As budhydharma says--we have to yell even fucking louder than those on the other side in order to win. The only way we're going to win at this is if we keep on fighting, and refuse to let the latest news spiral us into an abyss of defeatism. Progressives in the past had to fight several setbacks, and they kept on fighting because they knew failure wasn't an option.
We can't fail in passing this House Tri-Committee bill with a stronger public option than that in the HELP Senate Committee bill. If we work to get the House to pass theirs first, then that puts even more pressure on the Senate Finance Committee to pass theirs as well. And then we work to reconcile the best versions of the HELP bill with the best parts of the Finance Committee bill, and work to jettison the bad parts of the Finance bill which will likely be the co-ops.
It's a multi-step process in this fight. Once we get the bills in the Senate reconciled and passed, then we go to the conference committee, and work on influencing those on the committee to support the best parts of the bill, keep our eyes to make sure nothing is weakened or compromised, and then we work in passing the bill in both the House and Senate.
We're going to win this fight because we will fight harder than they fight, and we will use every tactic and strategy that we can think of in supporting the House Tri-Committee bill. They won't be able to win this time because we're fighting harder than they are.
Also, one of our kossacks, Max Gottlieb, has been working very hard on this Facebook application called FriendRoots, which allows you to choose campaigns to contact your friends in key congressional districts and urge them to call and e-mail their Representative or Senator in support of the House Tri-Committee bill.
So, if you're on Facebook, contact your friends that live in these lawmakers' districts, and tell them that you need their help in passing health care reform.
- Click on FriendRoots.
- Choose the House campaign to ask your friends to contact their lawmakers.
- Ask your friend to contact his or her other friends in the district as well with the FriendRoots application.
Can you also please help nyceve, Jane Hamsher, me, and others in this fight for health reform by donating to our fight?
PLEASE RECOMMEND THIS DIARY so others can see the phone numbers and call today!
Update: Nyceve has an excellent diary that's on the rec list now. Let's keep both diaries on the rec list all DAY LONG if we can! :-)