The Huffington Post reports that the robust public option, which is tied to Medicare plus 5% rates, is within eight votes of passage. PLEASE CALL your Democratic representatives in the House today and ask him or her to support the robust public option!
Grijalva, as co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, has been counting support for a public option tied to Medicare rates -- the so-called Medicare plus five -- over the last few weeks.
"We anticipate that we're at 210," he said. "We feel that the momentum is all on the robust Medicare plus five public option."
There are 256 Democrats in the House. With 25 or 30 no votes, that leaves only about 15 to 20 members still to decide. Progressives need roughly half of them.
Can you please CALL your Representative today at 1-800-828-0498 or at (202) 224-3121?
Let's get eight more votes in the House for a robust public option! Here are the talking points below when you call your Democratic representative at 1-800-828-0498 or at (202) 224-3121! Chris Bowers at OpenLeft also has a list of possible targets in the House to call:
I'm calling to please ask you to support a robust public option that is tied to Medicare plus 5% rates! It helps cover more people, and even helps reduce the national deficit over ten years! It helps Americans save money, get access to affordable insurance, and ensures that small businesses can get ahead by giving health care insurance to their employees. It makes sense to go into the conference process with the strongest public option possible. It's a great idea that's supported by a bipartisan majority of Americans, and please be one of the 218 votes in support of the robust public option!
Pushing for eight more votes helps strengthen our Progressives in the House and ensures that the House goes into the conference process with the STRONGEST bill possible! Don't let up on the phone calls today, and also please thank your Progressive for standing up for a strong, trigger-free public option, and not succumbing to the spine flu that some Senate Democrats seem to have!
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UPDATE: New CNN poll shows:
61% favor a public option.