03/16/2010 12:06:52 AM EST

This will be your last chance (Poll)

posted by EveningStarNM

If you support the public option, there is very little time left before our chance to get it is gone.  Dick Durbin, the Senate majority whip, says that if it's included in the House bill, the Senate leadership will whip up the remaining nine votes they need to pass it (with 50 votes plus the Vice President).  While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seems to be toeing the White House line and helping to kill the public option, it's still a part of the House bill, and it can be included in reconciliation.

But what we need is an up-or-down vote on the public option in the Senate.  It's probable that any Democrat who voted against it would suffer at the polls, given the tremendous popularity of the public option nationwide.  So, here's what we have to do:

Tell Senator Harry Reid that we want an up-or-down vote on the public option.  Make him call the bluff of the people who say that there aren't enough votes for it.

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Poll

I'm signing the petition.
Yes 57%
No 31%
I haven't made up my mind. 10%

Votes: 19
Results | Other Polls
 Display:
This will be your last chance (Poll) | 7 comments (7 topical, 0 hidden)
Focus on the House & Pelosi (none / 0)

I was one of the people who called Senator Durbin's office last week as part of the PCCC campaign. The staffer who spoke with me (at length) nearly convinced me that it was better not to have that amendment introduced in the Senate. I still insisted that she note my opinion as being in favor of taking the vote in the Senate regardless of the consequences, so we could see who is voting for and against once and for all.

Procedurally though, they're basically correct as once the bill comes to the Senate via the House reconciliation process it must be voted on as-is. If an amendment actually passes in the Senate (if the bill is changed from the House's reconciled version) then they would need 60 votes again in the Senate and then once again send it to the House. The reconciliation process can't be used to pass the bill in the Senate if it is changed after arrival from the House.

I didn't know this before, and the PCCC seems to agree that the focus must be on the House and Pelosi to include the public option in the reconciliation bill BEFORE it goes to the Senate.

So call your local congressperson and Pelosi ASAP to force them to change their minds. I'd recommend saying that if they don't include the public option you will be sure to donate to any/every primary challenge to a Democrat that you can and may vote 3rd party at the polls (regardless of whether you actually will or not, at least make them believe the threat). And I would also make it clear I wouldn't be donating to ANY sitting Democratic representative without a public option.

by Weapon X on 03/16/2010 03:44:16 AM EST

Please don't tell anybody this... (none / 0)
...but I know that you're right.  The problem is that there simply is not going to be any public option in any final legislation.  Neither the Republicans nor the Democratic leadership, all of whom are corporatists, including the President, want it, and they have the power to kill it.

What we can do is to assure that as many corporatists Senators as possible don't get re-elected by forcing them to go on the record with their opposition to a public option.

Thousands of people are about to receive a death sentence from this legislation, who will die only because they don't have enough money.  Someone has to pay for that.  It might as well be some corrupt Senators, even if all that happens to them is that they get forced out of the Senate and into some lucrative lobbying positions in the private sector.

by EveningStarNM on 03/16/2010 07:48:56 AM EST

[ Parent ]
Contact Speaker Pelosi (none / 0)

You can contact Nancy Pelosi through the Speaker.gov website here.

 

Or, if the link's broken:

http://www.speaker.gov/cont act/

by Weapon X on 03/16/2010 04:08:18 AM EST

Poll (none / 0)
I'm hoping to sign even though I'm a British citizen in Britain XP

by Jennybean89 on 03/16/2010 05:04:18 AM EST

Didn't the pugs (none / 0)
pass Medicare part-D via reconciliation? How was that more budget related than this? Both have budget implications. The main difference I guess is that the repukes didn't even attempt a pretense of trying to pay for part-D.
As far as rule 22 goes, you don't need cloture for a reconciliation bill, that's the point... 

by The IDGE on 03/16/2010 12:52:02 PM EST

Can't sign, (none / 0)
No Tweet...

by gatekeeper50 on 03/16/2010 08:58:11 PM EST

I dig. (none / 0)
Less noise.

by EveningStarNM on 03/16/2010 11:39:04 PM EST

[ Parent ]
This will be your last chance (Poll) | 7 comments (7 topical, 0 hidden)
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