Friday: Key Vote on Single Payer Healthcare
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Bob FertikWant to meet our members? Click 'Join' above!
At last night's press conference on healthcare, President Obama shocked the media with a very inconvenient truth:
I want to cover everybody. Now, the truth is that, unless you have a single-payer system, in which everybody is automatically covered, then you're probably not going to reach every single individual.
So why won't our elected Democrats in Washington fight for a single-payer system that will cover everyone? Especially when it's the only system that will actually save money by eliminating 30% in utterly wasted overhead from greedy insurance giants?
A dedicated group of 86 Democrats are fighting for single-payer (H.R. 676), and they need our help today.
The battle over single-payer is in the House Energy & Commerce Committee (E&C). The committee was supposed to vote on Rep. Anthony Weiner's single-payer amendment on Monday, but chairman Henry Waxman keeps postponing the vote because it might pass - just like the Kucinich Amendment for a single-payer state option passed on July 17 by a shocking 25-19 bi-partisan majority.
Today we're told the vote could be tomorrow (Friday). This week we asked our 600,000 supporters to call all 35 Democrats, and many of you did. Based on your calls, we identified 7 solid yes and 6 more lean yes:
http://www.democrats.com/single-payer-committee-whip
Can you call the 6 lean yes and convince them to become solid yes on Rep. Anthony Weiner's single-payer amendment in the Energy & Commerce Committee?
Diana DeGette CO01 202-225-4431
Jane Harman CA36 202-225-8220
Christopher Murphy CT05 202-225-4476
Frank Pallone NJ06 202-225-4671 @FrankPallone
Bobby Rush IL01 202-225-4372
Peter Welch VT00 202-225-4115
Hill staffers privately tell us your calls are "very helpful." Please post a comment about your calls so we can update our whip list here:
http://www.democrats.com/single-payer-committee-whip
In addition, these 15 Democrats won't say whether they support single-payer, or claim there aren't enough votes for it to pass. But if they all vote for it, it will pass! See if you can convince them:
Rick Boucher VA09 202-225-3861
Bruce Braley IA01 202-225-2911
G.K. Butterfield NC01 202-225-3101
Lois Capps CA23 202-225-3601
Kathy Castor FL11 202-225-3376
John Dingell MI15 202-225-4071
Charles Gonzalez TX20 202-225-3236
Gene Green TX29 202-225-1688
Jay Inslee WA01 202-225-6311 @RepInsleeNews
Doris Matsui CA05 202-225-7163
Jerry McNerney CA11 202-225-1947
John Sarbanes MD03 202-225-4016
Bart Stupak MI01 202-225-4735
Betty Sutton OH13 202-225-3401
Henry Waxman (Chair) CA30 202-225-3976
Also, be sure to send our Single Payer petition to your Representatives, and forward it to everyone you know who needs and deserves better healthcare:
http://www.democrats.com/single-payer-petition
And finally if you can be in DC on Thursday July 30, join us to celebrate the 44th birthday of Medicare and rally/lobby for single-payer:
http://www.democrats.com/node/19877
Thanks for all you do!
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Comments
Bob, Stop Lying about Waxman
I was at the Markup into the night on Monday... stop lying about Waxman. Stop it.
You know as well as anyone else following the situation that Waxman has had to delay the markup because the Blue Dogs have said they'd kill the bill in it's current form (which includes a public option but no single payer). Waxman's trying to negotiate a compromise because without one, it won't make it out of committee. THE MARKUP ISN'T EVEN HAPPENING, SO HOW COULD WAXMAN BE DELAYING THE VOTE?
In fact, Anthony Weiner has not even offered the Amendment. Bob, have you seen the Amendment? No, of course you haven't. Weiner has yet to offer a single amendment to the markup, single payer, or otherwise. If there's no amendment available, how could Waxman be "postponing the vote because it might pass."
Call Weiner's office. Do it. 202.225.6616. They'll tell you that they haven't offered the amendment.
Bob, get your facts straight, and stop spreading lies. You're doing a disservice to your community.
Weiner publicly announced his intention
to offer HR 676 as an amendment. Are you accusing HIM of lying?
Of course Weiner hasn't been able to actually offer the amendment since Waxman hasn't resumed the markup. But Weiner still plans to do so.
HR 676 has 86 sponsors, compared to 51 Blue Dogs. Last time I checked, 86>51.
If the 7 BlueDogs on Energy & Commerce can block the healthcare bill because they don't like it, so can the 9 supporters of HR 676 listed above.
HR-676 Single Payer Health Care
This afternoon I called the Washington offices of the following to advocate for the above bill:
Diana DeGette
Christopher Murphy
Frank Pallone
Bobby Rush
Rocl Boucher
Brice Braley
G.K. Butterfield
Lois Capps
Kathy Castor
John Dingell
Charles Gonalez
Jery MLcNerney
John Sarbanes
We need this system so people can afford healthcare. The current system, due to the bureacracy created by excess paperwork, profits, CEO pay, dividends for share holders is not working. People are being denied the healthcare they pay for. The care denied saves the companies money that goes to excessive CEO pay. Co-pays knock you out, if you must see multiple doctors. People go bankrupt because they have no healthcare or are uninsured or underinsrured. Right now 14,000 people per day are losing their healthcare because they are losing their jobs. This is a system dominated by monies being contributed by healthcare organizations and pharmeceutical companies to congressional campaigns. It's time to put the healthcare of the people of American before profits. HR-676 will help to control costs.