I have not written a diary in many years, but hearing the news that the House Speaker says she does not have the votes to pass the Senate health care reform package prompted me to start writing one. You have probably already seen the diaries and Talking Points Memo's thoughts on Pelosi's comments are here. Pelosi's statements mean that she is letting the most important domestic legislative bill of my lifetime fail. We cannot let her get away with what is craven cowardice in the face of one bad election. No attempt to spin her words or add nuance to what she has just said will take away the fact that the Democratic Congressional leadership has quit on you and on me.
Pardon me for the pun (there I did it again), but I've been on every diary since Scott Brown's election to let people know that they need to call their House member to get the Senate bill passed. The reason for this is completely selfish. I am one of the many millions of Americans who, if they lose their health care insurance for a single day, will be denied health care for the rest of their life due to discrimination based on a pre-existing condition clause. The Senate's bill even with the warts it had, would prevent that discrimination from happening to me in my lifetime. Nancy Pelosi and Congressional Democrats would rather risk that kind of suffering for the many millions like me than show even a bit of political courage.
If the Speaker can't get the votes, then we will have to. So, I encourage you to call your House member. I called mine yesterday. I was uneloquent. I was nervous. But I let my Congressman know that I would not stand idly while health care reform died.
It takes two minutes to register an opinion with your Congressman. You can call on your lunch hour. That two minutes will prevent discrimination against people like me and prevent me from ever having to worry about the day I lose health insurance.
If you need to find your representative, follow the link here.
I am sorry for being emotional and for the quick length of this diary, but this will be the most important two minutes that you will spend this week. We have worked too darn hard to let this fail now. And I need to let you know that we cannot let it.