The upcoming August recess, which begins on July 31st, is when Members of Congress go home to meet their constituents, listen to them, attend local community events, and brag about their legislative accomplishments like cocky roosters in the hopes that their constituents will vote them back into office. These lawmakers also work hard to hold fundraisers where lobbyists, likely from the murder-by-spreadsheet insurance industry, will attend to bribe these lawmakers into voting against the pending health care legislation in the House.
As I've said before on this subject, the one reason why it was so important that Democrats NOT delay the passage of health care reform because of what'll be waiting for these Members of Congress when they go home on recess. They'll get hit by hundreds of TV ads from the murder-by-spreadsheet industry, organized conservative protests in front of their offices, and angry phone calls from votes scared about "socialized health care." Then they come back to Congress, scared to pass real health care reform, so they end up passing fake health care reform without a public option or a national insurance exchange--in short, the dream legislation of the "Baucus-Fauc-Us" health bill out of the Finance Committee.
It's why we at Firedoglake need you guys more than ever to make sure that these 57 progressives stand firm in their opposition to any legislation that comes out of the conference process that does not contain a strong, robust public option.
It's going to be a huge battle for these progressives in August to stick to that letter they signed, let alone the Pledge that we have some of them on. Our phone calls, in-district visits, and e-mails are going to be a main part of this effort to keep the spines of our progressives in Congress from collapsing under the huge PR onslaught. Also, during the August recess is when deals will be struck to reconcile the three different versions of the House Tri-Committee bill, and we'll be paying attention to make sure that the Blue Dog compromises aren't in the final bill version slated for full floor passage.
We're going to need the 57 progressives who signed the CPC letter yesterdayto stand up for us on health care reform. That's why we NEED you to make phone calls today to these 57 progressives, urging them to hold firm to the letter they signed AND ask them to take the FDL Pledge on the public option.
Signing the letter's a good first step, but it's not enough!
The problem isn't the Blue Dogs. It's way bigger than them. It's the insurance industry, which owns countless members of Congress in the health care fight, including Senators such as Max Baucus, Conrad, Wyden, Landrieu, and others.
We need to call progressive members of Congress and ask them to take the pledge to oppose not just the Blue Dog bill, but ANY bill that doesn't have a strong, robust public option which is:
available nationwide
on day one
and accountable to Congress and the voters
Here are the talking points below for your calls to these progressives today:
I'm calling to thank you for standing up for the public option. But it's not enough. In order to protect the public option, I'd like you to protect the public option by taking the Pledge not to vote for any bill that doesn't have a strong, robust public option that is available nationwide on day one, and is accountable to Congress and the voters. Will [Representative name] take the Pledge to protect the public option?
PLEASE use this toll-free number 1-800-828-0498 to be linked to each of these 57 Progressives below in the House!
Lynn Woolsey
Raul Grijalva
Carolyn Kilpatrick
Jerry Nadler
Phil Hare
Lucille Roybal-Allard
Keith Ellison
Earl Blumenauer
Mel Watts
Donna Edwards
John Olver
Dennis Kucinich
Laura Richardson
Maxine Waters
John Conyers
Judy Chu
Maurice Hinchey
Hank Johnson
Diane Watson
Jackie Speier
Bill Pascrell
Lloyd Doggett
Marcy Kaptur
Mazie Hirono
Bob Filner
Linda Sanchez
Marcia Fudge
Barbara Lee
Andre Carson
Sheila Jackson Lee
Michael Honda
Jim McDermott
William Lacy Clay
Jim McGovern
Yvette Clarke
Eric Massa
Chellie Pingree
Jesse Jackson, Jr.
Elijah Cummings
Bennie Thompson
Gwen Moore
Donald Payne
Fortney "Pete" Stark
Ed Towns
Corrine Brown
Alcee Hastings
Nydia Valezquez
Luis Gutierrez
Grace Napolitano
Albio Sires
John Tierney
Mike Capuano
Chaka Fattah
Jose Serrano
SamFarr
Bill Delahunt
Eddie Bernice Johnson
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.
There's also a continuation of the mark-up at the Energy and Commerce Committee today so please stay tuned to C-SPAN to do a liveblog here at 10am.
The mark-up is LIVE NOW--please click to watch and liveblog!
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!