Right now, in a few minutes, the Senate Finance Committee will be marking up its bill today, and will be going through over 540 amendments. The latest word is that the Senate Finance Committee will finish its mark-up on Thursday.
CLICK ON C-SPAN.ORG to be taken to the live webcast feed
It's why we need you to keep on making calls to the Congressional Progressive Caucus today while watching the Senate Finance Committee do its mark-up today. Yesterday, we had our say in influencing the Senators, and now's the time to see whether they've listened to us. And if not, then our progressives in Congress are our last hope to hold the line in the sand on the public option.
PLEASE KEEP UP THE PHONE CALLS TODAY!
Please let me know if the Senate Finance Committee hearing will be carried on TV, and I'll update the diary with the notice about that. Let's do this liveblogging today to see which amendments are voted for and against, and TAKE DOWN THE NAMES of any Democrat that votes against the Rockefeller public option amendment or any public option amendment. And also note whether they've voted for the Snowe amendment 356--the trigger on the public option. She calls it a "safety net plan" so be on the lookout for those words.
The Senate Finance Committee mark-up should be carried on TV on either C-Span 3 or C-Span 2.
PLEASE CALL these Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus today to thank them for supporting the public option, and saying that you don't want a trigger on the public option. Here are the talking points for your phone calls to these Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus today:
Hi [Representative's Name]. I want to thank you for supporting the public option, but I don't want you to support a trigger on the public option! A trigger on the public option would be a surrender to the private insurance companies. Please don't let the insurance lobbyists win by allowing a trigger on the public option. Also, please STAND TOGETHER as a Member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus to fight for the public option in the final conference bill!
Also please help support our work (since we do literally work for you guys) by donating to our fund at Firedoglake! Your donations go to our living stipends, expenses, and travel costs, including awesome tools like these.
UPDATE: We're almost at our goal of $78,000 for the ad we're running against Blue Dogs Senator Lincoln and Rep. Mike Ross for refusing to support the public option. We listened to you guys and removed the word "Kill" from the ad, and if you have idea about other ads to do, please send an e-mail to my gmail address in my profile. Suggestions are always welcome!