As noted by Greg Sargent, Harry Reid, after the rebuff, intended or mistaken, from some at the White House about his plan to put a national public option with the opt out compromise into the melded Senate bill...has decided to poll Senators about a bill with Snowe's trigger.
Unhappy news:
Counting Votes On "Trigger," And It’s Closest To 60 Votes
Here’s my contribution: I’m told that the trigger is much more in the mix in the Senate than people think — at least in vote-counting terms.
According to a plugged in Senate Democratic aide, Senate leadership aides are also counting Senate votes for the trigger, because they want to know which version of the public option can get through the Senate.
And in a development that may upset progressives, this aide says, the trigger is actually closer to getting 60 votes in the Senate right now — it’s two or three votes away — than the opt-out option is
http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/...
More news from Greg Sargent
The Senate leadership, the aide says, is counting up support for all the options — the trigger, the opt-out, and even the opt-in, where states would decide whether to have a public option.
Now that doesn't mean that is what Harry Reid is going to do. Actually we need to make sure that is NOT what Harry Reid is going to do.
How?
Below is a list of the 30 Senators who signed a letter saying how much they support the public option and how nothing else will do..not coops or anything else.
We need to thank these Senators and to urge them to tell Harry Reid that they just can't vote for a combined bill with a trigger, snowe's trigger or any other trigger. Triggers are desgned to never triger.
We are very close. Harry Rid has been responding to his constituents....in Nevada and the country. Thank him for bringing a bill with a public option to the floor....He may even be working against the White House...but in this case if he soldiers forward he will be doing the right thing. He will be doing the right thing for his country, his party and in this case his own re-election.
THIRTY SENATORS TO THANK FOR THEIR PUBLIC OPTION SUPPORT
URGE THEM TO TELL HARRY REID THEY WON'T VOTE FOR A MELDED BILL WITH A TRIGGER
TRIGGER = NEVER
I have also included the leaders who are in favor at the bottom of the list ---Durbin, Schumer, Harkin and Dodd.
Harry Reid, should be thanked and urged to continue supporting a public option with no trigger, no coops in the melded Senate bill . Reid's contacts below...These are emails and DC phones....not local phones....call and email even though it's the weekend...
These Senators need to take their names off Harry Reid's whip count for the trigger....if we want a public option we can make it happen.
Reid, Harry - (D - NV)
522 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3542
Web Form: reid.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm
Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
Brown, Sherrod - (D - OH)
713 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2315
Web Form: brown.senate.gov/contact/
John D. Rockefeller (D-WV)
Rockefeller, John D., IV - (D - WV)
531 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6472
Web Form: rockefeller.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm
Russell D. Feingold (D-WI)
Feingold, Russell D. - (D - WI)
506 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5323
Web Form: feingold.senate.gov/contact_opinion.html
Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT)
Leahy, Patrick J. - (D - VT)
433 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4242
Web Form: leahy.senate.gov/contact.cfm
Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI)
Akaka, Daniel K. - (D - HI)
141 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6361
Web Form: akaka.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home
Tom Udall (D-NM)
Udall, Tom - (D - NM)
110 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6621
Web Form: tomudall.senate.gov/contact/contact.cfm
Kristen E. Gillibrand (D-NY)
Gillibrand, Kirsten E. - (D - NY)
478 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4451
Web Form: gillibrand.senate.gov/contact/
Roland W. Burris (D-IL)
Burris, Roland W. - (D - IL)
387 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2854
Web Form: burris.senate.gov/contact/contact.cfm
Ron Wyden (D-OR)
Wyden, Ron - (D - OR)
223 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5244
Web Form: wyden.senate.gov/contact/
Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
Stabenow, Debbie - (D - MI)
133 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4822
Web Form: stabenow.senate.gov/email.cfm
Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
Boxer, Barbara - (D - CA)
112 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3553
Web Form: boxer.senate.gov/contact/email/policy.cfm
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
Whitehouse, Sheldon - (D - RI)
502 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2921
Web Form: whitehouse.senate.gov/contact/
Michael F. Bennet (D-CO)
Bennet, Michael F. - (D - CO)
702 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5852
Web Form: bennet.senate.gov/contact/
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Feinstein, Dianne - (D - CA)
331 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3841
Web Form: feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactU...
Jack Reed (D-RI)
Reed, Jack - (D - RI)
728 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4642
Web Form: reed.senate.gov/contact/contact-share.cfm
Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
Merkley, Jeff - (D - OR)
107 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3753
Web Form: merkley.senate.gov/contact/
Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Lautenberg, Frank R. - (D - NJ)
324 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3224
Web Form: lautenberg.senate.gov/contact/routing.cfm
Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD)
Cardin, Benjamin L. - (D - MD)
509 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4524
Web Form: cardin.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm
Al Franken (D-MN)
Franken, Al - (D - MN)
320 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5641
Web Form: franken.senate.gov/contact/
Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-PA)
Casey, Robert P., Jr. - (D - PA)
393 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6324
Web Form: casey.senate.gov/contact/
Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD)
Mikulski, Barbara A. - (D - MD)
503 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4654
Web Form: mikulski.senate.gov/Contact/contact.cfm
Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI)
Inouye, Daniel K. - (D - HI)
722 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3934
Web Form: inouye.senate.gov/Contact/Email-Form.cfm
Edward E. Kaufman (D-DE)
Kaufman, Edward E. - (D - DE)
383 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5042
Web Form: kaufman.senate.gov/services/contact/
Arlen Specter (D-PA)
Specter, Arlen - (D - PA)
711 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4254
Web Form: specter.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Co...
Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
Cantwell, Maria - (D - WA)
511 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3441
Web Form: cantwell.senate.gov/contact/
Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
Menendez, Robert - (D - NJ)
528 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4744
Web Form: menendez.senate.gov/contact/
Bernard Sanders (I-VT)
Sanders, Bernard - (I - VT)
332 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5141
Web Form: sanders.senate.gov/contact/
John F. Kerry (D-MA)
Kerry, John F. - (D - MA)
218 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2742
Web Form: kerry.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm
Herb Kohl (D-WI)
Kohl, Herb - (D - WI)
330 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5653
Web Form: kohl.senate.gov/contact.cfm
Paul Kirk (D-MA)
Kirk, Paul G., Jr. - (D - MA)
188 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4543
E-mail: Senator_Kirk@kirk.senate.gov
LEADERS IN SUPPORT OF PUBLIC OPTION
Dodd, Christopher J. - (D - CT)
448 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2823
Web Form: dodd.senate.gov/index.php?q=node/3130
Durbin, Richard J. - (D - IL)
309 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2152
Web Form: durbin.senate.gov/contact.cfm
Harkin, Tom - (D - IA)
731 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3254
Web Form: harkin.senate.gov/c/index.cfm
Schumer, Charles E. - (D - NY)
313 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6542
Web Form: schumer.senate.gov/new_website/contact.cfm
October 8, 2009
The Honorable Harry Reid
Majority Leader
United States Senate
The Capitol, S-221
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Majority Leader Reid:
We have spent the better part of this year fighting for health reform that would provide insurance access and continuity to every American in a fiscally responsible manner. We are concerned that – absent a competitive and continuous public insurance option – health reform legislation will not produce nationwide access and ongoing cost containment. For that reason, we are asking for your leadership on ensuring that the merged health reform bill contains a public insurance option.
As it stands, the health insurance market is dominated by a handful of for-profit health insurers that are exempt from the anti-trust laws that ensure robust competition in other markets across the United States. Without a not-for-profit public insurance alternative that competes with these insurers based on premium rates and quality, insurers will have free rein to increase insurance premiums and drive up the cost of federal subsidies tied to those premiums. This is simply not fiscally sustainable.
We recognize that the two Committees with jurisdiction over health reform – the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee – have taken two very different approaches with respect to this issue. However, a strong public option has resounding support among Senate Democrats – every Democrat on HELP, three quarters of those on Finance, and what we believe is a majority of the caucus.
The Senate Finance Committee included a cooperative approach to insurance market competition. While promoting more co-ops may be a worthy goal, it is not realistic to expect local co-ops to spring up in every corner of this country. There are many areas of the country where the population is simply too small to sustain a local co-op plan. We are also concerned that the administrative costs associated with financing the start-up of multiple co-op plans would far outstrip the seed money required to establish a public health insurance program.
Opponents of health reform argue that a public option presents unfair competition to the private insurance companies. However, it is possible to create a public health insurance option that is modeled after private insurance – rates are negotiated and providers are not required to participate in the plan. As you know, this is the Senate HELP Committee’s approach. The major differences between the public option and for-profit plans are that the public plan would report to taxpayers, not to shareholders, and the public plan would be available continuously in all parts of the country. The number one goal of health reform must be to look out for the best interests of the American people – patients and taxpayers alike – not the profit margins of insurance companies.
Health reform is about improving access to health care, containing costs, and giving Americans a real choice in the insurance plan best suited to their needs. We urge you to fight for a sustainable health care system that ensures Americans the option of a public plan in the merged Senate bill.