Now that it looks like the Baucus-Lieberman-Nelson health care bill will pass the senate, the ball is in the court of the House progressive caucus. Why? Because the bill that comes out of conference will be nearly identical to the senate bill. How do I know know that? Because Ben Nelson said it today:
If there are material changes in that conference report different from this bill that adversely affect the agreement, I reserve the right to vote against the next cloture vote. Let me repeat it. I reserve the right to vote against the next cloture vote if there are material changes to this agreement in the conference report. And I will vote against it, if that is the case."
http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.c...
So Nelson, along with Lieberman (and who knows who else), will support a filbuster if the bill that comes out of conference includes the House provisions such as the public option or raising taxes on the wealthy to pay for subsidies for the uninsured. In other words, to repeat, the bill that comes out of conference will, in all major respects, be the senate bill.
And what in essence does the senate bill do? It foces people without insurance to buy insurance from private health insurance companies without a public alterntative to choose from, and pays for it by taxing middle class workers and cutting Medicare two percent across the board. Is this what the Democratic Party stands for? Or is this more something I'd expect to come from the Republicans.
Since progressive Democrats in the senate apparently have put their principles in a blind trust (and that includes you, Bernie), the only hope left is the progressive Democratic caucus in the House. This is the group that wrote the following to the white house in September, part of which stated:
A health reform bill without a robust public option will not achieve the health reform this country so desperately needs. We cannot vote for anything less.
http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/...
Will the progressive caucus stick to their promise, or will they fold?
Should Obama jettison the public option, progressives will come under tremendous pressure to back the plan anyway. White House advisers will likely insist that liberals mustn’t deny the president a historic victory and enable a defeat that could cripple the first African-American presidency.
http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/...
Will these progressives sacrifice their principles and the wishes and desires of millions of Democrats and side with Rahm Emanuel, AHIP and Big Pharma, and the political interests of the white house, over the public interest? Representatives, the answer, and possibly the future of the Democratic party, in you hands. We only need half of you to defeat the Baucus-Lieberman-Nelson bill? Will you side with us?
Here are the names of the caucus members:
Hon. Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-07)
Hon. Lynn Woolsey (CA-06)
Hon. Diane Watson (CA-33)
Hon. Keith Ellison (MN-05)
Hon. Sheila Jackson-Lee (TX-18)
Hon. Mazie Hirono (HI-02)
Hon. Dennis Kucinich (OH-10)
Hon. Donna F. Edwards (MD-04)
Hon. Alan Grayson (FL-08)
Hon. Neil Abercrombie (HI-01)
Hon. Tammy Baldwin (WI-02)
Hon. Xavier Becerra (CA-31)
Hon. Earl Blumenauer (OR-03)
Hon. Robert Brady (PA-01)
Hon. Corrine Brown (FL-03)
Hon. Michael Capuano (MA-08)
Hon. André Carson (IN-07)
Hon. Judy Chu (CA-32)
Hon. Yvette Clarke (NY-11)
Hon. William "Lacy" Clay (MO-01)
Hon. Emanuel Cleaver (MO-05)
Hon. Steve Cohen (TN-09)
Hon. John Conyers (MI-14)
Hon. Elijah Cummings (MD-07)
Hon. Danny Davis (IL-07)
Hon. Peter DeFazio (OR-04)
Hon. Rosa DeLauro (CT-03)
Hon. Sam Farr (CA-17)
Hon. Chaka Fattah (PA-02)
Hon. Bob Filner (CA-51)
Hon. Barney Frank (MA-04)
Hon. Marcia L. Fudge (OH-11)
Hon. Luis Gutierrez (IL-04)
Hon. John Hall (NY-19)
Hon. Phil Hare (IL-17)
Hon. Alcee Hastings (FL-23)
Hon. Maurice Hinchey (NY-22)
Hon. Michael Honda (CA-15)
Hon. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (IL-02)
Hon. Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX-30)
Hon. Hank Johnson (GA-04)
Hon. Marcy Kaptur (OH-09)
Hon. Carolyn Kilpatrick (MI-13)
Hon. Barbara Lee (CA-09)
Hon. John Lewis (GA-05)
Hon. David Loebsack (IA-02)
Hon. Ben R. Lujan (NM-3)
Hon. Carolyn Maloney (NY-14)
Hon. Ed Markey (MA-07)
Hon. Eric Massa (NY-29)
Hon. Jim McDermott (WA-07)
Hon. James McGovern (MA-03)
Hon. George Miller (CA-07)
Hon. Gwen Moore (WI-04)
Hon. Jim Moran (VA-08)
Hon. Jerrold Nadler (NY-08)
Hon. Eleanor Holmes-Norton (DC-AL)
Hon. John Olver (MA-01)
Hon. Frank Pallone (NJ-06)
Hon. Ed Pastor (AZ-04)
Hon. Donald Payne (NJ-10)
Hon. Chellie Pingree (ME-01)
Hon. Jared Polis (CO-02)
Hon. Charles Rangel (NY-15)
Hon. Laura Richardson (CA-37)
Hon. Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-34)
Hon. Bobby Rush (IL-01)
Hon. Linda Sánchez (CA-39)
Hon. Jan Schakowsky (IL-09)
Hon. José Serrano (NY-16)
Hon. Louise Slaughter (NY-28)
Hon. Pete Stark (CA-13)
Hon. Bennie Thompson (MS-02)
Hon. John Tierney (MA-06)
Hon. Nydia Velazquez (NY-12)
Hon. Maxine Waters (CA-35)
Hon. Mel Watt (NC-12)
Hon. Henry Waxman (CA-30)
Hon. Peter Welch (VT-AL)
Hon. Robert Wexler (FL-19)
And here is their contact information:
http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/...