For several months the apparent public action has been in the Senate, first mostly with the Finance Committee (Baucus) and more recenlty, finally in the Health Committee (Kennedy, with Dodd and Harkin).
Late last week the House became more publicly active wiht Majority Leader Steny Hoyer having a publicized meeting with the leadership of the the three committees (and their subcommittees working to develop health care reform legislation in the House - Energy and Commerce Committee (Henry Waxman; Frank Pallone), Ways and Means (Charles Rangel & Pete Stark), and Education and Labor Committee (George Miller & Robert Andrews).
There is a House Health Care Reform Clearinghouse, being sponsored out of the Majority Leader's website.
And this Wednesday June 10 there will hearings devoted to single payer with PNHP leaders among those testifying, being held by the Education and Labor Committee.
It is past time to make our voice heard in the House!
Therefore: I have taken the liberty to pull together contact information for all the members of the sub-committees below:
But first some commentary and a "get"
Hoyer's boilerplate at that meeting was:
"We may have three Committees with jurisdiction over health care in the House of Representatives, but we speak with one voice. Reforming America’s health care system to control costs and ensure that everyone has affordable care that meets their needs is central to long-term economic recovery and growth. We are committed to working together to advance health reform legislation that meets the objectives laid out by President Obama. Today’s meeting was very productive as we continue to move forward in a focused and coordinated way to improve health care for all Americans. " House Democrats continue to be very focused on the goal of passing a comprehensive health care reform package this year. In the 111th Congress, the three committees of jurisdiction have conducted 10 hearings on health care reform, including two this week. Over the April District Work Period, Democrats held more than 150 health care related events in their districts on the need for reform. The goal is to pass a comprehensive health care bill through the House by August.
A good number of these folks are pretty good liberals progressives, historically allied with labor and/or single payer. Alas, predictably, many of them have either ran from their prior single payer "support" from when they were in the minority (Rangel) or are at best ever so respectfully and regretfully walking away:
"The public option is a compromise by many Democrats who would like to have a single-payer system," says Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of one of three House committees with jurisdiction over the health care legislation. The California Democrat says the House bill will include a public option, arguing it would create a "healthy tension" to keep costs down and protect consumers' interests.
However, as noted above, this Wednesday June 10 there will hearings devoted to single payer with PNHP leaders among those testifying, being held by the Education and Labor Committee (George Miller & Robert Andrews). Yeah for the people's house.
Now here is what I at least am asking for:
- Single payer policy wonks and advocates be included in ALL hearings from now on.
- There must be a complete, honest, side-by-side comparison of all major proposals, including Single Payer HR-676, by the Congressional Budget Office. The side-by-side comparison must include projected costsnot only to the federal government, but also to state government, employers and to individuals and households of different income levels. Not just for 2010, but with projections beyond.
Let there be an honest and complete comparison of policy and economics.
This way, if we are not going to get single payer this time around due to the politics, then at least we can fight to make sure that Americans know what it is that they are getting, and what they are not getting.
Out there in the real world there is a very real danger that the distinction is lost and not understood. Too many people in America think what they are getting IS national health insurance.
There is a danger that the general public actually thinks that what has come to be known as public option is the progressive, liberal, left solution. Regardless of the no doubt good faith efforts of the public option, it really is not. It is a pre-compromised kludge of a camel. It is designed to prop up the inherent failure of the for-profit private insurance model, rather than replace it. And it is pre-designed to fail: it will not get us to universal coverage and actual access to care, it will not provide coverage that is comprehensive for all care necessary; it will not control total costs; it will not control individual out of pocket costs.
Now, if single payer policy wonks and advocates are wrong, and this reform is all that is needed and works out great, then let us at least make it the best we can get now. I call it the 51 Senate vote version (I have no interest in the 61 vote version).
But if we are going to be fighting for Reform 2.0 in a few years, then we need plan strategically now in order to win the "I told you so" argument. At the very least we want to be sure that after this "reform" does pass, that if it fails, the next step is forward to single-payer ("see you left the private for-profit in as wasteful cheating unneeded intermediaries that also prevents real planning"), and not backward ("see liberal big government tries to fix things and it went badly") to market fundamentalism.
Okay, now for all those contacts:
Below is the basic contact information for the three key House committees that are going to deal with health reform, and the complete list of contcts for their health-specific subcommittees:
Energy & Commerce:
Committee Telephone: 202-225-2927
And the Subcommittee on Health
Democrats:
Henry A. Waxman (Chairman) CA-30th 202-225-3976
Frank Pallone, Jr., Chairman, Health Subcommittee) NJ-6th 202-225-4671
John D. Dingell, Chairman Emeritus MI-15th 202-225-4071
Lois Capps, Vice Chair CA-23rd 202-225-3601
Bart Gordon, TN-6th 202-225-4231
Anna G. Eshoo, CA-14th 202-225-8104
Eliot L. Engel, NY-17th 202-225-2464
Gene Green, TX-29th 225-1688
Diana DeGette, CO-1st 202-225-4431
Jan Schakowsky, IL-9th 202-225-2111
Tammy Baldwin, WI-2nd 202-225-2906
Mike Ross, AR-4th 202-225-3772
Anthony D. Weiner, NY-9th 202-225-6616
Jim Matheson, UT-2nd 202-225-3011
Jane Harman, CA-36th 202-225-8220
Charles A. Gonzalez, TX-20th 202-225-3236
John Barrow, GA-12th 202-225-2823
Donna M. Christensen, VI-delegate 202-225-1790
Kathy Castor, FL-11th 202-225-3376
John P. Sarbanes, MD-3rd 202-225-4016
Christopher S. Murphy, CT-5th 202-225-4476
Zachary T. Space, OH-18th 202-225-6265
Betty Sutton, OH-13th 202-225-3401
Bruce L. Braley, IA-1st 202-225-2911
Republicans:
Nathan Deal, GA, Ranking Member
Ralph M. Hall, TX
Ed Whitfield, KY
John Shimkus, IL
John B. Shadegg, AZ
Roy Blunt, MO
Steve Buyer, IN
Joseph R. Pitts, PA
Mike Rogers, MI
Sue Wilkins Myrick, NC
Tim Murphy, PA
Michael C. Burgess, TX
Marsha Blackburn, TN
Phil Gingrey, GA
Joe Barton, TX (ex officio)
Education & Labor:
Telephone 202-225-3725
Holding single payer hearings on June 10!
Democrats:
George Miller, Chairman CA 7th 202-225-2095
Robert Andrews, Chair Subcommittee HELP, NJ-1st 202-225-6501
David Wu OR-1st 202-225-0855
Phil Hare IL-17th 202-225-5905
John F. Tierney MA-6th 202-225-8020
Dennis J. Kucinich OH-10th 202-225-5871
Marcia Fudge OH-11th 202-225-7032
Dale E. Kildee MI-5th 202-225-3611
Carolyn McCarthy NY-4th 202-225-5516
Rush Holt NJ-12th 202-225-5801
Joe Sestak PA-7th 202-225-2011
David Loebsack IA-2nd 202-225-6576
Yvette Clarke NY-11th 202-225-6231
Joe Courtney CT-2nd 202-225-2076
Republicans:
John Kline, Ranking Member
Joe Wilson
Cathy McMorris Rodgers
Tom Price
Brett Guthrie
Tom McClintock
Duncan D. Hunter
David P. Roe
Ways & Means:
Tel: 202-225-3625 | Fax: 202-225-2610
Democrats:
Charles B. Rangel, Chariman Ways and Means NY-15th 202-225-4365
Pete Stark, Chairman Subcommittee on Health CA-13th 202-225-5065
Lloyd Doggett, TX-25th 202-225-4865
Mike Thompson, CA-1st 202-225-3311
Xavier Becerra, CA-31st 202- 225-6235
Earl Pomeroy, ND-At Large 202-225-2611
Ron Kind, WI WI 3rd 202-225-5506
Earl Blumenauer, OR-3rd 202-225-4811
Bill PascrellJr. NJ-8th 202-225-5751
Shelley Berkley, NV-1st 202-225-5965
Republicans:
Wally Herger, CA, Ranking Member
Sam Johnson, TX
Paul Ryan, WI
Devin Nunes, CA
Ginny Brown-Waite, FL
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