In the Washington Post this morning, the Virginia Politics blog reported on a statement from Senator Jim Webb calling for a suspension of voting on health care reform legislation until Scott Brown can be seated.
I called Senator Webb's office this morning. I wanted to report on my two calls, and then ask those of you in Virginia to call Senator Webb as well. I would also ask those of you outside Virginia to call your Senators and remind them how important health care reform is to the country and to our party.
I had some trouble getting through to the DC office (busy signal over and over), and called the Northern Virginia office. The very nice woman I spoke with noted that she wouldn't be able to answer any questions, but was happy to pass along what I had to say. She asked if I was a member of one of the pro-reform groups, and said that more people who support health care reform need to call. She said that the office was getting many, many calls from the anti- side, and that the pro- side needed to be louder.
When I got through to the DC office, I asked to speak to someone who could answer questions. My apologies for not having a better transcript of my questions and her answers - I wrote the questions down before I called, but I changed some of them during our conversation. Her answers here are a bit paraphrased since I was scribbling as she talked, so please don't take these as direct quotes.
Q. Sen. Webb's statement said that "the campaign [in Mass.] became a referendum on health care reform... and the openness and integrity of our government process." In what way?
A. I have not talked to Sen. Webb about his statement, so I can't tell you what he meant by that.
Q. Sen. Webb's statement said that it was "vital that we restore the respect of the American people in our system of government and in our leaders." Does Sen. Webb not believe that a fair and open election respects our system?
A. I think he meant that generally, not specifically about that race. He wants transparency in the debate/votes on health care reform.
Q. How will suspending vote on health care legislation restore that respect?
A. His concern is that it's an open and transparent process.
Q. Did Sen. Webb ask the Senate to suspend voting on other legislation, such as increasing the public debt limit?
A I have not heard him say that.
Q. Why is health care reform more important than the public debt limit for transparency and openness?
A. I have not talked to Sen. Webb about that.
I also asked if Senator Webb would continue to support health care reform, and she said that he would need to see the conference bill before he decided to vote for it. She noted that if the House simply votes on the Senate bill as is, the Senate can't do anything to stop the process. I noted that I strongly believe it's a bad idea to stop the process on health care reform when we've waited so long for it, though I did add that I thought the Senate bill was bad and that the House version was better.
She was very helpful and very nice about answering my questions. I think she was a bit thrown that someone asked why it was okay to stop votes on health care, but not anything else. One question I did not get to ask (so please, somebody, steal this question!) was "Did Senator Webb ask the Senate to suspend debate on any legislation during the process to seat the Senators from Illinois or Minnesota?"
Please, take a few minutes today to call or email your Senator and remind them that we've waited long enough for health care reform. Remind them that the GOP wouldn't hesitate to use any trick necessary to pass their legislation. Remind them that we cannot stop the business of this country because of one special election.