Heading into Day 3 of Bennet's gutsy letter to Reid urging the addition of the public option through reconciliation. 11 Senators have signed it now, including the Conservadem Dianne Feinstein. HuffPo reports two more have said they support the letter but haven't signed yet. They need to be put on the record and sign it. Your mission, Daily Kos, if you choose to accept is to call your Senators and keep asking them to sign Bennet's letter, and thanking the ones who have already signed. Contact numbers for the Senators in the Democratic caucus after the jump as well as a few comments of my own.
This effort is proving that the Public Option isn't dead, and we need to do whatever we can do to publicly get this up for a vote. Democrats have a choice here: are they for the people or are they for the insurance industry. If they are not for us, then we need to look at primarying them next time that we can because the public option reduces the deficit, insures millions that didn't have insurance and gives us something that we can say we won on in November.
To those who say this is kabuki...then they forget that theatrics can make huge waves. This was one of the reasons why the original Tea Party was done the way it was. It was theatric, it sent a message and the other side gave those men a platform for opposing corporatism and tyranny. This effort will help us get some sort of cost control measure in the Senate Bill so we can complete Health Care Reform.
Senators contact numbers: (major shout out to ridemybike for creating this list)
Daniel Akaka HI (202) 224-6361
Max Baucus MT (202) 224-2651
Evan Bayh IN (202) 224-5623
Mark Begich AK (202) 224-3004
Michael Bennet CO (202) 224-5852 initiated the letter!
Jeff Bingaman NM (202) 224-5521
Barbara Boxer CA (202) 224-3553
Sherrod Brown OH (202) 224-2315 co-signed the letter!
Roland Burris IL (202) 224-2854 co-signed the letter!
Robert Byrd WV (202) 224-3954
Maria Cantwell WA (202) 224-3441
Ben Cardin MD (202) 224-4524
Thomas Carper DE (202) 224-2441
Robert P. Casey, Jr. PA (202) 224-6324
Kent Conrad ND (202) 224-2043
Christopher Dodd CT (202) 224-2823
Byron Dorgan ND (202) 224-2551
Richard Durbin IL (202) 224-2152
Russell Feingold WI (202) 224-5323
Dianne Feinstein CA (202) 224-3841 co-signed the letter
Al Franken MN (202) 224-5641 co-signed the letter!
Kirsten Gillibrand NY (202) 224-4451 co-signed the letter!
Kay Hagan NC (202) 224-6432
Tom Harkin IA (202) 224-3254
Daniel Inouye HI (202) 224-3934
Tim Johnson SD (202) 224-5842
Ted Kaufman DE (202) 224-5042
John Kerry MA (202) 224-2742-co-signed the letter!
Herb Kohl WI (202) 224-5653
Amy Klobuchar MN (202) 224-3244
Mary Landrieu LA (202) 224-5824
Frank Lautenberg NJ (202) 224-3224
Patrick Leahy VT (202) 224-4242-co-signed the letter!
Carl Levin MI (202) 224-6221
Joseph Lieberman CT (202) 224-4041
Blanche Lincoln AR (202) 224-4843
Claire McCaskill MO (202) 224-6154
Robert Menendez NJ (202) 224-4744
Jeff Merkley OR (202) 224-3753 co-signed the letter!
Barbara Mikulski MD (202) 224-4654
Patty Murray WA (202) 224-2621
Bill Nelson FL (202) 224-5274
Ben Nelson NE (202) 224-6551
Mark Pryor AR (202) 224-2353
Jack Reed RI (202) 224-4642
Harry Reid NV (202) 224-3542
John Rockefeller WV (202) 224-6472
Bernie Sanders VT (202) 224-5141-co-signed the letter!
Charles Schumer NY (202) 224-6542
Jeanne Shaheen NH (202) 224-2841
Arlen Specter PA (202) 224-4254
Debbie Stabenow MI (202) 224-4822
Jon Tester MT (202) 224-2644
Mark Udall CO (202) 224-5941
Tom Udall NM (202) 224-6621
Mark Warner VA (202) 224-2023
Jim Webb WV (202) 224-4024
Sheldon Whitehouse RI (202) 224-2921-co-signed the letter!
Ron Wyden OR (202) 224-5244
Call your senator today, and tell them to sign on to Mike Bennet's letter.
Let's keep pushing until we get 50! Keep on pushing and never ever ever give up!