Just a short action diary for those that live in Rep. Gutierrez' distict here in Chicago. As you may know, he came out with this earlier on:
At this time, I am a 'no' vote on health care. It's no secret that I have been critical of proposals that would exclude our nation's hardworking immigrants from the health care exchange, and I would find it extremely difficult if not impossible to vote for any measure that denies undocumented workers health care purchased with their own dollars.
If we bar the immigrant community from buying private insurance with their own money, we relegate them to emergency room care at the highest cost to taxpayers and deny them the important opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to a healthier America. Immigrants are prepared to pay into the system, and excluding them from the private marketplace runs counter to the very goals of health care: containing costs, increasing the use of preventative care and streamlining the health delivery system.
I understand his position here, but voting No, or even threatening to, is incredibly harmful. Not only should he not be pulling stunts to get a better leveraging on Immigration, he has to know that even if he eventually votes yes, simply projecting negativity into the debate hurts its chances. Because, needless to say, if Health Care Reform fails, there is no Immmigration Reform. I had signed up with his office to help on the upcoming Immigration efforts, but if he continues with this ransom note stuff, much less actually votes no, he will be able to count on zero hours to help his cause later on.
If you live in CD-4, let him know what you think:
Washington office:
2266 Rayburn House Office Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20515
202-225-8203
Legislative Aide HC - Nicole
District Office:
2201 W. North Ave.
Chicago, IL 60647
773-342-0774
Updated - Just call a call back from Rep. Gutierrez' office. She repeated some of Luis argument, but the tone was not hard. Still, I did let her know that hijacking one discussion for the sake of another is totally counterproductive.
Updated - Seems my wife and I weren't the only one's to call into Luis's Offices:
TPM Reader CP:
I called the Congressman's office to express my extreme disappointment. I don't think you should put him down as a no yet. His aide said the bill is still being put together and when it is complete he'll review and make a final decision. This may be posturing.
TPM Reader JG:
I am a constituent of Rep. Gutierrez. I just called his DC office and their current line is that he expressed serious reservations about the bill, but has yet to decide how he will vote. My bet is that he will be a Yes after a meeting at the White House.
TPM Reader BD:
Gutierrez is my rep. I heard about his 'waffling' and gave his local office a call to voice my support for passing HCR with the senate bill. I then asked, 'does he support the senate bill?', the staffer said 'yes', and I pushed further, 'is he going to vote YES on the senate bill?' and again the staffer said 'yes'.
TimF at Balloon-Juice also has a post up on calling Luis.