Health care reform has been a long, often frustrating effort, and many people have put their hearts and souls into getting a good bill through Congress.
I'm proud to say that New York volunteers have worked as hard as anyone. We've held rallies and marches, organized legislative visits, run health care "Teach-ins" to educate people about the bill(s), collected pledges and postcard messages, and held hundreds of phonebanks.
And in these final two weeks we turned it up a notch.
Join us in the final stretch. Let's Get It Done!
It's good thing New York volunteers have been working so hard for the past year. It ends up that a number of key House votes are right here in our state. Several of our Representatives are still perched on the fence and are key to getting us to 216.
It's also fortunate that we've been holding regular phonebanks to call into these Representatives' districts for the past six months. During this time we've worked with OFA to build strong teams led by dedicated organizers, and when we need to ramp up our efforts -- as we have this month -- we're ready.
We've been calling constituents in the districts represented by Murphy, Arcuri, Maffei and McMahon. Last night we heard that Scott Murphy is "open" to voting yes, and Dan Maffei is, as of this morning a new "yes!"
Activism works. Join us!
TAKE ACTION
I encourage everyone to find a phonebank in your area and sign up. Go to this page on my.barackobama.com and typing in your zip code. Phonebanks are a great way to ease into making calls. You will get training, background information and the support of other volunteers. There's nothing like working side-by-side with people toward a common goal.
This one is really fun: call into a district that went for Obama in 2008 but has a Republican representative. Go here to get started.
You might also consider writing a letter to your Representative through the OFA Letter Writing Tool - Click Here to Email Your Representative
And don't forget to call your Representative, regardless of his or her position on HCR. They ALL need to hear from us. It's easy to call with the OFA Call Tool - Click Here to Call Your Representative
Here are a photos from some of the recent health care events in NYC.
Tuesday night at the Gramercy Park phonebank. Last week at the dozen or so phonebanks in NYC, we made 4,747 calls.
Thursday night at OFA Headquarters: Volunteers get briefed by NY Deputy Field Director Geoff Berman.
A Thursday night HCR "Teach-in" with Tim Foley. This guy knows more about the bill than anyone I know.
Saturday phonebank in Tribeca.
Last night's Gramercy Park phonebank, where we made over 1,000 calls. Our host's apartment was filled beyond capacity with volunteers!
Now doesn't this look like fun? Why don't you join us?