Last night, a majority of the Democratic Party stood up in Congress and voted for health care reform. They voted in spite of all the advertising by private insurance companies, lobbyists, and the right-wing. They didn't back down when history called them to action.
219 Democrats did the right thing last night in the House of Representatives by voting to change the status quo in our health system.
We need to thank them for extending coverage to 32 million people, helping ban pre-existing conditions for both adults and children, and regulating insurers.
Will you please join me in thanking these Democrats for doing the right thing?
I've been thinking about what happened last night. It was amazing watching what was happening on C-SPAN, especially when Speaker Pelosi gave her speech before the vote started, and when an emotional President Barack Obama took the podium and said that change had happened with the health bill vote.
History changed for the better last night. This health bill is the first step in a very long road towards real health care reform. We all know that this bill could've done more and could've been better, but this is now the time to look forward, instead of backwards on what could've been.
We start building on this foundation today. It's why Eve and I are with Progressive Congress Action Fund. We've accomplished so much because of your help--for instance, you joined us last month in making Congress hear one million voices in support of health reform on February 24th.
You also were there when we fought against teabaggers at town halls in August, you were there when we fought as hard as we could for the public option. Even though that fight was not successful, you still supported us when we came out in support of this health bill along with the reconciliation fix, even though some of you disagreed with our support of this bill.
That wouldn't have been possible without your support. Here's a video from me about what we need to do in this coming week:
Transcript:
Hi, my name is Noelle Bell. I work with Progressive Congress Action Fund. I want to talk to you about what happened last night, and what we need to do together this week.
Last night was amazing. Progressives and moderates--we all got together in the end to support this health bill even though we weren't happy about some of the provisions.
It's because we decided the status quo cannot continue any longer. It has to change for our friends and families. That's why I supported this bill. There are too many stories out there.
Last night--it was beginning of the change of the status quo and I am very happy with that.
It's necessary. However, it's not over. We still need to keep working on this because the reconciliation bill---and it needs to pass through the Senate. We are going to do a whip count to make sure the 50 votes are there to pass the reconciliation fix.
Here's why. The reconciliation bill--it fixes the excise tax. It gets rid of the Nebraska cornhusker kickback deal. It increases subsidies for the middle class and the low-income. That is what we need. The republicans want to kill the reconciliation bill in the Senate. We can't let them do that. If they kill this bill, they will run on the excise tax especially if it's not fixed. And the special deals will be left in the Senate bill.
So Eve and I--we are going to need your support to make sure that we win--not the Republicans--on this bill.
So join us at www.countdowntohealthreform.org to pass the fix, and to join us in fighting for real health care reform.
We are going to push for the anti-trust exemption repeal, the prescription drug reform, Medicare for all, better regulations in the Senate bill, and other issues that we will be fighting on.
We are determined not to let insurers continue to game the system anymore.
So, join us and fight to be a health care hero. I just want to thank you for your support. Thank you so much.
We're going to make sure that Congress doesn't forget what still needs to be done.
There's still the fight for the anti-trust exemption repeal.
There's still the fight for Medicare for all.
There's still the fight to move up the reforms of the Senate bill sooner.
There's still the fight to get rid of the excise tax.
There's still the fight to improve the regulations in the Senate bill.
There's still the fight for real prescription drug reform.
JOIN US to make sure the reconciliation bill passes through the Senate.
Will you please donate $5, $10, or $20 to help us whip Congress into doing the right thing on health care reform?
Disclosure:
The funds donated to the Progressive Congress Action Fund, a 501(C)4 not for profit, will be used to advocate on behalf of the progressive agenda, to advance progressive legislation, and may include payments to individuals engaged in fund raising.