Yesterday evening, Arlen Specter became the 19th signer of the Bennet letter. The White House still seems to think that "bipartisanship" is the goal rather than fixing the Senate Bill so that the House can pass it. The "bipartisan" Health Care summit will be a waste of time. At best, the Republicans will propose that President Obama put Stupak language into the Senate bill, tell him to add tort reform because that's their idea of cost control and tell him to replace subsides with tax cuts because that's how they think middle class families can afford to pay for their mandated insurance. Otherwise, they'll either say pass our Senate Bill or just start over from a blank sheet of paper. Yeah, that's bipartisanship.
Now, we should thank the 19 20 Heroes in the Senate(and 120 in the House) who have signed on for the public option, and we need to get our three signature-shy "supporters" to commit to friending the Public Option via singing the Bennet letter. Those supporters are Ben Cardin, Amy Klobuchar and Carl Levin. I'll post their local Senate office numbers and the roll call of the 19 20 Public Option Heroes and some action items after the jump.
Update: Robert Menendez makes 20.
The 19 20 Senate Heroes are:
Michael Bennet CO WROTE Letter!
Barbara Boxer
Sherrod Brown
Roland Burris IL
Dianne Feinstein CA
Al Franken MN
Kirsten Gillibrand NY
John Kerry MA
Frank Lautenberg NJ Signed the letter from the Hospital!
Patrick Leahy VT
Robert Menendez NJ (edit)
Jeff Merkley OR
Barbara Mikulski MD
Jack Reed RI
Bernie Sanders VT
Charles Schumer NY
Jeanne Shaheen NH
Arlen Specter PA
Tom Udall NM
Sheldon Whitehouse RI
Now, we must maintain that we want the Public Option as it is the best chance for us to pass a Senate Bill through the House via the sidecar fix. Here are some things you can do today to do that.
Action 1: Contact the White House
We need to make President Obama and Vice President Biden aware that the Public Option is more popular than either of them, and that they need to do more to get the Public Option into a reconciliation bill. From Catskill Julie's diary:
Flood the White House with phone calls, emails and letters--there is still time for a handwritten, US Mailed note, most powerful of all--demanding that President Obama also PROVE that he does indeed still work for us when he meets with the Republicans next week. Prove that action on our behalf is the Holy Grail, not the bi-partisanship that Republicans have eschewed from the start. Frankly we all understand that bi-partisanship is just not in their political interest as they see it.
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461 , email http://www.whitehouse.gov/...
Action #2: Call Cardin, Klobuchar and Levin
Tell them that they need to sign the Bennet letter, that their support is nice but they must put their names onto the Bennet letter so we can keep this push going.
Cardin's numbers:
Baltimore
Phone: 410-962-4436
Fax: 410-962-4156
Bowie
Phone: 301-860-0414
Fax: 301-860-0416
Salisbury
Phone: 410-546-4250
Fax: 410-546-4252
Cumberland
Phone: 301-777-2957
Fax: 301-777-2959
Klobuchar's info:
Metro Office
1200 Washington Avenue South, Suite 250
Minneapolis, MN 55415
Main Line: 612-727-5220
Main Fax: 612-727-5223
Toll Free: 1-888-224-9043
Southern Office
1134 7th Street NW
Rochester, MN 55901
Main Line: 507-288-5321
Fax: 507-288-2922
Northwestern & Central Office
121 4th Street South
Moorhead, MN 56560
Main Line: 218-287-2219
Fax: 218-287-2930
Northeastern Office
Olcott Plaza, Suite 105
820 9th Street North
Virginia, MN 55792
Main Line: 218-741-9690
Fax: 218-741-3692
Levin's offices:
DETROIT
Patrick V. McNamara Federal Building
477 Michigan Avenue, Suite 1860
Detroit, MI 48226-2576
Phone (313) 226-6020
Fax (313) 226-6948
TTY (800) 851-0030
9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
TRAVERSE CITY
107 Cass Street
Suite E
Traverse City, MI 49684-2602
Phone (231) 947-9569
Fax (231) 947-9518
9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
ESCANABA
524 Ludington Street, Suite LL-103
Escanaba, MI 49829-3949
Phone (906) 789-0052
Fax (906) 789-0015
9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
SAGINAW
515 N. Washington Avenue, Suite 402
Saginaw, MI 48607-1370
Phone (989) 754-2494
Fax (989) 754-2920
9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
GRAND RAPIDS
Gerald R. Ford Federal Building, Suite 720
110 Michigan Street, NW
Grand Rapids, MI 49503-2313
Phone (616) 456-2531
Fax (616) 456-5147
9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
WARREN
30500 Van Dyke Avenue, Suite 206
Warren, MI 48093-2109
Phone (586) 573-9145
Fax (586) 573-8260
9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
LANSING
124 W. Allegan Street, Suite 1810
Lansing, MI 48933-1716
Phone (517) 377-1508
Fax (517) 377-1506
9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Action #3: Sign it Yourself
You can sign it yourself and see who has signed in the Senate(and House) at http://whipcongress.com/
In order for us to get what we truly want, we have to fight for it, and show our elected Democrats that this is one issue that we won't back down on. We are the Democratic SPINE and we're willing to transplant it into our Senators. Let's keep the pressure up with phone calls, e-mails, faxes and snail mail.