Received this e-mail today from Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D. IL) regarding Obamacare, Senator Ted Cruz (R. TX) and a government shutdown:
Ted Cruz is in his first year in the United States Senate, and this tea party Texan has wasted no time.
In less than a year, he has led an (unsuccessful) effort to derail the bipartisan immigration bill; he stopped the Senate from working on a budget compromise with the House; and now he is spearheading the government shutdown over Obamacare that I emailed you about a few days back.
The tea party-driven House is out of control. But the Republicans in the Senate are on Cruz control.
And we need them to snap out of it, before the GOP shoves America’s economy over another cliff.
Click here to sign my petition to my GOP colleagues: Tell them to turn off their Cruz control, stand up to the tea party, and stop threatening to shut down the government over Obamacare!
http://action.dickdurbin.com/...
With the Senate's #1 and #2 Republicans up for re-election next fall -- Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who faces both a tea party primary and fellow Senator Rand Paul grading his every move, and Minority Whip John Cornyn -- they cannot afford to cross Ted Cruz.
Even Sarah Palin is wading into the debate, hinting that she will campaign for the primary opponents of any Republican who fails to put themselves into Cruz control.
By default, Ted Cruz seems to have become the de facto leader of Senate Republicans.
The centerpiece of the Cruz strategy is defunding Obamacare. Even though the Texas senator and all of his Senate and House colleagues have the best health insurance in America, Cruz and his defunders would deny that same opportunity to millions of uninsured Americans.
Cruz and the tea party say "defund it." But I say "defend it." Will you stand with me?
Click here to sign my petition to my GOP colleagues: Tell them to turn off their Cruz control, stand up to the tea party, and stop threatening to shut down the government over Obamacare!
http://action.dickdurbin.com/...
Let me give you five specific reasons why we need to do everything we can to keep Obamacare:
It prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage for children and adults with pre-existing conditions like asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, or mental illness;
It allows families to keep their kids on their family policies until age 26;
It requires health insurance companies to spend at least 80% of their medical premium dollars on actual medical care rather than advertising or profit-taking;
It creates health insurance exchanges in every state where the uninsured will have choices for health insurance and tax breaks for low-income families to help pay the monthly premiums;
It gives seniors on Medicare free annual physicals and ends the out-of-pocket expenses they face for prescription drugs.
And Ted Cruz and the House Republicans want to end all these protections. Now it's time for you to be heard.
Sign my petition. Defend Obamacare. Decaffeinate the tea party. Sink the Cruz-er.
http://action.dickdurbin.com/...
Thank you for your help,
Dick Durbin
U.S. Senator
You can click here to sign Durbin's petition:
http://action.dickdurbin.com/...