The Washington Post came out with an article about the meeting that President Obama had with Senators, especially with Senator Max Baucus. President Obama had enough of the inaction and the delays with health care reform in the Senate Finance Committee, and told Max Baucus to step up the action on health care reform or else the Democratic Party would face electoral losses in 2010.
And to that I say, yes! It's about time! Here's more from the Washington Post about what happened in that meeting:
At the White House session, Senate leaders came under fire for a slipping timetable that may make it difficult to meet Obama's deadline for floor action by the August recess.
....
In sessions with Democrats, Obama and his advisers remind lawmakers that the defeat of President Bill Clinton's health-care overhaul spelled electoral disaster for the party in 1994, costing Democrats control of both the House and Senate.
"Behind closed doors, he essentially says: If this sinks, we will have trouble in 2010," said Jim Kessler, vice president for policy at the moderate Third Way think tank. "If this goes down, they will lose a whole lot of momentum on everything else. Clinton's whole agenda went down" after the reform's defeat.
It's true--if the Democratic Party won't deliver REAL health care reform with a strong, robust public option and open access to the national insurance exchange, then they WILL face electoral defeat in 2010 for not having delivered on the change that was promised in 2008. It's as simple as that.
It's great news that the White House is stepping up on this, but we'll have to see what elements of the legislation they're willing to compromise with in order to get the health care reform legislation out of Congress and to the President's desk. In that meeting, President Obama told Max Baucus to get the legislation out by the end of next week.
We'll see if Senator Baucus listens to President Obama. He sure as hell didn't listen to Senator Reid.
With that bit of news for today, the House Democratic Caucus will be releasing their bill today, hopefully. We can still go ahead with these action items if the bill isn't released today.
We'll need you to CALL the three House Committees in charge of health care reform legislation to ask them to post all amendments that are being offered ONLINE on their websites BEFORE the committee mark-up begins, so that we have plenty of time to review the amendments. This gives us the opportunity to know which amendments are being offered that might be good or bad for the health care reform bill.
Here are the talking points below:
"I'm calling to ask that the [Committee Name] post all of the proposed amendments on your committee website before they're offered or as soon as they're officially offered for the committee mark-up on health reform legislation. And will the committee mark-up on health reform be webcast as well? Thank you."
Chairman George Miller
Committee On Education and Labor
(202)-225-3725
Chairman Henry Waxman
Committee on Energy and Commerce
(202)-225-2927
Chairman Charles Rangel
Committee on Ways and Means
(202)-225-3625
And here are the talking points below for the Senate Finance Committee as well. We're calling these Democratic Members, especially Senator Max Baucus, and asking them to listen to President Obama or else the Democratic Party will face electoral defeat at the polls in 2010.
Please CALL these Senate Finance Committee members, particularly Senator Baucus, and ask them to mark-up their bill with a public option in it and to pass it out of committee.
We can't have any more delays with health care reform for the goal of bipartisanship.
ALSO, PLEASE CALL the phone numbers of ALL the Senators on the Finance Committee with these talking points below for the mark-up:
Tell Senator [Name] that you DO NOT want the 7-year trigger for the public option and take it off the table, and that you want him to support an affordable strong, robust public option. We NEED a strong, robust public option NOW OPEN TO ALL AMERICANS AND AFFORDABLE, not more of the SAME broken system that's given us unaffordable premiums, little private insurance coverage, and rising co-pays. Also, DON'T TAX OUR EMPLOYER HEALTH BENEFITS. Instead, follow the proposal by President Obama to tax the wealthy above $250,000, eliminate the overpayments in Medicare Advantage, and put tax capital gains to help fund health care reform. TELL YOUR SENATOR NO ON THE CONRAD CO-OP COMPROMISE.
Please CALL Senator Max Baucus at (202) 224-2651
Please CALL Senator Olympia Snowe at (202) 224-5344
Please CALL Senator John Rockefeller at (202) 224-6472
Please CALL Senator Ron Wyden at (202) 224-5244
Please CALL Senator Kent Conrad at (202) 224-2043
Please CALL Senator Jeff Bingaman at (202) 224-5521
Please CALL Senator John Kerry at (202) 224-2742
Please CALL Senator Blanche Lincoln at 202-224-4843
Please CALL Senator Debbie Stabenow at (202) 224-4822
Please CALL Senator Maria Cantwell at 202-224-3441
Please CALL Senator Bill Nelson at 202-224-5274
Please CALL Senator Robert Menendez at 202-224-4744
Please CALL Senator Thomas Carper at (202) 224-2441
It's time for us progressives to push back against the Blue Dog Democrats as well today. Also, we need to involve the Congressional Progressive Caucus and ask them to push back against the Blue Dog Democrats by insisting to the House leadership that they not listen to the Blue Dog Democrats' wanting to weaken the public option in health care reform.
Here are the phone numbers to call today along with the talking points below:
I'm calling about the Blue Dog Democrats' wanting to block health care reform for us Americans. I don't want you to listen to the Blue Dog Democrats. We NEED a strong, robust Medicare-like public option NOW OPEN TO ALL AMERICANS AND AFFORDABLE, not more of the SAME broken system that's given us unaffordable premiums, little private insurance coverage, and rising co-pays. Please don't delay health care reform any longer, and DO NOT give into the demands of the Blue Dog Democrats!"
CALL Speaker Nancy Pelosi at (202) 225-0100
CALL House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer at (202) 225-3130
CALL House Majority Whip James Clyburn at (202) 226-3210
Also, don't forget to call the co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and ask them to take a strong stand against the Blue Dogs' actions by asking the House leadership not to give into their demands to weaken the health care reform bill, and especially the Medicare-like public option in the bill.
CALL Rep. Raul Grijalva, co-chair of the CPC, at 202-225-2435
CALL Rep. Lynn Woolsey, co-chair of the CPC, at 202-225-5161
And don't forget to CRACK THE WHIP on the rest of the Congressional Progressive Caucus so they stand as a strong voting bloc in opposition to the Blue Dog Democrats!
Right now, we really need you to CALL the White House and tell them that the Blue Dog Democrats must UPHOLD the majority view of Americans who need a strong, robust Medicare-like public option, and not to give into their demands to weaken the public option in health care reform!
CALL The White House at 202-456-1111 andE-MAIL THEM!
Please RECOMMEND this diary so others can see the phone numbers and call today!
Also, please help DONATE TO HELP US FIGHT THE INSURANCE LOBBY ON HEALTH CARE REFORM:
We want to raise $50,000 to pay for these kinds of expenses, and to compensate the bloggers and organizers who are working tirelessly on this campaign as volunteers -- in many cases because they have health care issues too that they can't pay for. That's why they are so deeply committed to this effort.
Will you help us fight the insurance industry lobby in the battle for affordable health care for all?
And here's a little request from me. Can you go to my diary from yesterday on the community project and tip those who worked so hard to get the information to me to enter into the spreadsheet?
UPDATE: Nyceve has her diary on the recommended list above mine, if you're reading this diary, please help out her efforts by volunteering to go to D.C. to stand in line and get into the committee roomsfor the mark-up process!
MAJOR UPDATE: Just got this blog posted at Huffington Post! Please forward that blog post to your friends and feel free to comment as well!