Wow, that was pretty fast. Her spokesman, Nadeam Elshami, pushed back against recent news reports that Speaker Pelosi was going to drop the deal that she had made with the Blue Dog Democrats not to have the public option pegged to Medicare plus rates. Here's what he said below:
Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami emailed us late last night to assert that no final decisions have been made on the shape of the public option: "It is inaccurate for anyone to assert that the Speaker or the Leadership has determined the form of the public option. How we move forward on the public option will continue to be discussed by the Leadership and the Caucus, which will meet on Thursday."
And as I wrote about earlier, the Democratic Caucus will be meeting on Thursday to discuss the public option. The Blue Dogs will be there to present their "co-op scam" to replace the public option, and failing that, propose a trigger on the public option as a "compromise."
UPDATE: Apparently the Hill says that the proposal to revert back to the robust public option to Medicare plus 5% rates for two years is still on the table, and will be presented to the Democratic Caucus. It's looking to be a very raucous meeting tomorrow. And there's more from Talking Points Memo about Speaker Pelosi's plans for the public option, and the fact she would like the House bill to be completed before the end of this week.
It's precisely why I need you guys to CALL the Congressional Progressive Caucus today to tell these progressives to stand up to the Blue Dogs trying to pull a scam on us through their co-ops and the trigger on the public option tomorrow!
PLEASE CALL these Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus today to thank them for supporting the public option, and saying that you don't want co-ops or a trigger on the public option. Here are the talking points for your phone calls to these Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus today so they can be ready to stand up for us at the Democratic caucus meeting tomorrow:
Hi [Representative's Name]. I want to thank you for supporting the public option, but I don't want you to support a trigger on the public option! A trigger on the public option would be a surrender to the private insurance companies. Please don't let the insurance lobbyists win by allowing a trigger on the public option. I also don't support co-operatives as an alternative to the public option since the CBO have said they will do nothing to lower costs of private insurance premiums. Also, please STAND TOGETHER as a Member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus to fight for the public option in the final conference bill!
Also, this is a video draft that I've been working on for the community new media project about a trigger-free public option. I'm working with someone from Dailykos in adding music to this video after cleaning it up first, so this is still very much a work in progress, but I wanted to show you guys what it'll look like when it's officially released.
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Please RECOMMEND this diary so people can make phone calls to our Progressives in Congress today!
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