The abortion amendment is a critical effort, but we're also still lining up support for the general bill. As a reminder, here are the list of no votes from the latest whip update last night:
Adler, Baird, Boren, Bright, Childers, A. Davis, L. Davis, Gordon, P.Griffith, Herseth Sandlin, Kissell, Kosmas, Kratovil, Marshall, Massa, Matheson, McMahon, Melancon, Minnick, Peterson, Skelton, Stupak, Tanner, Taylor, Teague
In the post linked above, I called out Larry Kissel. The netroots stuck by Kissel in both of his runs for Congress, helping him get there in 2008. He needs to stick by the community that helped him, as well as sticking by his constituents. But there's another member on that list that we need call: Eric Massa.
Massa has said that his opposition to the bill is rooted in his support for single payer. Every member of the Progressive Caucus, and many outside of it, also are staunch single payer supporters. Anthony Weiner in particular has been indefatigable in pushing for it, and Weiner took one for the team yesterday and agreed to withdraw his amendment. He's also in full-throated support of passing this bill. Massa needs to join him, and all the other single-payer advocates who are swallowing hard and voting for this bill.
Speaking of callouts, we've been hard on Jim Cooper on this blog, as he's been a thorn in the side of comprehensive, progressive reform. But today, Cooper has announced that he'll support the bill. Kudos Rep. Cooper, and if he can do it, anyone on the list above, should also be able to vote for it.
In addition to the list of those pledging to vote no, there are these who are "soft" no votes, who might be moveable.
Arcuri, Baird, Bean, Boyd, Carney, Donnelly, Kaptur, Kucinich, McMahon, Scott Murphy, Nye
A few on this list have no excuses, including Kucinich (see the above argument for Massa), Brian Baird, and Marcy Kaptur, who has most recently said she'll vote for it only if the Stupak amendment passes.
If one of the above is your representative, call or e-mail and let him or her know you support H.R. 3962, and you'll be watching their vote.
Update: Looks like maybe I spoke too soon about Cooper:
[H]e appears to admit voting for it only because he feels strongly it won't actually become law:
"I am grateful to the thousands of Nashville-area residents who have shared their opinion on health care reform with me. Everyone feels strongly because health care is so important to our lives. Having read the pending bills and having taught health policy at Vanderbilt business school for twelve years, I have made the following decision:
I will vote yes on H.R. 3962. My vote is not an endorsement of all the provisions of the bill because I find much of the bill to be deeply flawed. There is little chance that H.R. 3962 will become law due to the long legislative process....
Oh well. Today, a yes vote is a yes vote, but not all yes votes will be created equal.