Monday morning, I acted on Senator Bennet's petition to pass a public health care option through the Senate using budget reconciliation. Since Udall is one of the first Senators to sign, I only had to contact the other New Mexico Senator, Jeff Bingaman, and I was naturally very happy when his staffer told me "he already supports it but I'll give him your message."
But then, as I was about to report my success, I saw that on the list at whipcongress.com, Bingaman was listed "unknown" so I called his office again, to give him the tip that an important online petition is being circulated and it would be good for his future in politics to get his name on it. I was not pleased with the reaction to my courtesy.
Petition to Create a Public Health Care Option Using Budget Reconciliation: An Open Letter To Senator Jeff Bingaman (and J. Rockefeller, and any other supposed "strong supporter" of a public option who is hoping to escape public notice for doing nothing, when it really matters)
Senator Bingaman,
A staffer explained to me today why you don't normally sign "these kinds" of letters, and I suppose you're right, "they don't matter much" -- usually.
I'm trying to send a message that you will personally see, to tell you why I think you should make an exception. This is not some non-binding "resolution" or "sense of the Senate" message from a clique of Senators stating an opinion that you have no power to implement, because of separation of powers or being in the minority or whatnot. The purpose of this letter is to express the will of the majority to "leadership" to force them to do what 70% of Americans want, but your chamber of Congress has so far lacked the nerve and the will to get done.
There are ways of getting reluctant votes, as Senator Shelby has recently shown. You threaten to take away funding, for example, of the pet projects of your opponents ... if you're serious about delivering on the promise of a public option. Your party has not once shown the courage to be that forceful so far, but there is still the option of budget reconciliation. We both know that health care "reform" is purely symbolic without a public option, and we both know that will not get sixty votes. So, logically, the only way to accomplish any real reform this year is via budget reconciliation.
Your staffer was diligent about attempting to assure me that you are "a strong supporter of the public option" but Senator, if you will not go on the public record, at whipcongress.com in support of this legislative strategy, I cannot take your stated commitment to a public option for health care seriously because I do not believe significant health care reform is possible by any other means, and from what I know of the efforts in the Senate the past year, you already know it very well.
Reed Young
PS to Senator Rockefeller: This is not the time for your principled opposition to using reconciliation. I cannot imagine how difficult it might be as the West Virginia Senator who is junior to the sponsor of the infamous "Byrd Amendment" but we need you to consider how Senate Republicans have abused the niceties of the upper chamber and not forget your principles, but recognize that the principle of Senate comity is secondary to the principles of representing The People's best interests and your Constitutional mandate "to promote the general welfare" not the corporate welfare that your "colleagues across the aisle" are plainly representing. We all see it. Stand up for us, not for Senate trivia.
UPDATE: MoveOn.org just e-mailed me a statement from Bingaman, substantively identical to the weasel wording his staffer offered me two days ago:
The following message is from your U.S. Senator, Jeff Bingaman, in response to the petition you recently signed, "Stop the gift to Big Insurance."
With our rising premium costs and high un-insurance rates, no state stands to benefit more than New Mexico from passing reform legislation. Over the past few weeks, I have been contacted by many New Mexicans who have expressed their support for the inclusion of the "public option" in our reform efforts. I strongly agree. I helped craft the public option plan in the HELP Committee's version of reform legislation, and have taken every opportunity to work to include and vote for public option proposals in the HELP Committee, in the Finance Committee and on the Senate floor. I also have spoken directly to Majority Leader Reid about my support of this important policy. It is my hope that the bill we send to the president contains a public option. The Majority Leader has expressed his support for the public option, and I will continue to work with him to try and achieve that goal.