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We need to spend the next 48 hours bombing Congress with the request to add Dennis Kucinich’s Amendment added back to this largely do-nothing Health Care Bill and keep pushing to be included in the final bill to be voted on when it returns to the House.
This is not true Progressive Reform
T.R Reid said so himself -
Dennis even told us how we need to achieve it -
We need to make sure it gets put back in and also made available in 2010.
I have already emailed Rachel, Ed and Keith to put this issue out front and make Congress add it back in.
The Wiener Amendment will get voted down, banishing Single Payer to the Leftist Trash Can.
Let’s get this done!
12 Comments
I’m with you.
t.r. reid: state by state, we’ll get there.
thanks, fabulous diary! let’s ask to have it front paged tomorrow morning!
I’m with you too.
I told Wyden, Merkley, and Wu that I’d happily give up the Public Option that’s caused so much trouble for the addition of the Kucinich Amendment.
I’d rather have decent healthcare someplace, than shitty healthcare everywhere.
“Congressmen John Conyers and Dennis Kucinich, the two principal co-authors of the Conyers single-payer bill, wrote ADS about tomorrow’s House vote. Here is what they are asking of you:
We are now asking you to join us in suggesting to congressional leaders that this is not the right time to call the roll on a stand-alone single payer bill.
Tomorrow, the House of Representatives is scheduled consider a single payer bill. As the two principal co-authors of the Conyers single payer bill, we want to offer a strong note of caution about tomorrow’s vote.
The bill presented tomorrow will not be HR676. While we are happy to relinquish authorship of a single payer bill to any member who can do better, we do not want a weak bill brought forward in a hostile climate to unwittingly accomplish what would be interpreted as a defeat for single payer.
We are always grateful for your support. We are now asking you to join us in suggesting to congressional leaders that this is not the right time to call the roll on a stand-alone single payer bill. That time will come. And when it does there will not be any doubt of the outcome. This system of health care injustice will not be able to endure forever. We are pledged to make sure of that. ”
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/47519
djfourmoney, thanks for kicking this issue higher up on the diary list. Just to be clear, at this point, the only avenue for restoring the Kucinich amendment is in House/Senate conference.
The focus, including protests, needs to be on House and Senate leadership to restore language in the conference bill that supports states’ efforts to institute their own single-payer systems if they so choose.
At the same time, public option boosters should be pounding on those same doors to demand modifications to the bill such as those I’ve bulleted in my post below. It’s doubtful they can succeed in undoing the months of deception and overselling they they themselves have abetted, wittingly or not. But that’s what’s needed if they’re serious about actual universal health care.
And thanks for those clips; I was privileged to be at the Kucinich briefing back in July. I went there immediately after joining the mostly silent flash mob you can see surrounding the CPC press conference announcing the ultimatum that the CPC now appears poised to abandon.
When Kucinich talks about Democrats compromising on compromises of comprises, consider: negotiated rates in the current House bill are a compromise on Medicare+5%, which was a compromise on the full set of CPC robustness criteria published in June, which themselves were a compromise on the original PO proposals touted during the formation of HCAN, which themselves, of course, were a compromise on single payer Medicare for All.
Hi Ralph, I think it’s amazing that 25 representatives are willing to stand firm on not voting for this bill because they think it allows women to have Governmental support to exercise their choice of getting an abortion, but we can’t get 41 of the 65 progressives who gave their pledge to vote against a bill that will likely still leave us with 31,000 deaths per year due to lack of insurance for the next 3.5 years. Why is it that “the best lack all conviction?”
“They cleared one hurdle Friday when liberals supporting a government-run Medicare-for-all system withdrew their demand for a floor vote.”
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/06/house-health-bill-obama-m_n_348208.html&cp
Now if that and the tabling of the Kucinich Amendment and the Eshoo amendment still being in the bill doesn’t tell everyone how fucked up this legislation is, I don’t know what to think.
Call your Representative and tell them to vote NO until it’s changed to allow for a floor vote on single payer and Kuchinch’s amendment is restored and Eshoo’s removed.
Is that all we want. Tell ‘em to open the exchange to everyone.
Will call. Absolutely. This really separates the talkers from the walkers in the House. Thank you!!!! What a kick in the teeth this was to have this amendment taken out.
Long ago, as I was getting ready to work for Weiner for NYC mayor he withdrew. This feels like a lousy déjà vu. Cronyism and strong-arming vs. honoring the hardworking base and betrayed citizenry? Hmmmm.
Unless we get this Amendment put back in, this dog of a bill is going to turn into dog meat and not be worth the paper its printed on and this is just the House bill mind you! Not to mention what happens in the Senate or during the final write down of the bill before it returns to both houses for a final vote.
This is messy but its not over, we need to jump behind ONE THEME and I believe this is the cause we need to jump behind because like Reid said by Jan 2010 there will be some Single Payer bills out there and California’s will be voted on in March, its the 3rd time we have bought it up to get voted and for The Govenator to sign it, if he doesn’t, I know Meg or Campbell won’t but we can force BROWN to sign it or he won’t get in…