Things look better for HCR than they have in a long time. Nancy Pelosi has the votes to pass a Senate-fix’d bill, or at least she says she does. Harry Reid clearly plans to run something through reconciliation in the next 60 days. Even the public option has a pulse!
This is the home stretch for HCR. Everything will depend on whether Harry Reid can round up 50 votes for reconciliation. If he had it already someone would have leaked the fact, but he wouldn’t get this feisty if he wasn’t close. Please phone your Democratic Senators today to find out where they stand on reconciliation. Our goal is to complete the whip count put together my mcc, so if you hear back from any Democratic Senator please note it in the comments. You might as well plug the public option as long as you have them on the phone.
Switchboard: (202) 224-3121.
Guide for first-timers here.
Uloborus
I called my rep. My senator is Mitch McConnell, so… no.
On the plus side, I saw an actual TV add, like in a decent time slot, demanding to know why he hates America and supports laws to make us more energy dependent on the Ayrabs.
jibeaux
Just so we’re all clear on what is going on here, this is still the strategery where the House passes the Senate bill as written, and the Senate passes some improvements to portions of things through the budget reconciliation process, is that right? So when we call Senators, we are asking whether or not they support Harry Reid’s efforts to pass as-yet unspecified tweaks to the Senate bill through reconciliation? (This sounds a little critical and it isn’t meant to be, I just want to be very clear about what I’m going to say because my Senator (Hagan, D-NC) is always very vague and “bipartisan”-y (ugh) and anyone calling her will need to press on the particulars of what you’re asking her to do.
ET
I live in DC and don’t have a Senator and as much as I love Del. Eleanor Holmes-Norton, she is a delegate and has no vote on the house floor.
Most Senate (and House) offices only care about their voters and ignore you if you aren’t one of theirs.
Comrade Mary
The White House plan has been released. From TPM:
More detail here.
There’s an exchange but no public option in this draft (cue keening). It uses the Senate language on abortion, not the Stupakese from the House version.
El Cid
What? You don’t think that a bipartisan solution can be achieved in the health care summit? There should be several Republican votes coming out of that, right?
inkadu
Is there a difference between calling the DC office directly and going through the switch board?
I’ve called Senator Dodd’s office twice, and gotten a resounding, “meh,” both times, without much discussion and very little real engagement. Probably one of those college staffers that thinks politics is kinda cool because of what they saw on MSNBC.
I’ll see if I can get another meh from the Department of Dawdling Dithering (Dodd).
r€nato
My senators are McCain and Kyl. I’d love to call but, of course, it’s useless. Kyl is completely in the pocket of the insurance lobby, McCain to a lesser extent as well.
Mnemosyne
@r€nato:
That didn’t stop the teabaggers in my state from calling Feinstein and Boxer over and over again. Why let McCain and Kyl off the hook when Democrats are getting pounded by the other side?
Fergus Wooster
I’ve got Cornyn and Hutchinson, so, um. . .
At least Sheila Jackson-Lee is my Rep, so I can put a meaningful call into her office.
Punchy
He doesn’t, and wont. Here’s what will happen: once it becomes clear that they’re going to try this, Republicans will fire up their noise machine to 21. They will absolutely blanket the airwaves of every news show on TV associating “reconcilliation” with “cheating” or some such shit. Dems will fold like cheap suits in the midst of this heat. Just you watch.
Uloborus
@Mnemosyne:
In my case, because every call in support of Health Care Reform will be that much more proof to McConnell that he’s right, and that he absolutely has to sink it any possible way he can.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Fergus Wooster: Lucky you, I have Ralph Hall.
Napoleon
@Punchy:
And the winner in the dog bites man catagory . . . [sound of
envelope being opened] is Punchy.
Comrade Mary
The White House is already using “up or down vote” when talking about the process. Obama is saying now that they don’t need GOP support to pass the bill.
The conference is the final bit of staging that will demonstrate the Republicans’ inability to help build a real solution. And it looks as if the White House rhetoric is going to make that clear. Remember, Plouffe is back on the team, too.
Bill H
With it including price regulation in a competetive industry which has no cost regulation or control, it has lost me. I am opposed to it.
jibeaux
@Punchy:
Look, it’s not that this isn’t a realistic assessment of Democrats, because it is. But, a) I tend to think they are learning what is at stake here. I am inclined to think that their initial instinct to bolt, post-Scott Brown especially, has been tempered a bit since his election and since Obama doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, and b) even if I’m wrong about that, calling is literally the only thing we can do. If it goes down in the end and we don’t at least go down fighting, then we deserve what we get.
Tim F.
@Bill H: To be honest, that part disappoints me as well. It looks like pure politics and bad policy. On the upside I doubt that the Senate reconciliation package will include it.
jibeaux
@Bill H:
Although this is a nonsensical comment, I will assume you meant “WITHOUT it including” and will inquire kindly if you have read that Obama’s proposed plan to bridge the House and Senate bills includes giving the government new power to block insurance rate hikes?
gogol's wife
@inkadu:
I got exactly the same from someone who sounded about 12 years old. I don’t have the heart to try Lieberman.
inkadu
Be sure to call Rahm Emmanuel’s office as well. Once he’s on board, we’ll immediately have universal single payer.
El Cid
I wouldn’t rule out surrender by Democrats to Republicans, industry lobbyists, and general skittishness that the TeaTards might call them names, but in the past few weeks I feel more like Congressional and Senate Democrats are sensing that not passing healthcare reform will be much, much more damaging to them than doing so.
jibeaux
Obviously I am missing something here. Isn’t Obama’s proposal regarding blocking insurance rate hikes designed to encourage intelligent cost controls?
Fergus Wooster
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
The Man from Fate? Condolences.
BTD
Obama proposes a pretty good fix on the excise tax – pushed limit to 27K and delays implementation for all plans until 2018.
This is key.
BTD
In addition, Obama’s plan for federal review of rate hikes can not be done through reconciliation without a waiver of the Byrd Rule, which requires 60 votes.
It’s a good idea though politically as it will put the GOP on the hook as voting for Anthem-like rate increases.
The unsurprising other headline is no public option in the Obama plan, but I doubt he will stand in its way if by some miracle 50 votes for it are mustered.
Punchy
@jibeaux: I’ve learned in life that it is MUCH easier to go through life always assuming the worst. This way, when the worst happens, there’s no disappointment, and if something better than the worst happens, it feels like a success.
Therefore, I’ll assume the worst at this point.
Mike Kay
I still can’t help but to chuckle at all the presidential supporters of Dodd.
He’s always been a phoney. He was a phoney when he voted to invade Iraq, he’s a phoney now, as he auditions for his next job as a corporate lobbyist.
SiubhanDuinne
I don’t think I’m going to change either Saxby Chambliss’ or Johnny Isakson’s — LOL, I almost said “minds”! — okay, their positions, but I’ll phone their offices.
Very Reverend Crimson Fire of Compassion
Called McCaskill (my other senator’s Kit Bond, so I might as well just go holler down the toilet). The staffer sez she just returned to the country and hasn’t met with her staff yet, so they don’t have a current position for her on the HCR bill. I asked them to let her know how desperately we need this bill passed, and was encouraged to hear the staffer agree whole-heartedly when I commented that without something to show in health-care reform, the Democratic party was dead in the upcoming election.
Ash Can
@Comrade Mary: I agree. I think the Republicans are getting set up with this meeting. I suspected that was what Obama was doing when he announced the 2/25 “summit,” and I’m even more convinced as time goes on. At this point, I’m dying to see if the Republicans are dumb enough to just walk into it. Given their track record, I’m optimistic, and I’m looking for a performance out of them that ranges somewhere between pathetic and hilarious. I’ve got my popcorn at the ready.
El Cid
@SiubhanDuinne: I know that no amount of calls, protests, anything will change Republicans’ minds on this, particularly not hard right wing Southern Republican Senators, but it would sure be nice if we were as willing to have Democrats / liberals / et al just annoy the hell of of them as the TeaTards were with Democrats.
janeform
Stabenow: Staffer said she signed “the letter” last Friday. I assume she meant the public option letter, but I haven’t been able to find her name on the list of signers on the Google.
Levin: “Hasn’t issued a statement yet.”
jibeaux
@Punchy:
That’s fine. Just call.
Mike Kay
@SiubhanDuinne:
I’m sure there are some teabaggers who call and scream at bernie Sanders. Turnabout is fair play.
inkadu
@jibeaux: Why do you think you’re missing anything? Blocking rate hikes won’t do anything for intelligent cost control, though. It will just stop rate hikes.
Insurance companies are incapable of doing intelligent cost control. The motivation just is not there. It’s expensive to implement, leads to bad press, and who cares about delivering great care when your clients are only going to be on your rolls for an average of six years?
I like blocking rate hikes because it the first real foot on the throat of private health insurance. Once there’s price controls, the government will of necessity need to start telling them how to run things just to maintain a decent level of service.
Probably not going to pass though.
Punchy
@jibeaux: Except I’m stuck with Pat Roberts and Brownback. I might as well call a nun and demand she blow me.
geg6
My senators have committed to passing whatever can be passed. And Specter has come out for the public option. Fucking.Spector.is.for.the.public.option.
He’s become more Democrat than most Democrats since his party switch.
Mike Kay
@janeform:
Interesting to see Feingold hasn’t signed on. I wonder if the Firebaggers will primary him, as well.
Ash Can
@BTD: I’ve always had the impression that Obama is not at all averse to the idea of a single-payer system, but is too much of a pragmatist to press for it.
gwangung
@Bill H: Methinks you’re a bit lost yourself.
There are a fair amount of soft controls (i.e., they don’t look like it’ll control costs, but will act as a drag on costs, e.g., mandates don’t mean anything if your prices are so high as to allow people to drop it without penalty). And there’s one thing the wingnuts are right on: once you let the principle of price controls in, it’s a whole lot easier to get more visible controls in place if the soft ones don’t work. No matter how you look at it, that’s a step forward.
wyliecoat
Spoke to a staffer at DiFi’s Washington office. Started off by congratulating her on the insurance gougers amendment. Staffer preened a little.
Then asked if she would support reconciliation for fixes to Senate Bill. Staffer -“Huh?” ande said DiFi had already signed on to public option by reconciliation bill.
Anyhoo..left him with my belief that HCR had better be passed..or else.
SiubhanDuinne
@El Cid #31
@Mike Kay #34
That’s pretty much why I’ll call :-)
Snowshoe
Burris’ office says he will, Durbin’s office says he has not yet issued a public comment on his position. Both say they are getting lots of calls in support of HCR.
lol
White House is finally using “Up or down vote” language.
gwangung
@lol: I think, by temperment, this White House only uses this language as a last resort.
nancydarling
Tim, I just read on another blog that Mark Pryor of AR had signed on to Bennet’s public option letter. I called his DC office to confirm, and alas, it’s not true! I ranted politely about how desperately health care is needed here in NW Arkansas and how my daughter in CA needs bi-lateral hip surgery. The first surgery is scheduled for April 13th. I am terrified that Blue Cross will cancel after the first surgery—they are trying to raise her rates by 39%. She will be uninsurable if she loses her coverage. I called both Pryor and Lincoln last week also. I will call Lincoln again today but I feel like I’m wasting my time—she is 4th on the Senate list for the amount of money she receives from the pharma/health insurance corporations. Lincoln is surely going to lose in the fall. Given the choice between a Republican and a Democrat who acts like a Republican, people here will choose the real thing.
She is an unreliable vote for Democrats even after they gave her the chairmanship of the Agriculture committee. Farm issues are also something I follow closely and she will be in the pockets of Monsanto, ADM, etal. I honestly don’t know what her core values are or if she even has any.
Jeff
@Memosyne
You should call McCain and tell him– “since HaystacksCalhoun is gonna beat you in the primary, you might as well be on the side of history for once.”
If nothing else, that ‘ll give him a stroke.
Mike Kay
@Jeff:
Haystacks Calhoun = one of the greatest sports names, evah!
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Bill H:
Elkins Act, Hepburn Act.
HRA
I hope whatever bill passes is one that will do a lot of good for all of us.
I have always had health insurance in all of my jobs. Yet, when my carrier hooked up recently with a state program, it has been a massive headache and not mine alone.
Today I spoke to 3 people in order to find out why my husband has been removed from my family plan. The reason we found out was when he went to the pharmacy to get his gout medicine refilled.
I sent the required proof of our marriage and our tax returns. They lost the copy of the tax return. Now I have to fax the tax returns so he could be covered.
Mind boggling to try to understand why they sent him a card for this year in December.
jenniebee
Webb and Warner’s lines are both swamped. Left voice mails asking if they’re for an upperdown vote on HCR including the public option.
Also called Rep Bobby Scott and gave him some love because he deserves it.
Bill H
Oh, good. Cut a deal with drug companies, allowing them to continue to send unlimited bills to insurance comapnies and not to place restrictions on the prices drug companies charge to insurance companies.
Cut a deal with hospitals, allowing them to continue to send unlimited bills to insurance comapnies and not to place restrictions on the prices hospitals charge to insurance companies.
Place no limits on how many times people can use the services that are billed to the insurance companies.
And then place a cap on what insurance companies can charge.
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ: those acts placed a limit on what railroads could charge per ton hauled. If more tons were hauled, railroads could charge for the tonnage actually hauled. If the load was overwidth, or over height, or was explosive, they could charge extra for that.
Placing caps on premiums says that no matter if number of hospital services increases or prices double or tests increase, or hospitals send eight bills instead of two, premiums per month per insured cannot increase. Not the same thing at all. It would be like telling a railroad they could only charge so much per month, even if the shipper increased the tonnage he shipped.
Controls on medical costs are “suggestions” and only apply to small segments of the medical realm.
Michael
You have Udall (NM) as “meh” on the spreadsheet, but he’s signed the public option letter…
tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/02/specter-signs-the-public-option-letter.php?ref=fpa
gwangung
You really think this could be done in one fell swoop? I think we should tell you that “divide and conquer” works for our side as well as for the wingnuts.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Bill H:
You’re taking the analogy in a different direction that what I have in mind. It is a political analogy, based on the similarity between the economic and political postion of the HC insurance industry today (and their FIRE sector allies) and that of the railroads and trusts 100 years ago, especially given that the Senate is the key policy bottleneck.
My point is that the politics of cost controls are easier to manage once the issues of equality of access and fairness have been dealt with. In that sense the HCR legislation likely to make it through today’s Senate is similar to the Elkins Act – it is unlikely to contain much in the way of effective cost containment measures, and therefore a great dissapointment to progressives. But what it will do is set up a system where more people are on an even footing with regard to access to HC insurance, and collectively have a greater stake in imposing cost controls on the HC industry, than is the case under the status quo.
If we can pass health insurance reform now, weak tea as it is, the political pressure for imposing real cost controls will build, within a regulatory framework which gives the govt a more direct fiscal stake in fixing the latter problem. That is the same scenario which led to the Hepburn Act being passed 3 years after the Elkins Act, by a Senate which was even more corrupt than the one we have now.
The other point is that progressives pushing for a public option or single payer today have a similar political relationship with Obama to that between TR and his sometime allies on the left circa 1903-1906. TR was decried for the gap between his rhetoric and his actions, and the alacrity with which he sold out his progressive allies when he could get a deal through Congress. Because of the mythology which has grown up concerning TR’s use of the bully pulpit (protip: compare the tenor of his speeches given after he left office, vs. while he was in the WH), most political commentators today are not familiar with the legislative history of that era (which I’m trying to call attention to), or how the WH and Congress interacted with each other. This is unfortunate because that era has a lot to teach us.
Bill H
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ:
Oh, indeedy, and I swear I saw a unicorn in the woods the other day. Absolutely.
“Top down” procedures always work so well, don’t they. Like make rich people richer, and all that prosperity will trickle down to the middle class. Um, what happens if they don’t trickle it down? What happens if they just keep all of those riches?
Imposing controls on insurance companies will make it easier to impose controls on hospitals and drug companies. Well, Obama did run on “hope,” didn’t he.
Bill H
@gwangung:
Well, if limits are placed on what insurance comapnies can charge, as Obama proposes, then yes.
It will have been done all in one fell swoop.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Bill H:
So we start out by discussing an actual example of real legislation which did in fact get passed thru Congress (and a Congress which bears a more than passing relationship to today’s, in an economic and political environment here in the US that bears a closer relationship to today’s than any other period of the last 150 years), and which was signed into law, and this is where you end up going? Unicorn sightings?
Nice to know you got nuthin’. But did you really have to be so verbose demonstrating it?
Jon Gurry
Sherrod Brown will vote for reconciliation, as well as the Public option.
vheidi
Called Schumer’s office- about two minutes on hold. Staffer said he’s in support of reconciliation for the public option “or something similar.” Told him to pass the damn bill, and I hope he’s our next majority leader (Schumer, not the staffer, who was full of himself).
mcc
Couldn’t get through to Feinstein or Boxer’s office today.
I updated with the calls mentioned on this page– do you think we should update the whip count to include everyone who signed the public option reconciliation letter? Since every Senator voted for the bill already it seems like if you support reconciliation for the public option, you support reconciliation for more “moderate” bills as well.
NovShmozKaPop
Following my relentless badgering :-) both NY Senators are down with reconciliation for the public option, or so their mass emails tell me.
mclaren
Yeah, call. So the bill can go to reconciliation. Where it gets gutted and becomes worse.
You want real health care reform, start organizing mass boycotts of doctors and hospitals with charter flights doing medical tourism to India. That’ll get their attention.
Otherwise, nothing changes.
Calling = whimpering & begging & pleading to millionaire senators for help. That’s a sign of weakness. The senators laugh when they hear that sh*t, they shout “F*ck those impotent working class bitches, baby! We got ’em on the run now! Those bottom-80% punk-ass bitches pissed us off by begging for health care reform, so we gave ’em a bill so horribly toxic, it made them gag. We got ’em bent over the table now, mofo. Those working stiffs are so helpless they’re calling us and begging, hawhawhawhawhaw!”
kathequa
Bennet is one of my guys. Thank God Wayne Allard and Ben “Nighthorse-turncoat” Campbell are out!