Pass the Public Option through Reconciliation NOW! Get it back on the table, rename it "The People's Plan" and get it PASSED.
Frank Lautenberg Robert Menendez Jeff Bingamon Bernard Sanders Tom Udall Harry Reid Kirsten Gillibrand Charles Schumer Kent Conrad Byron Dorgan Ben Nelson Jeanne Shaheen Charles Schumer Claire McCaskill Max Baucus Jon Tester Kay Hagan Debbie Stabenow Al Franken Amy Klobuchar Mark Warner Mark Begich Blanche Lincoln Mark Pryor Barbara Boxer Michael Bennell Mark Udall Chris Dodd Joseph Lieberman Thomas Carper Edward Kaufman Tim Johnson Jim Webb Bill Nelson Daniel Akaka Daniel Inouye Thomas Harkin Roland Burris Richard Durbin Evan Bayh Mary Landrieu John Kerry Benjamin Cardin Barbara Mikulski Carl Levin Lindsey Graham Patrick Leahy Diane Feinstein Scott Brown Olympia Snowe Henry Brown Sherrod Brown Jeff Merkley Ron Wyden Robert Casey Arlen Specter John Reed Sheldon Whitehouse
Vice President Joseph Biden
In my opinion, it would be easiest to try and add each of these via the friend function. Then send a mass e-mail. With the ones who aren't on facebook, please use opencongress.org to either call them, email them, or fax them. YES WE CAN!
We do our best here at IJ to keep our focus on the Palmetto State, but every now and then we find ourselves being sucked into some other state's politics. And today our eyes, along with the rest of the nation's, are focused squarely on Massachusetts and what promises to be a nail-biter of a special election to fill Ted Kennedy's former Senate seat.
Today Democrat Martha Coakley and Republican Scott Brown square off in an election that will have significant consequences for all American's ability to gain access to affordable health insurance. If Coakley loses, Democrats will lose their magic 60th seat in the U.S. Senate, which could dramatically alter the outcome of the health care reform bill still being hammered out by Congress. It will also serve as a 2010 rallying cry for conservatives, who have channeled all their hopes and resources into scooping up the liberal icon's former seat.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is launching a new radio ad campaign against U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, slamming the South Carolina Republican for supporting TARP in 2008 but voting against the Democrats' financial regulatory reform bill last week.
The 60-second radio spot, which will begin airing on Wednesday across the Second District, accuses Wilson of putting the interests of big Wall Street firms above the needs of his constituents:
"October 2008, the last months of the Bush presidency. The big banks and financial institutions almost collapsed, putting our entire economy at risk. Remember? We all know we should never let this happen again. That's why what our Congressman Joe Wilson did last week is so disturbing." a male narrator says.
"Congressman Wilson voted to let Wall Street continue the same risky practices that crippled retirement accounts and left taxpayers on the hook for $700 billion dollars," the ad continues. "And he voted to allow the big banks to pay high rolling executives unchecked compensation and bonuses. Maybe the $55,000 dollars that financial special interests have given to Congressman Wilson mattered more to him than protecting taxpayers and consumers.
"Doesn't that just make you mad? Call Joe Wilson, tell him to stop standing up for the big banks and to start standing up for us."
According to CQ Politics, Wilson is one of only five House Republicans the DCCC plans to target this week with radio ads -- a reassuring sign to S.C. Democrats that the national party remains interested in helping Rob Miller put up a strong fight against 'Old Yeller' in 2010.
U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC) faced a 90-minute "verbal firing squad" from right-wingers intent on disrupting the Congressman's town hall meeting on health care Thursday night.
Speaking before a crowd of 350 at the Upstate Family Resource Center in Boiling Springs, SC last night, Inglis was met by shouts of "I'm afraid of Obama! He's got too much power!" and "Go home, Bob!" as he tried to answer questions from audience members.
An IJ reader sent us the YouTube video below of Inglis responding to the woman who cried out that she feared President Obama. In the clip, Rep. Inglis suggests that the woman and her friends should turn off Fox News' Glenn Beck and tune out the fear-mongering. Needless to say, the Congressman's advice did not go over well with the wing-nuts:
The Palmetto Scoop is trying to push the narrative that Democratic U.S. Rep. John Spratt will soon be forced to decide between his constituents and his party as the health care debate heats up in Washington.
According to TPS, the Upstate Congressman is “reportedly being bombarded” by calls from angry constituents and suggests that a vote in favor of health care reform legislation would somehow constitute turning a deaf ear to the people that he serves, leaving Spratt vulnerable in his reddening district.
Now while I have no trouble believing that the “keep your government hands off my Medicare” folks are flooding the Congressman’s phone lines as we speak, the Scoop’s unsubstantiated argument that supporting health care reform is akin to picking your party over your constituents is absurd.
up to 12,300 small businesses in the district could receive tax credits to provide coverage to their employees;
8,700 seniors would avoid the donut hole in Medicare Part D;
660 families could escape bankruptcy each year due to unaffordable health care costs;
health care providers would receive payment for $82 million in uncompensated care annually; and
117,000 uninsured constituents would gain access to affordable health insurance.
Tag on the fact that Spratt is sitting atop a half-million-dollar war chest and has yet to draw a 2010 GOP challenger, the argument that a vote to provide health insurance coverage to more than 100,000 of his constituents would somehow endanger the Congressman’s re-election chances doesn’t hold up.
And while there’s little doubt that the GOP will intensify its political propaganda war against Spratt in the coming weeks, it seems highly unlikely the Congressman will suddenly bow to the pressure and be forced to cede his seat to the Republicans next year.
