TPM Reader JB checks in again …
“And the key reason is because it gets harder every day. And if they can’t do it today, why does anyone imagine they’ll be able to tomorrow.”
The only way it happens is if the democratic base becomes so loud as to drown out the tea party and become impossible to ignore. Yesterday was the first time I have ever gotten through to a Congressman. I think 1000 phone calls to each democratic Congressman may begin to make it impossible to ignore. Someone has to organize this effort. Provide the direction and the outlet. Any suggestions?
No, we didn’t photoshop the TPM logo into the picture. It’s a poster of a Dean Baker column at TPMCafe that Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) displayed on the Senate floor about an hour ago:
We’ve gotten — to put it mildly — a lot of emails over the last couple hours — from angry voters and members of Congress defending their actions. The folks on the Hill insist it’s not really over, that Speaker Pelosi might still be able to manage a senate bill with amending bill deal. (As I said in my original post, read and watch her whole statement and interpret for yourself.) I too think that’s possible, though now probably only with some big outside intervention.
The key though is time. That’s the disagreement. The folks on the Hill seem to think that time is on their side, or at least that they can play for time, that emotions will cool, that new possibilities will emerge (most likely a Senate Bill plus amending bill deal). I think they’re wrong. (If I thought the House leaders were playing hardball with the House and White House, I’d be less pessimistic. But I don’t think that’s what’s happening.) Time is not on their side. I think the everyone moment that goes by, demoralization and panic sinks in further, and action becomes less likely.
I don’t think they get that because I think they’re still in shock.
The company which inscribes Bible citations on the rifle scopes it sells to the U.S. military has announced its discontinuing the practice.
If you get a straight word from your member of Congress about whether they’re ready to vote for the Senate bill (with or without a separate amending piece of legislation) definitely let us know. We’re very interested to hear who wants to let the bill go down.
So far, Rep. Neal seems dead set against. But certainly there are many others because I don’t doubt Speaker Pelosi when she says the votes aren’t there. (Rep. Neal’s office seems to be more noncommittal now — basically saying House Dems are considering their options.)
(From the initial emails we’re getting from readers, it’s not so much a matter of trying to find who won’t vote for the bill as any members of House who will give constituents a straight answer about where they stand.) Read More
Sen. Schumer says health care can’t be rushed but that time is running out.
We’ve put a team of our reporters on trying to figure out who is standing where in the Democratic caucus on the Health Care bill. But we need your help. If you’ve spoken to your member of Congress and got an answer on where they stand, send us an email with the details. More to follow.
From what we can tell there are a few broad categories.
Ready to vote for the senate bill.
Ready to vote for the Senate bill with separating amending bill.
Pass a bunch of small bills.
Start over.
Won’t give a straight answer.
One of the results of today’s Supreme Court ruling, according to campaign finance reform advocates, is that companies will be able to avoid disclosing their spending in support of specific candidates by funneling the contributions through entities like the Chamber of Commerce.
An aide to a Democratic senator checks in:
The GOP’s argument against health care reform, from the beginning, was that Democrats all secretly want a single-payer system but since that’s a non-starter with The People, they’re trying to pass a bill that looks good on the surface but will force private insurance companies out of business and leave us with no option but to adopt single-payer. They said that about every version of the bill that has been debated in either chamber, even the Senate bill which would actually provide a bunch of new business to private insurers at the taxpayers’ expense, with no public option. Hasn’t it occurred to House Democrats that the GOP would simply say the exact same thing about these “smaller chunks” they’re talking about breaking the bill into? They’d even say it about the stuff that’s considered popular.
Howard Dean was just on MSNBC and he seemed to take Nancy Pelosi’s statement at face value that this current legislation is over. And Dems should focus on passing some small helpful stuff and come back and do comprehensive reform later.
“You can’t pass the Senate bill in the House according to the speaker and we have to respect her desires. So pass something through reconciliation. It doesn’t have to be big and complicated. And it shouldn’t be. We’re not going to get the comprehensive health care bill we hoped we were gonna get.”
Here’s the full story.