Got this very important email today from Americans for Prosperity. They list concrete actions we can take against ObamaCare. PLEASE READ & take the few minutes involved in ACTION! It's now or never, folks!
Dear Susannah,
At 1:00 a.m. today, literally in the dead of night, the United States Senate on a straight party line voted to move closer to the health care takeover.
60 Democrats voted YES and 40 Republicans voted NO.
In my 25 years in the political arena I thought I had seen it all for political pay-offs, crass deal cutting, and bare-knuckle threats. But, Majority Leader Reid, and sadly, even President Obama reached a new low. To avoid the blizzard of calls from their constituents, folks like you and me, most Democrat Senators actually turned off their phones as they prepared for the dead of night vote on Monday morning.
A couple of examples:
*Senator Ben Nelson got an unprecedented deal to force federal taxpayers to pick up 100% of the cost of Nebraska's Medicaid expansion--forever.
*Connecticut's Senator, Christopher Dodd, got a $100 million earmark for a hospital at the University of Connecticut.
*Vermont Senators Pat Leahy and Bernie Sanders, who had been threatening to oppose the bill from the Left, got an extra $250 million in Medicaid funding.
*In Florida, Senator Bill Nelson got three counties carved out of Medicare Advantage cuts that will happen everywhere else in the country.
*Of course we know about the "Louisiana Purchase" where Reid and Obama paid $300 million of our taxpayer dollars to the pet projects of Senator Landrieu to secure her vote.
Yes, this is frustrating. Yes, we lost a round in the Senate and it was a tough one.
But, we cannot give up the fight. And, we're not. After Senator Nelson's cave-in on Saturday, Americans for Prosperity sponsored a rally yesterday with one day's notice in Omaha, which Mike Huckabee flew out to headline. On the last Sunday afternoon before Christmas, the press reported that over 1,800 fired-up grassroots activists showed up to tell Senator Nelson what they thought of his sellout! CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES AND STORIES.
In Virginia, where Senator Jim Webb was a key swing vote, we held a state tele-town hall call with Congressman Frank Wolf on Saturday and over 10,000 people joined the call with a full 5,000 of those folks staying on for extended periods of time. We asked people to go to TellWebbNO.com and send an email or make a call to Senator Webb and thousands did just that. He was the last Democrat to publicly announce his support for the bill, around 9:00 p.m. last night, and we will hold him accountable for caving.
Here are the next steps on the Congressional front:
The second big vote to end debate on the health care takeover bill will occur around 7 a.m. on Tuesday morning.
If Reid and Obama hold all 60 of their votes, then there will be one more cloture vote (to end debate) Wednesday evening and a final vote on passage of the bill sometime on Thursday.
After that, the House and Senate would have to hold a conference to work through the considerable differences in the House and Senate versions of the legislation.
Then, the health care takeover would have to pass both chambers again. That final battle would most likely take place in early January.
It's the Holiday Season. And we've been in a long hard fight. You've done so much. Sacrificed a lot. But, I'm asking you to do two last things before these final Senate votes.
1. CLICK HERE TO Contact your Senators one more time to tell them you are fully aware of all the pork-barrel earmarks, vote buying and political corruption in this health care bill. And, that you want them to reject this kind of politics and vote NO. If your Senators are Republicans, THANK THEM for voting against this bill this morning.
2. Take a moment to email your friends/family list. YOU CAN USE THIS LINK to ask them to take action by contacting their Senators today. If we can show a frenzy of activity now -- just a few days before Christmas -- that will send a powerful message.
We're winning with the American public. Every poll shows that. This political class in Washington knows that and so they are desperately trying to get this thing done now using the Holiday Season and the dark of night as cover. Let's not let them get away with it.
One last thing. I want to hear directly from you -- in your own words -- why you're fighting this health care fight as a grassroots activist. Please email healthcare@afp-mail.com and just tell me in a few words why you're involved. I think it will be encouraging and helpful for folks around the country to hear the reasons why Americans like you are doing what you are doing.
We'll post a sampling of your words -- without using your full name -- in the next few days. In the meantime, let's keep fighting.
PS: Remember, the next Senate vote is Tuesday morning around 7 a.m. Let's make sure they hear from us again. CLICK HERE
Americans for Prosperity® (AFP) is a nationwide organization of citizen leaders committed to advancing every individual's right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and scope of government is the best safeguard to ensuring individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans...
For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org
~~~
8 comments:
Thanks for the links Susannah - I watched the vote last night and knowing what has transpired in order to come to that result - just makes me heart-sick. To think that the kind of coercion and bribery taking place is accepted as 'politics as usual' is appalling.
My senators are probably sick of hearing from me, but I sent another email. It's too important not to.
Dear Susannah,
This is a bigger deal than most folks comprehend and I would like to post some thoughts but fighting this demon has got me wore out.
Maybe tomorrow, because I care.
jadedfellow
BetteJo~ Please, please continue to contact your people. This whole thing just makes me sick. Take a look @ this article:
http://www.redstate.com/erick/2009/12/21/we-are-no-longer-a-nation-of-laws-senate-sets-up-requirement-for-super-majority-to-ever-repeal-obamacare/
Jaded~ See that article, too. It's absolutely bigger than any of us realize & it makes me ill.
OK, as far as your "look @ this article", we're all doomed business.
First of all the article is basically saying that the death panels can't be repealed. Well, that's true, because you can't repeal something that doesn't exist. You can call the medicare advisory board anything you want, but it doesn't change the fact that subsection c only gives this board the responsibility to investigate and make recommendations to Congress and the President as to ways to reduce the cost of medicare. You can call Sen. McConnell "flatulence" but it doesn't make it so.
The part this isn't repealable except that it is, is subsection d which outlines the procedures for congress to consider the panel's recommendations. The fact that this procedure CAN be changed by 60 rather than 67 votes is due to it being a requirement of the law, not a Senate rule.
So basically, your article is a bunch of hot air, kind of like Mitch McConnell.
Take a chill pill.
Jim~ Never in our history has a behemoth government program full of entitlement goodies EVER been repealed. THAT's the point, and you seem to be missing it - again.
When the government moves to usurp 1/6 of our economy in 'one fell swoop,' without anyone even REALLY knowing what's in the bill (for more than 15 minutes), that IS cause for alarm, doom & gnashing of teeth.
Do you not get it? It astounds me that someone who's as seemingly intelligent as yourself really doesn't get that your freedoms are being whisked away & you're whistling a happy tune.
Astounding.
Also posted on your other post:
You said, "THIS spending takes over 1/6 of our economy in one swath, w/o anyone even knowing what we're DOING!!! "
"This spending" as you call it is PAID FOR within the bill itself. In fact, the CBO scores the Senate bill as REDUCING the deficit by about $130B in the first 10 years and $1.3 Trillion in the next 10 years. That means that it is not only paying for itself in savings, it's saving more of Concerned's child's future.
Your statement sounds like you are assuming that the government is going to spend an equivalent of 1/6th of the GDP to fund the entire health care industry. In 2006 health care spending was about $2.2T. That's ONE YEAR of health care spending vs. $871B one-time spending on this bill. In the meantime my insurance will continue to be funded by me and my employer only now it won't double in cost ever 6-8 years.
This bill does not "take over" the health care industry. It adds new consumer protections, gets more people covered by insurance instead of emergency room public costs, and improves the efficiency of Medicare. No insurance companies are taken over by the government. No hospitals are taken over by the government. No doctors are taken over by the government.
Jim~ Please see my last 2 comments on the 'Bedazzle them w/ Brilliance' post. Thanks.
Hey BetteJo~ While I'm here...I'll try to remember to send you the email of a picture I saw the other day. It would be really cool for your Picture a Day blog!
;)
Hope Christmas was lovely for you - & everyone else here!
Happy New Year all!
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