Ugly Numbers Game

Last week, it was soccer. No really, it was soocer. The 21st Century Know Nothings declared their opposition to soccer because the World Cup is actually something the entire world participates in (and more Americans are just discovering "the beautiful game").

Now, it's children. No really, it's children. The 21st Century Know Nothings are so enraged by Central American immigrant children that they want to deport them all. And even though President Obama is planning to move ahead with deportation for at least most of these children, Congressional G-O-TEA Culture Warriors still plan to impeach President Obama for something he did not do.

On Saturday, Rep. Steven Horsford (D-North Las Vegas) joined House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and Rep. Filemon Vela (D-Texas) to tour a detention facility in Vela's Brownsville district that's housing many of these immigrant children. And there, they made the case for strong action... For these children, and eventually for comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) as well.



But now, these children have become the latest excuse for House Republican "leaders" to kill CIR. They've tried #Benghazi. They've tried #IRS. They've tried #VA07. And yes, they've even tried #Bergdahl. And all of that was before they turned to children and soccer.

Now, as always, Congressional G-O-TEA "leaders" are blaming President Obama for their own shortcomings. And even though President Obama has overseen the deportation of about 2 million immigrants during his time in office, and even as his administration is about to order even more deportations, they're now attacking the President for "not enforcing the law"... Even when he has.

And of course, they're now attacking the President just as he's about to announce further executive action to curb the record pace of deportations. Millions of American families and numerous American communities risk being ripped apart and decimated if this record high pace of deportations continues. Yet because the lower House of Congress refuses to finish what the upper house (aka the Senate) started, President Obama must now figure out how many more to deport and how much more executive action to take to limit future deportations. It's an ugly numbers game. And it's actually an unnecessary numbers game...

That we wouldn't have to consider if supposedly pro-reform House Republicans (cough- Joe Heck- cough) had simply allowed a floor vote for HR 15. They know recent consideration of CIR has had nothing to do with the arrival of the immigrant children from Central America. They know the other "#ObamaScandal" excuses carry no weight. And they know they'll find their "principles for reform" in HR 15, especially since a few of them crossed over to cosponsor it!

So now, they expect us to play this ugly numbers game while they play politics with people's lives. And they expect us to cheer them when they threaten to impeach sue President Obama and invade Mexico. Apparently, they still haven't realized we're not interested in their petty political games.

The Actual Scandal

Here we go again. It's "SCANDAL!!!!" time. And more specifically, it's #Benghazi time.

Right now, House Democratic leaders are deliberating whether to participate in the new House Committee devoted to the G-O-TEA's favorite hashtag. Dare they risk legitimizing this farce? Or dare they miss an opportunity to call the G-O-TEA out on this farce?

It's not an easy decision... Unlike the actual scandal that needs to be not just investigated, but actually fixed.

It's been nearly 5 months since Congress let the federal unemployment insurance (UI) extension lapse. That's meant the loss of over $5 billion in economic activity. And it's meant unnecessary hardship for over 34,000 Nevadans and over 2.3 million Americans. Oh, and it may also soon mean the loss of over 240,000 jobs if Congress doesn't act soon.

Last month, the Senate passed bipartisan UI extension legislation. Yet since that Senate vote, the lower House of Congress has not touched UI. Even as the UI lapse has taken its toll on our economy & on over 2.3 million Americans, House Republican "leaders" have refused to schedule a #RenewUI vote.

In recent weeks, Congressional Republican "leaders" have claimed they want to find "solutions to poverty". One actual solution is right here. Instead of wasting any more of our tax dollars "investigating" a "scandalous" hashtag, they can #RenewUI and end the unnecessary suffering of millions of people who are just trying to get by.

Here we go again. While a haute faux scandal is about to be "investigated" to filth, the actual scandal is ignored. And actual people are suffering because of this. Does anyone else notice what's wrong with this picture?

Unavoidable

Who knew one bill could cause this much ruckus? Who thought one bill that was never expected to pass the House could scare House "leadership" so much? And who figured one bill that's often deemed "hopeless" by many media pundits could determine the future of an entire political party?

Meet HR 15. House Republican "leaders" have done everything possible to kill it. Rep. Joe Heck (R-Backbench) has said everything possible to excuse his inaction on it. And the national Republican Party has tried everything possible to "rebrand" it away.

Yet try as they might, they still haven't succeeded in killing HR 15. And now that House Democrats have already collected 190 signatures for their HR 15 discharge petition, it's become completely unavoidable.

It wasn't that long ago when House Republican "leaders" themselves declared their interest in passing comprehensive immigration reform (CIR). And earlier this year, they tried to wow everyone with their "principles for immigration reform". Yet despite their occasionally lofty rhetoric, they've failed to match that rhetoric with action.

Instead, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-P90X) boasted about killing his own "principles". And even after declaring his "support" for CIR, Ryan nonetheless recently voted twice against reform: first on the House floor to defeat a parliamentary maneuver to move HR 15 forward, and again in the House Budget Committee to reject inclusion of the measure to reduce the federal budget deficit by $900 billion in his House Budget (that's destined to go nowhere). (And FYI, Rep. Joe Heck also voted against CIR on the House floor.)

House Republicans have been trying so hard to evade this one bill. They've yet to realize that HR 15, along with the larger issues behind it, is unavoidable. No amount of parliamentary parsing and/or silly "rebranding" can change this reality.

They can't have it both ways. They can't pander to Latin@ voters with vague promises of reform while simultaneously pandering to their 21st Century Know Nothing base with real, concrete anti-immigrant/anti-reform votes. They must eventually make the unavoidable decision: Will they finally allow a floor vote for CIR, or will they eventually admit that they never really wanted to pass any kind of CIR?

Who knew one bill could so forcefully call out House Republicans' duplicity on immigration reform? Apparently, HR 15 is. And this truth is increasingly becoming unavoidable.

Prove It

They can't say they weren't warned. We already talked about it yesterday. And it finally emerged today.

Of course, we're talking (again) about the discharge petition for HR 15. It finally dropped today. And even as DC pundits speculate on what will result of this, they are starting to realize that comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) remains far from "dead".



Of course, that's what House Republican "leaders" were banking on earlier this year. That's why they thought they could get away with killing their own "principles for immigration reform". And that's why they thought they could get away with hemming & hawing whenever asked about when they'll ever move on CIR.

But really, did they think they could indefinitely move the goal posts on CIR? Did they really think they could forever avoid the hot seat? This is what Rep. Steven Horsford (D-North Las Vegas) reminded his colleagues of earlier today.



Reps. Steven Horsford and Dina Titus (D-Paradise) have already signed the discharge petition. They've made it clear they want a House floor vote on CIR. And they've proven they truly want a chance to pass CIR this year.

It remains to be seen if House Republicans will back up any of their pro-reform rhetoric with real action. Ever since they released their "principles for immigration reform", they've only managed to pass 2 anti-immigrant bills. And even as Rep. Joe Heck (R-Henderson) and a few other House Republicans have claimed to "support reform", they've yet to prove it with their votes.



Now, they have a chance to do so. Now, they have a chance to prove their commitment to passing CIR. All they have to do is sign the discharge petition. All they have to do is give all their colleagues a chance to vote on the floor.

It's been 9 months since the Senate passed bipartisan CIR legislation. There's no reason why we've had to wait this long for the House to take action. But at least now, a vehicle exists for the House to finally pass CIR this year. If House Republicans truly want us to believe they want CIR as much as the rest of us, they can now prove it by signing the discharge petition and allowing a floor vote.

Make a Difference

It's quite well known by now. And whoever doesn't know this yet is about to get schooled. Rep. Steven Horsford (D-North Las Vegas) is fierce. When he's not charming us with cupcakes or inspiring our kids at school, he's serving us bad@ss legislator realness. And we are officially living for it!

Today, he reminded us again why it's a shame that he can't do more in the House of Representatives. Even as a minority party freshman in that chamber, Rep. Horsford has managed to make a difference in advancing a number of important policies on Capitol Hill. One of those policies happens to be in the bill number we should all know by heart now: HR 15.

Last week, Rep. Horsford reminded us of the necessity of HR 15 when he did his part to help Bryan Rivera get his mother out of jail. Even though his father was the one who abused his mother and failed to pay child support, he turned her in to Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE). Bryan then shared his family's story at Horsford's immigration reform town hall. And while Bryan Rivera's mother was ultimately able to reunite with her son, Rep. Horsford used this as a teaching moment to show us exactly why comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) is so badly needed.

Today, Rep. Horsford took this message back to where it belongs: Capitol Hill. He was joined by Reps. Xavier Becerra (D-California), Judy Chu (D-California), and Joe Crowley (D-New York) to discuss House Democrats' next steps on HR 15 and CIR in general.



Remember when we discussed the Congressional procedure known as the discharge petition? That's what House Democrats will now be using for HR 15. If Senators Dean Heller (R) & Harry Reid (D) could join 13 other Republican Senators and 53 other Democratic Senators to pass S 744, why can't the House at least hold a floor vote on HR 15?

After all, House Republican "leaders" claim to
care about "family values". HR 15 would help keep American families together if passed. They also claim to care about "fiscal responsibility". HR 15 would lower the federal budget deficit by $900 billion in the next 20 years if passed. And again, HR 15 is firmly rooted in the bipartisan CIR plan that's already passed the Senate, attracted the support of numerous prominent Democrats & Republicans, and enjoys widespread public support. Why can't a bill like this have a floor vote?

House Republicans are still struggling to answer that question. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) has tried blaming President Obama. Rep. Joe Heck (R-Henderson) has tried blaming local CIR activists. And House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has tried blaming everyone (but himself, of course). Yet while they've tried and tried and tried again to deflect blame onto someone, anyone else, they've failed to make any real effort to put together their own CIR plan that can pass Congress.

No wonder why Rep. Steven Horsford and House Democratic leaders have had enough of the G-O-TEA's tiresome temper tantrums & pointless pity parties. If they truly want CIR, then they know exactly how to achieve it. It will just involve less hot air and more real action.

Rep. Horsford doesn't have to charge so hard on CIR, or on any other major issue for that matter. After all, he's a minority party freshman in what's become the lower House of Congress. He could have easily chosen to fade into the background and enjoy the easy backbencher life. However, he didn't choose that path. He chose this one. And he's clearly out to make a difference.

And if certain alleged "pro-reform" Republicans want to join him in making a difference, they know exactly how to do so. They can start by signing the discharge petition.

The Real Crisis

Last week, the world witnessed an epic and shocking tragedy. Yes, the US Shutdown Sh*tfest hasn't been the only troubling event in the world. Less than a mile off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa, a boat containing about 500 African immigrants caught fire and sank. As of yesterday, the Italian Coast Guard has recovered 274 dead bodies.

So far, only 155 people have survived the boat wreck. A few of those who survived have tried explaining to the world why they would embark on such a perilous journey.



And they're not the only ones who have had explaining to do. The European Union has been forced to confront shortcomings in its foreign and immigration policies in the wake of the Lampedusa Tragedy. Why did all these people die? And why have so many risked their lives to crash onto such a tiny island?



Of course, immigration reform isn't just an issue Europe must tackle with. It's also a major issue here in America. But thanks to the G-O-TEA manufactured crisis turned Shutdown Sh*tfest, the issue of comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) has almost completely dropped off the radar in DC.

Yet even in the midst of all the latest and greatest unnecessary drama, some refuse to let CIR die because of insani-TEA run amok. Earlier this week, Reps. Steven Horsford (D-North Las Vegas) and Dina Titus (D-Paradise) joined with House
Democratic leaders to introduce HR 15, the long awaited House
comprehensive immigration reform bill. After waiting over three months for House Republican "leaders" to respond to the Senate's passage of S 744 (the Senate's bipartisan CIR bill), House Democrats are sick and tired of playing an unnecessary waiting game that's constantly been tainted by unnecessary drama.

While our borders haven't recently experienced a singular tragic event like the Lampedusa boat wreck, immigrants here worry about family breakups, loss of work, persecution, and even deadly force. Long story short: the lives of immigrants coming to America are not easy, far from it. Instead, immigrsnt families must overcome numerous hurdles, big and small, just to survive in America.



In the wake of Lampedusa, Europe must confront a host of economic issues at home and abroad. So must America as we witness the many casualties of our broken immigration system. And we will never fix that system until we address the plight of the 11.7 million undocumented immigrants and the reasons why they could not access the "legal way". We've already detailed the economic case for CIR, but there's also a basic humanitarian case to be made.

Why must these people suffer? Why must our immigration system remain broken? And why are so many politicians wasting time on manufactured crises while ignoring the real ones?

No Easy Solution

Just since this morning, we've seen movement(s) on Syria. Congressional leaders now seem to be forming a united front behind President Obama. Even House Speaker John Boehner (R) announced his support after meeting with the President.



So it's a go? Not so fast.

Pew and ABC-Washington Post released new polls today showing large opposition to any military action against Syria. And these follow earlier polls showing mostly similar numbers. This is probably what Code Pink's Medea Benjamin was referring to when she and other Code Pink protesters briefly disrupted the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's hearing on Syria.



This is probably also why the fate of military authorization is still very much up in the air on Capitol Hill. Many members (including some from here) are still far from making up their minds. The horrors of the Assad Regime are certainly front and center... Along with many memories of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars.

So far, Congress is pretty fractured on Syria... And it goes beyond the usual party lines. Can the President's foreign policy team break through this? Or are enough Members of Congress so "war weary" that they'll even say no to what's supposed to be a "limited strike" on Syria?

There doesn't seem to be any "appealing option" when it comes to Syria. Do we want to risk lives by ordering a military strike? Or do we want to risk lives by letting Bashar al-Assad (who may be using chemical weapons, if we're to believe White House declarations) hang around for a while longer? Is there another way to handle this?

Ultimately, everyone will have to meet at the negotiating table. So how do we get the warring factions in Syria there? And what are we willing to do to help put an end to this gruesome civil war? These are among the many questions we keep asking about the Syria crisis. There's no easy solution, but we have to decide on something.

Message from Cleve Jones on Passing ENDA

(Also at Stonewall)

Robin McGehee of GetEQUAL will be one of our special guests at our next Stonewall Mixer at The Arts Factory in Las Vegas on April 5. They're currently working on getting Congress to pass ENDA. And while our Nevada Democratic delegation has come forward in strong support, we need for them and Democratic leaders to urge their colleagues to get moving. A special request from legendary LGBTQ equality activist Cleve Jones is below:

We would like to share with you this open letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi from Cleve Jones, a pioneering equal rights activist featured in the film "MILK," creator of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, and Senior Advisor to the Courage Campaign. Last week, 10 people were arrested for peacefully sitting in Speaker Pelosi's office - one group in DC, and another group in her San Francisco district office - for refusing to leave without a commitment to bring the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) to the House floor for a vote this month.

Please click here if you would like to join GetEQUAL and our friends at the Courage Campaign in signing on to Cleve's letter and petition to Speaker Pelosi asking her to prioritize the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act:

http://getequal.org/speakerpelosi

Robin McGehee, Kip Williams, and the GetEQUAL crew







Dear Speaker Pelosi --

I would like to express my deep appreciation and gratitude for your relentless perseverance in the passage of health care reform. Along with President Obama, your steadfast leadership and personal commitment has fundamentally changed the lives of millions of Americans.

You and I have known each other for a long time, since we first met as political organizers in San Francisco. I was proud when you were elected Speaker and proud again on Sunday night when you gave a powerful speech on the floor of the House of Representatives about the meaning of health care reform, eloquently asserting that:

"When it comes to health care for all Americans, 'All politics is personal.' It's personal for the family that wrote to me who had to choose between buying groceries and seeing a doctor. It's personal to the family who was refused coverage because their child had a pre-existing condition..."

This profound statement about the power of politics to change the lives of everyday people touched me deeply. And it reminded me of the opportunity we have right now to transform the lives of Americans again -- the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

As shocking as it may be to believe in the year 2010, LGBT people can still legally be fired from their jobs in at least 29 states of our country simply because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. That's why the Employment Non-Discrimination Act is so vitally important.

Once passed, ENDA would provide to all Americans basic protections against workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. As my friends at Pride at Work describe it, ENDA is "based on the labor principle that every worker should be judged solely on his or her merits as a worker" and is similar in nature to other federal civil rights laws like Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

We've seen the passion you've brought to the challenge of passing health care reform. Now more than ever, we need your passion and skill to achieve the passage of ENDA.

As you know, many Americans in the LGBT community -- especially young people -- are increasingly frustrated and cynical about the pace of progress in Washington.

We want you to show them that cynicism is not the response at this time. They need to believe in the process, Madame Speaker, and you can restore their faith in this process by moving expeditiously to bring ENDA to a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives.

I know your values, Madame Speaker, and I know that you strongly support ENDA. Now I want these young people to know what is in your heart.

With the knowledge that health care reform has been achieved and that enough votes now exist in the House today to pass ENDA, will you work with Rep. George Miller, Chair of the House Committee on Education and Labor, to ensure that ENDA is passed out of committee and brought to the floor of the house immediately?

I am writing this open letter to you and sharing it with my friends in the Courage Campaign and GetEQUAL communities, thousands of whom will sign a petition to you asking that ENDA be prioritized for passage now. You can read the petition -- and Americans can sign on to it -- here:

http://www.getequal.org/SpeakerPelosi

Congratulations again on your historic achievement. Along with thousands of other people reading this letter, I wish you the best.

Cleve Jones

Senior Advisor, Courage Campaign

Health Care: Yes, We Can... Use Reconciliation?

So Nancy Pelosi is finally admitting the obvious in public.

House Speaker Pelosi's top healthcare adviser today outlined a plan that would allow both chambers to make changes to the Senate healthcare overhaul before the overhaul becomes law.

Wendell Primus said the plan is to have President Obama sign the Senate bill before signing the legislation making the changes, even though Congress will approve them in reverse to satisfy skeptical House members who refuse to pass the Senate bill before changes are made.

"The trick in all of this is that the president would have to sign the Senate bill first, then the reconciliation bill second, and the reconciliation bill would trump the Senate bill," Wendell Primus, told health policy experts gathered at the National Health Policy Conference hosted by AcademyHealth and Health Affairs.

So why wait any longer? Is Harry Reid paying attention? And more importantly, is President Obama paying attention?

A new WaPo poll shows that nearly 2/3 of Americans want health care reform done this year. So why not just get it done and get it done right?

By the way, another independent study shows that reconciliation can be used to pass health care reform. So yet again, why the wait? Get health care done, get it done right, and use reconciliation if necessary.

Earth to Harry Reid: Change. Course. NOW!

Yeah... Massachusetts just turned a little redder tonight. Ted Kennedy is rolling in his grave. Democrats blew it... AGAIN! All of a sudden, "hope" and "change" are getting lost in tea bags.

I'm sure Rahm Emmanuel and all the other lying, cheating, corporatist hacks that have turned President Obama's mandate into trash will try to make this teaching moment into a "let's strengthen the Blue Dog hand to make ourselves look more like Republicans!" moment, but that's absolutely WRONG.

Former Nevada Netroots Maven (and still one of my fave progressive bloggers) Taylor Marsh explained this perfectly over the weekend:

Obama and the Democrats are trying to cram through a health care bill that many feel will come back to haunt us all. Like JoeBeets, many other Democrats are against this action, but we’re being asked to hold our nose and support what’s going on, as if health care is the only problem with the current leadership. It isn’t.

There will always be a group of Democrats who will chide people who have had enough of Democratic promises on the altar of selling out, saying that more time is required, Republicans are worse. What these people ignore is that if you never say enough is enough it’s very unlikely you’ll ever get real change, because politicians only take you seriously when you make them hurt.

The “they have nowhere else to go” theory of Democratic Party allegiance is wrong on multiple levels. Starting with the reality that if people can’t tell Democratic politicians and their policies from what’s coming from the right, as Democrats sell out women’s civil rights, while ignoring equality for gays and lesbians, including when these people are willing to die for their country, then it makes little difference who’s in office anymore. Especially when Democrats are as cozy with Wall Street as Republicans.

To be taken seriously you have to play rough. [...] But I wouldn’t count on ["nose holding"] working beyond 2010.

And she's making some more good points now. And hey, doesn't Taylor make more sense than these idiots?



Oh yes, and props to what Digby says.

Ok. Eight or nine months ago the villagers were all saying that the Republicans were eating at each other and that it wasn't very smart. And the Republicans told them to go to hell, Fox News started the tea party movement and the right wing media in general launched what seemed like a lunatic campaign to demonize Barack Obama as a socialist. All that seems to be working pretty well for them at the moment, so [Politico hack Mike] Allen's admonishment doesn't make a lot of sense.

In fact, the only lesson to be learned is to not listen to anything the village media says. Ever. The Republicans learned that a long time ago. The Democrats need to learn it too.

If I could have a word with Harry Reid right now, I'd say this. Tomorrow is another day. There's no reason to worry about the early and faulty political obituaries now... If Democrats shape up NOW, stop giving into DLC/Blue Dog/corporatist bullshit, stop coddling Wall Street fat cats, and start working for we the people ASAP!

Get the damned health care bill done, then stop talking about any more corporate bailouts and start spending that TARP money on job creation. Stop bribing ConservaDems to vote for craptastic HMO/PhRMA bailouts and coal/oil/nuke/fossil fuel giveaways, and start reasserting majority rule to get real progress made on issues like health care and climate change that people still care about. And finally, just shut out whatever White House fools that have ruined President Obama's "political capital" and pay attention to Peter Daou.

The case by progressives that Democrats are undermining themselves with faux-bipartisanship and tepid policies gets much closer to the heart of the problem. I've written a number of posts arguing that it's all a matter of values and ethics. In essence: when you fail to govern based on a morally sound, well-articulated, solidly-grounded set of ideals, you look weak. All the legislative wins in the world won't change that. People gravitate to people who exude moral authority. The vast majority of voters lack the detailed policy knowledge that would enable them to make an accurate assessment of policy differences, but they do have a visceral sense of when a candidate or an elected official believes in something and fights for it. It's why campaigns are laden with moral arguments; politicians ask to be elected because they'll "do the right thing." The right thing in the current administration's case was to be the anti-Bush, nothing more, nothing less. The ethical antidote to a radical administration. It was both politically smart and morally right. And it worked wonders for Democrats as the entire subtext of the 2008 campaign. [...]

Progressive bloggers have been jumping up and down, yelling at their Democratic leaders that the path of compromise and pragmatism only goes so far. The limit is when you start compromising away your core values.

I sincerely hope that's the lesson learned today.

Will someone please forward this to Harry Reid and cc this to Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, and whoever replaces that dumbass Tim Kaine at the DNC (please, fire him!)?

Health Care: So Reid Got a Public Option in. So What's Next?

So we got a public option... With a state opt-out. Nevada may be under pressure to opt out... But it looks increasingly unlikely. Health care reform looks ready to pass, but is it enough reform?

We'll see. While the HELP Committee public option was left standing mostly intact (other than the state opt-out clause), there are still some nasty Finance Committee provisions that were also left standing. The exchanges don't have enough negotiating power. The "free rider" provision prevents a workable employer mandate. Oh, and the "national plans" proposed would be able to circumvent state insurance regulations.

Oh, and did I mention that state opt-out is better off thrown out of the bill?

Obviously, there's still work to be done. Hopefully there will be some good amendments on the Senate floor to support. And thankfully on the House side, their bill keeps looking stronger and stronger. There's no way we'll see a very ugly bill emerge out of Conference.

So keep on our Congresscritters in Washington as the bill finally makes it to the floor in both houses. Let's see if they can actually deliver meaningful health care reform this year.

NV-03: Dina Delivers on Health Care & Public Option

Here's some great late breaking news from Open Left. The votes are being whipped among House Democrats for not just any public option, but a robust public option with a Medicare +5% reimbursement rate. Nancy Pelosi is counting, and fortunately it looks like we're really close to seeing a great health care bill passing the full House.

And better yet, I just called Dina Titus' DC office and confirmed it. She's on board!

So please call Dina's DC office at 202-225-3252 and/or her Henderson office at 702-387-4941 and thank her for standing up for real health care reform that works for Nevada's working families. Hopefully by next week, Pelosi will have enough votes to pass health care reform with a robust public option out of the House. And from there, it will all be on Senator Harry Reid...

Public Option Dead? Not So Fast, Sez Pelosi!

Three cheers for Speaker Nancy Pelosi!

“As the President stated in March, ‘The thinking on the public option has been that it gives consumers more choices and it helps keep the private sector honest, because there’s some competition out there.’

“We agree with the President that a public option will keep insurance companies honest and increase competition.

“There is strong support in the House for a public option. In the House, all three of our bills contain a public option as does the bill from the Senate HELP Committee.

“A public option is the best option to lower costs, improve the quality of health care, ensure choice and expand coverage.

“The public option brings real reform to lower costs over the 10 year period of the bill.”

And fortunately, she also has the numbers to back her up. Anywhere from 64 to 100 House Democrats have pledged NOT to vote for an HMO/pharma bailout, so they would kill that bad bill if they and all the Republicans vote against it (as expected if the Baucus-Conrad-Grassley bailout plan were to make the House floor). So really, we actually have a good chance of getting a good health care bill passed so long as House Progressive Democrats hold and don't fold.

So again, please thank the progressives that are holding the line on a strong public option, send a thank-you note to Speaker Pelosi, and urge our Nevada Democrats in Congress to join the progressives in fighting for a pro-consumer health care bill.

If we stand strong and don't waver, we can win real health care reform.