| (Updated below.)
Following up on Sen. Dodd's guest post below on the process of getting a bill with a strong public option out of the HELP Committee, it's worth pointing out who is actually responsible for holding this up in committee according to a recent FDL post, and how progressive activists can have an impact in the next few hours and days:
According to a source with direct knowledge of what is happening on the HELP Committee, the problem is that two Democrats -- Kay Hagan and Jeff Bingaman -- are refusing to sign on.
"We can't bring it up because we'd actually lose the vote," said the source. "They'd vote with the Republicans."
Bingaman and Hagan are in favor of watering down a public plan into Kent Conrad's co-op plan, which is supported by insurance lobbyists. "It gives them the appearance of supporting a public option without getting them in trouble with the insurance companies," said the source
Senator Bingaman subsequently told FDL he "supports a strong public option". Which apparently leaves Senator Hagan as the sole holdout.
There is a lot on the line here. A health care bill without a public option is unacceptable, and should be to all of our representatives. While we make sure our own representatives know that, let's also make sure the one Senator who appears to be putting the brakes on the public option in this committee hears from us too.
The NC state blog BlueNC is asking their readers to contact Senator Hagan and ask her to support a strong public option in the HELP committee. We can help get a real public option out of HELP by joining them in doing so as well:
Contact Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC):
Email: Senator_Hagan@hagan.senate.gov
Phone (DC): 202-224-6342
Fax (DC): 202-228-2563
Update: Health Care for America now just went up on the air in North Carolina pressuring Sen. Hagan. Keep the emails and calls coming.
Update 2: Mike Lux asks if Kay Hagan will betray Ted Kennedy:
With Ted Kennedy too sick to come down to DC and make the committee vote, Democrats will need every Senator on the HELP committee to produce a strong bill, a bill that fights for what Teddy Kennedy has been fighting for his entire life. The last holdout is Kay Hagan, who represents a state (NC) that is one of the worst in the country in terms of percent of people without health insurance. The insurance companies are lobbying Hagan against the bill, because they don't like having to compete with a public option. My simple question is this: Teddy Kennedy is too sick to be there, Senator Hagan, so he is relying on your vote for the issue that he has fought for passionately his entire life. Will you betray him to help the insurance companies? You need to make up your mind now.
Also worth asking: does Kay Hagan really want to be remembered as the Senator Who Killed Health Care? |
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