| Dear Senator Dodd,
Senator Ted Kennedy considered health care reform "the cause" of his life. In his 47 years in the Senate, Senator Ted Kennedy fought for universal comprehensive coverage some 15 different times. Working closely with the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee to create a fair and just bill and pass health care reform bill this year, even while undergoing cancer treatments in Massachusetts.
But the bill before the Senate today does not look at all like the reform that Senator Ted Kennedy fought for. |
| There is no universal coverage. There is no "public option." The only thing that there is, is a mandate that every American buy health coverage from the same jackoffs that have been ripping off the American people for years.
This is not Senator Kennedy's dream. It is not a progressive vision.
Many times it has been said that a Health Care package must be passed now, or it won't be passed at all. The bill before the Senate is not a health care bill, but it is a financial bailout for the health insurance industry and the pharmaceutical industry.
It is not a bill that Senator Ted Kennedy would have fought or voted for. It is a bill he would have filibustered.
It is time for you, and other progressive Senators to go to the Majority Leader's office and demand that the original bill that was presented, the one from the HELP Committee be passed by reconciliation, that the progressives in the Democratic Party will not vote for the current proposed health care bill.
For me, this is a season of hope, new hope for a justice and fair prosperity for the many and not just for the few, new hope. And this is the cause of my life, new hope that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American -- north, south, east, west, young, old -- will have decent, quality health care as a fundamental right and not a privilege. - Senator Ted Kennedy at 2008 Democratic National Convention Aug 26, 2008
This bill before the Senate is a bill that will bring new hope to the few; those who own and operate private health insurance companies that will make even more money off the mandate that every American must buy their overpriced non-competitive terrible policies. This bill as it exists now in the Senate was not the cause of Senator Ted Kennedy's life.
25 years ago, in rural Kentucky Senator Ted Kennedy said, "the powerful interests and the wealthy interests have the high powered lobbyists. Their interests are well represented." The bill before the US Senate today represents those well-heeled interests and corporate lobbyists well. It does nothing to represent the dreams and the life's work of Senator Ted Kennedy.
Senator Dodd, It is up to you, and to the progressive Senators to remember what Senator Ted Kennedy spent his years fighting for. Not for the corporate interests, but for the people. For universal health coverage that was affordable. Not to mandate that the American people purchase an overpriced and poor quality product that will cost them more and provide them with less. It is time for you, and the progressive Senators to say what Senator Kennedy would have said if he was here. That there is a big difference between getting any bill, or accepting a bad bill; a bill that will hurt America and her people. Senator Ted Kennedy understood that sometimes you had to take small steps forward to make progress. But the bill before the Senate is not progressive, but regressive for the American people. Not a step forward, but a step back.
It is time to tell the Majority Leader "No. Either take the HELP Bill through reconciliation or expect to pass this travesty with the help of the GOP, as no progressive member of this body will support a bad bill just to say that 'we passed health care'".
Remember Senator Kennedy. Just say no. |
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