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Senate Health Care Developments — Contact Your Senators NOW

Ann Beltran, Domestic Policy Volunteer, RESULTS
December 16, 2009

Today, Wednesday, December 16, the single-payer amendment by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is being read on the floor of the Senate as I write this. As silly as the reading formality requested by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) seems to me, it does give us another twelve hours to e-mail (my calls are not getting through today) our senators and make one last push for their vote on this. While there seems no chance of passing, both Congress and the American people need to know the support for meaningful reform of the administration of health care is still alive and fighting! While the need for the 60th vote in the Senate has hamstrung the efforts of the majority of Congress to enact a public option or something that reasonably substitutes it, the opposition only serves to strengthen the platform for Health Care Reform 2.0 in the coming years that will get us closer to bending the cost trajectory.

Two other amendments of interest remain, but it appears unclear what will actually get voted on as the window for action before year end gets smaller with each passing day. Two that may still come up are:

  • The amendment by Senator Robert Casey (D-PA) that would protect and improve CHIP by providing full funding for the program through 2019, setting a floor for income eligibility for children at 250 percent of FPL starting in 2014, guaranteeing Early Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) for CHIP children, and streamlining the enrollment process. Last week, over 500 organizations and groups signed a letter in support of the Casey amendment. Take Action to Strengthen Health Care for America's Children.
  • An amendment sponsored by Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and five other senators that would give states the option to eliminate the five-year waiting period for lawfully residing immigrants who need access to Medicaid. Send a message in support of Menendez amendment.

We need to stay tuned to Senator Reid's actions to move toward a timely cloture vote and whether time for voting on these amendments is made available.

In January, we will need to move into action again to ensure that the House and Senate bills — about 75 percent the same according to Speaker Nancy Pelosi — are successfully melded into one bill that will pass both houses of Congress. To help you continue to reach out to others in your communities regarding health care reform, we have an updated Powerpoint presentation available for your use to focus on ensuring that reform reaches the poorest through Medicaid expansion and growth of community health centers.

Read More: Health Care Reform

Online Discussion 

Please note the comments expressed on this page are not necessarily those of RESULTS or RESULTS Educational Fund.

By Norman W. Pfaltzgraff
December 22 at 12:50 pm

I will remember that our Iowa U.S. Senators,
Grassley and Harkin signed onto the Health care
bill that will make Iowans pay for the tax breaks and sweatheart deals that many states
got just to get them to sign on to the bill. I
think this stinks to high heaven and I can’t
support anyone who makes Iowans foot he bill
for the breaks some states got.

By Barney
December 20 at 8:16 pm

Thats funny, I thought LBJ’s"great society” program was suppose to create the utopia you left wing socialists always think you will be getting. After we start trying to pay for this and the cap & trade crap where will the money come from for the next government scam? The next government hand out will not come from my tax money, I lost my job. If you haven’t noticed they have just about sent all our industry out of the country remember that was on Bill’s (I DIDN’T HAVE SEX WITH THAT WOMAN), watch. Remember he was the one that said Bush would “Blow a whole in the budget”. Looks to me like his party is trying to blow the whole country away. And their suceeding!
As for Sanders yeah he did make a fool of himself. They should read the whole dam thing why vote for something when you don’t know whats in it? Unless you don’t want the voters to know what a pile of radical crap it really is!

By Meredith
December 17 at 12:58 pm

The amendment was brought up for consideration about noon ET yesterday, which would normally have proceeded with a debate and then vote. However, in order to delay the process, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) invoked his right to require that the entire amendment be read. Since the Sanders amendment is over 700 pages, an entire reading of the amendment would have taken 8-10 hours, thus delaying debate on health care and other matters for another day. Not to mention making the Senate clerks quite hoarse in the process.
Once it was clear that Sen. Coburn was not going to waive the reading, Sen. Sanders withdrew the amendment to allow Senate business to continue. But not before making a fiery speech chastising these tactics and their intent. “The day will come, although I recognize it’s not today, when the U.S. Congress will have to vote to stand up to … all those who profit every single year off of human sickness,” Sanders said. “That day will come.”
It is unknown if the amendment will be brought up again. Considering there is nothing stopping the same thing from happening again, it is doubtful it will. RESULTS is very disappointed at this turn of events and thanks Sen. Sanders and all those who would have supported his amendment for making a strong stand for a national health program.
You can do your part by thanking Sen. Sanders for his commitment to single-payer health care. You can send him and thank you via his website at http://sanders.senate.gov/contact/.  You can also send a message to your senators in support of single-payer by using out online action. Simply replace the language in the message with something like:
“I am very disappointed that opponents of health care reform used Sen. Bernie Sanders’ single-payer amendment to stall the political process. This would have been an historic vote in the Senate; the first vote on a national health program in Senate history.
This amendment would have created a federally-funded, state administered plan that assures health care for everyone while controlling costs. Although I am disappointed at this setback, I still strongly support a national health program; I urge you to do the same. Please offer our thanks to Sen. Sanders for his efforts on behalf of your constituents and please support similar measures to create a national health program in the future.
Thank you for your time and consideration.”
You can read more about these events at http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Daily-Reports/2009/December/16/senate-health-bill-readathon.aspx and also watch video of Sen. Sanders on the Senate floor at http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/290733-4.

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