Domestic Weekly Update March 23, 2010
New and Urgent in This Week’s Update
New and Urgent in Washington, DC
Organizational Updates
Health Reform Becomes Law! Tell the Senate to Complete Reform!Congratulations to all of you who have worked unceasingly to assure quality, affordable health care for everyone in this country. At approximate noon ET today, your work paid off. President Obama signed the Senate’s Patient Protection and Affordable Health Act into law at the White House. Since the Senate bill is the basis for reform, health reform is now the law of the land. On Sunday evening, after months of negotiating and procedural maneuvering, the House of Representatives passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Act, 219-212. This is the health reform bill that passed the Senate back on December 24, 2009. Unfortunately, no House Republicans voted yes. Following the vote on the Senate health bill, the House passed H.R.4872, the Reconciliation Act of 2010, 220 to 211, which amends and improves the Senate bill. The changes include increasing reimbursement rates for doctors who treat Medicaid patients in 2013 and 2014, increasing funding for community health centers, and eliminating provisions like the “Cornhusker Kickback.” (we will outline the details of reform in next week’s Update when the reform process is complete; to learn more about how the House, Senate, and final health reform bills compare, see our updated Health Reform Summary Chart). The Senate now begins debate on the H.R.4872. For procedural reasons, the president had to sign the Senate health bill into law before the Senate could begin debate on the reconciliation bill. Under reconciliation rules, this bill needs only 51 votes to pass the Senate. It is imperative that the Senate pass H.R.4872, and pass it AS IS, i.e. without changes. For months, the House and Senate have been working on changes to the Senate bill that would satisfy enough House members to vote in favor Senate health bill, while still garnering at least 50 votes in the Senate (the Vice President breaks a tie). That “deal” is reflected in H.R.4872. On Saturday, Senate Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) delivered a letter to House Democrats signed by at least 50 senators committing to passing the reconciliation bill. Based on that assurance, the House passed the Senate bill and the reconciliation bill on Sunday. If the Senate now fails to pass H.R.4872, it will not only weaken reform (the reconciliation bill makes the Senate bill much better), it will destroy any comity between the House and Senate. Republicans in the Senate are planning to do everything they can to prevent the bill from passing. Furthermore, if the Senate changes even one word of the reconciliation bill, it would have to go back to the House for another vote and there is no guarantee the House would have the votes to pass it again. After weeks of negotiations between House and Senate leaders on what the reconciliation bill should include, changing it now would delay the process, possibly weaken reform, and again threaten any good will between the House and Senate. It is therefore imperative that the Senate pass H.R.4872, the Reconciliation Act of 2010, unchanged and immediately. TAKE ACTION: Call your senators toll free (888) 797-8717 TODAY and urge them to quickly pass H.R.4872, the Reconciliation Act of 2010. Urge senators to REJECT any amendments or changes to the bill and pass it AS IS. When calling, you can say:
You can use our call-in alert to make your calls. Again, Congress is expected to be flooded with calls this week so you may not get through on the first try. Keep trying. You can also call members’ of Congress local offices and give them your message. See our Elected Officials page to find contact information for their state and district offices. If you cannot call, please send an e-mail in support of reform (but remember that calls carry more weight than e-mails). Thanks to Faithful Reform in Health Care for providing the conference call number. Thoughts on Reform; Thank House Members for Doing the Right Thing (March Action)The passage of health reform in the House is monumental (although as mentioned above reform is not complete until the Senate passes H.R.4872). We’ve heard all the talking points as to what reform will do for all Americans. But discussed very little is the fact that this health reform legislation is the largest anti-poverty investment in decades. Most of the spending in this legislation goes for one purpose — expanding coverage for those who don’t have it. Final reform (the Senate bill plus the reconciliation bill) will provide coverage to 32 million people by 2019. Nearly half will gain coverage through Medicaid; the rest will get coverage through private insurance. Many of those buying private coverage will receive premium subsidies from the government to help them purchase it. Therefore, the largest investments in reform are designed specifically to help low-income Americans. Considering the political climate the last 30 years which tends to blame the poor for their lot in life, this is no small achievement. Despite setbacks in losing single-payer health care and a public health insurance option, your constant drumbeat to Congress on ensuring that reform helps people in poverty kept the most crucial elements in place. As a result, combating poverty, while perhaps not to political focus of reform, is certainly the practical focus of it. And it is the grassroots that did it. Over the last year, your commitment and determination helped preserve the crucial elements of reform and revive the process time and again when many thought all was lost. Furthermore, this victory is a victory for democracy itself. RESULTS has spent thirty years convincing people that they can make a difference. Despite our successes, the most potent weapons of the status quo — cynicism, disillusionment, and disengagement — are still around and still powerful. And they made their presence known repeatedly throughout the debate over health reform. But a funny thing happened on Sunday night; hope and optimism won. It was not luck or chance that produced this victory — it was the vigilance, passion, and stamina of people like you that did it. After Sunday, no American can say “my voice doesn’t matter” or “corporate interests always win.” On Sunday night, what was thought to be the exception once again became the rule. TAKE ACTION: Passing reform happened because of the commitment and courage of volunteers like you and members of Congress to do the right thing. Members of the House who voted for reform deserve our gratitude and support. If your representative voted for reform in Sunday, call and tell him/her thank you for passing reform and ensuring that low-income Americans got priority in the bill. You can use our call-in alert to make your calls. If you representative voted against reform, call and tell him/her that as a constituent you are grateful that reform passed despite his/her vote and hope they will soon see the merits of reform. You can also send an e-mail to representatives. You can also thank members of Congress by taking the March Action. The March Action sheet urges you to write letters to the editor in favor of passing reform. Use the action now to thank Congress for passing it. Because the action sheet was written at the beginning of the month before Sunday’s vote, we have updated our online Letter to the Editor Action Alert to reflect the latest developments. Use this alert draft your letters to the editor thanking House members for their vote, You can use the March Action sheet to brush up on the benefits of reform. Set Up Face-to-Face Meetings During Spring RecessCongress will be on recess March 29pApril 12 for the spring recess. This is a great time to set up face-to-face meeting with representatives and senators while they are back home in your states. Use this opportunity to thank members of Congress for passing health reform and to talk about the next item on our legislative agenda, Economic Opportunity for All. TAKE ACTION: Contact the schedulers for your representatives and senators to set up a face-to-face meeting while they are back home. See our Activist Milestone: Meet Face-to-Face with Your Member of Congress for tips on scheduling and planning your meeting. You can also use our online alert to help set up your meetings. Be sure to customize your request to the subjects you plan to cover. Once you get a meeting scheduled, please contact Meredith Dodson (dodson@results.org) or Jos Linn (jlinn@results.org) to help you plan your meeting. Child Nutrition to Get Senate Committee MarkupOn March 17, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) released her draft child nutrition reauthorization bill. Full committee markup (i.e. editing of the bill) is scheduled for Wednesday, March 24. Chairman Lincoln’s bill, known as the chairman’s mark, provides an increase in child nutrition funding of $4.5 billion over ten years, all financed by reallocating money from other Agriculture Committee programs. The funding is only half of the $10 billion over ten years requested by the Obama administration. Funding would have to be found outside of the committee’s jurisdiction to bridge that gap. The mark takes several steps toward ensuring that children can participate in nutrition programs and get the food they need. According to our allies at Food Research and Action Center, the bill:
TAKE ACTION: Ask senators to support child nutrition reauthorization and to increase funding to match the president’s request of $10 billion over ten years. See our alert to send e-mails to your representative and senators on child nutrition reauthorization Quick NewsStudent Loan Reform Included in Reconciliation Bill. While health reform has dominated the conversation the last few weeks, another major change in federal policy is also included in the Reconciliation Act of 2010 — student loan reform. Currently, the federal government provides subsidies to private student loan companies who provide education loans to college students. These loans are guaranteed by the government. The federal government also directly provides loans to students. The reconciliation bill eliminates the subsidies to private lenders so that all federally-guaranteed loans will be made by directly by the government. It is estimated that this change will save the government $61 billion over ten years, which will be used to strengthen the Pell Grant program and other education programs, as well as reduce the deficit. AnnouncementsPlease Submit Your Group Planning Forms. Please complete your Group Planning Form and e-mail, mail or fax a copy to Meredith Dodson at the RESULTS DC office. International Conference Registration Online This Week. The registration form for the RESULTS 2010 International Conference (June 20-22 in Washington, DC) will be online later this week. Please visit our RESULTS International Conference and register to join us in DC in June! RESULTS/Sister Giant Training Calls. RESULTS is hosting a series of training calls for Sister Giant attendees (and others invited by Marianne Williamson) wanting to get involved in RESULTS. The calls are designed to teach about how RESULTS works and get plugged into the power and possibilities of advocacy for the end of hunger and poverty. The calls are on March 10, March 24, April 7, April 21 at 7 pm PT/10 pm ET and the call in number (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262 (you can listen to a recording of the March 10 call here). Just call in a few minutes before 7 pm ET. Upcoming Events(Click to see a complete calendar) March 24: RESULTS/Sister Giant training call, 7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET. (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262. Just call in a few minutes before 7 p.m. ET. (call dates also include March 10, April 7 and April 21; you can listen to a recording of the March 10 call here). March 29-April 12: Congressional Spring Recess. April 10: RESULTS national conference call 12:30 pm ET. April-May: New Activist Orientation. Four sessions: April 5, April 19, May 3, May 17. Call (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262. Contact Lisa Marchal to sign up and for more information. June 20-22: RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund International Conference, Washington Marriott Hotel, Washington, DC. RESULTS Contact InformationMain Office: (p) (202) 783-7100, (f) (202) 783-2818, 750 First Street NE, Suite 1040, Washington DC 20002. Domestic Legislative and Grassroots Support Staff: Meredith Dodson, x116 (dodson@results.org); Alan Gold, x106 (gold@results.org); Jos Linn, (515) 288-3622 (jlinn@results.org). The RESULTS Domestic Update is sent out every Tuesday over e-mail to RESULTS volunteers and allies all over the country. The purpose of these updates is to inform and activate RESULTS activists to take action on our domestic campaigns. A special welcome to those new to RESULTS who heard about us through our board member Marianne Williamson. |