Burner Helping House Liberals Hold Firm on Public Insurance Option (Liberals Bloc "Isn't Bluffing")

Source: Roll Call


Burner Helping House Liberals Hold Firm on Public Insurance Option
By Tory Newmyer
Roll Call Staff
Aug. 31, 2009, 12:01 a.m.


An organizer for liberal House Democrats says the bloc “isn’t bluffing” as it prepares to take a reputation-defining stand to protect a public insurance option in the health care overhaul.

Darcy Burner, executive director of the American Progressive Caucus Policy Foundation, said the health care debate has rallied traditionally disparate Congressional liberals to hang together, while galvanizing support for their position from an array of left-leaning outside groups. The result, she said, is that Democratic leaders will not be able to clear a package through the House if it does not include the public plan.

“We have never had the Progressive Caucus organized the way it is right now,” Burner said during a Friday roundtable with Roll Call. “This is not the normal scenario. And Speaker Nancy Pelosi D-Calif. knows it.”

The public insurance provision has sparked a game of rhetorical chicken between, on the one hand, liberals who have pegged it as essential and, on the other, moderate Democrats and some White House officials, who have called it a deal-killer in the Senate and diminished its importance to broader reform.

Read more: http://www.rollcall.com/news/38051-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS

glad they are sticking together

They are representing me, thank God.

If this happens, it seems much more likely the Progressives could win out in the end, even if it is in a limited form.

I do believe, though, that if they go to a Democrats-only version, the Progressive Caucus and other groups like it will have a much stronger voice.

It's not a guarantee, but it's a better chance than what we have right now.

:patriot:

NEVER! They have been there for corporations and the wealthy. That is is folks.

It's time WE the people are represented by our legislators. Enough is enough already. F*ck reagan and his corporate shills. Let's get the steam roller rolling!!

I couldn't think of anything.

They've stood in the way of every movement and idea intended to better life for the average American, every single time.

position, and "abolish slavery" was the liberal position. Republicans were a different breed in Abe's time. The conservatives have NEVER been right.

and sticking together.

A totally different thing.

Call your Rep!

To me this is We The People vs We The corporatists. Presently we have the best government money can purchase. We The People are the underdogs in purchase power, the corporatists who are spending OUR WEALTH on OUR GOVERNMENT have us beat when it comes to purchase power. We The People are not spending 1.4 million a day to sway our government to our needs. From what I understand, the corporatists are spending that sum daily. Money talks BS walks in DC.

OTOH and IMO, the corporatists do not have our voting power, well at least not yet. If they did, our POTUS would not be Barrack Obama. If they were unconcerned about our voting power they would not be spending all that money lobbying our Congress-(again IMO).

So there is the balance, can We The People tip things our way, (read that as saving democracy) or will the corporatists tip things their way, (read that as the death of democracy and the rise to overwhelming power of corporate fascism). In essence I see this as a class struggle between democracy and corporate fascism. Who will ultimately control our government?

What I see is not so much as ANYONE needing to grow a spine, what I see is the decision making of members of the U.S. Government deciding who they wish to represent. Each member must decide on every single vote: 'Do I represent the folks who pay me the most money or do I represent those who voted me into office?' Which group will guarantee my re-election the best?

Clearly the members of the Republican side of the House and Senate have made their choice, they were bought off looooong ago. The supporters of the republican party, (their base) was by and large oblivious to this takeover of their party. They keep turning out to support their supposed reps but their numbers shrink as more and more come to realize that those reps don't really represent them. For example: How did the repeal of Roe V Wade work out under the bush regime for those single issue repuke voters? How about those repuke supporters who went bankrupt because of health-care reasons?

The corporatists saw the writing on the wall years ago. They've been worming their way into the Democratic side more and more as the Democrats took power. Fortunately their investments into our Democratic Party have not gone so unnoticed. Progressives are calling them out, pulling back the curtain to reveal who has been bought and paid for by whom. We see this in the DU for example. There are the occasional threads revealing which blue dog is paid by which corporatist in the Health care industry. (Btw not to piss anyone off, but I was in strong opposition to Senator Clinton's bid for President because of her immense support from the Military Industrial Complex).

This IMO is what sets many of us Progressive members of the blogosphere above those who can't spend much time online. We are beginning to grasp that our government, America's very democracy is being bought out from under us. It is a hostile takeover on a massive scale. Can we get the word out in time to enough of the voters to stop this? Can we convince our fellow Americans, Americans on BOTH SIDES of the political aisle that there is much MUCH more at stake here than getting Health Care Reform passed???? Well that remains to be seen now doesn't it.

Truth be told, it's not our politicians who need a spine, it is instead the electorate that needs enlightenment. We still hold enough power to make a difference...but just barely.

Sorry for the rant...it just sorta came out on it's own
:pals:

I was speaking back to those who keep saying it's about the Republicans.

It's just as much about the Dems. And if we don't come to that conclusion very soon, there will be no HOPE.

:pals: back atcha!

My hope is pretty threadbare, so I appreciate the hug!

are in both parties, or, rather in both sections of the Republicrat Party. IMO, we can make our biggest impact by voting third party, much as, IMO, voting for Ross Perot got both sides focused on the deficit and on fiscal responsiblity.

I keep writing to thank him.

me at all.

While I'm happy for you, surely you don't think that we don't have a major problem with the Corporist Dems?

:dem:

-Laelth

I hope the Members of the Progressives and the good folks out in Blogland keep up the pressure. Tell the President not to wimp out on the public option. Ya gotta have that! I absolute do not trust the private insurers to do the right thing by patients unless that public option competition is there.

Get out there and bash those Republican talking points. Public health care does not mean government bureaucrats "standing between you and your doctor", okay? I'm a fifty-year-old Canadian woman, and I've never had any bureaucrat interfere in any of my health care decisions.

We don't have "Death Panels". If someone WANTS a "do-not-resuscitate" order, they can get one. If you DON'T WANT that, nobody's going to force it on you. End of life planning, to my mind, is as routine and necessary as making sure you have a will. It's a matter of making your wishes clear so that you don't get doctors and relatives having to guess at what you want, or, worse yet, getting into legal disputes over it.

And that argument that private insurance companies can't compete with a public option, and will go out of business? Well, my initial gut reaction is, "Tuff sh*t! If you weren't charging sky-high prices for cruddy service, you wouldn't be in this spot!" But the private insurers won't go out of business. They can still provide supplementary coverage. That's what Canadian private insurance companies do.

Keep up the fight, everybody!

I plan to send letters to the Caucus urging them to stand firm.

If they fail, my family and I may be joining you soon.

:dem:

-Laelth

...instead of Dave "Third" Reichart. :grr:

Now, THAT would be sweet!

Darcy is the real thing.

The way she has taken to this new role, however, makes me think that maybe she was supposed to be a policy wonk all along.

:party: :bounce: :kick:

Gee, TWO active fighters for reform (The Billionaires being the first) show up in one day. Could this possibly be a turning point?

I hope this thread garners hundreds of rec's. It's what we've all been waiting for.

Julie

Thank you, thank you, thank you!! We have your back, now and at election time.

The progressives are starting to catch a their second wind and the freaksters shot their wad with the Town Hall, gun-toting spectacles. Labor is starting to show some teeth too.

I sent an email to the Progressive Caucus encouraging them to do so and thanking them a few weeks ago. Looks like it's time for another thank you.

http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/index.cfm?SectionID=15&ParentID=0&SectionTypeID=5&SectionTree=15

Just sent them a 'thank you' note.

Toll-free Capitol Hill Numbers:


1-800-828-0498 1-866-388-1015 1-866-220-0044 1-877-851-6437

Toll-free Capitol Hill Numbers:


1-800-828-0498 1-866-388-1015 1-866-220-0044 1-877-851-6437

I'm calling my thanks tomorrow!

given the powers plenty of warning; now they need to heed it or else.

I am on you side! No Public Option = No deal!!!!!

I say no to anything w/o the PO.

If they want to pass a couple of the minor provisions that might help on the margins, go ahead, but don't call it health care REFORM. Just call whatever minor issue it is. If they're not tied to a larger bill, there are quite a few minor improvements that could be made. That's fine with me, BUT NO HEALTH CARE REFORM BILL W/O THE PUBLIC OPTION.

Without the PO,
it's no go,
I say NO.

It will soon become clear that there is only way to 218 and 51.

:applause::woohoo: :applause::woohoo: :applause::woohoo: :applause::woohoo: :applause::woohoo:

Imagine - insisting on actual change.

I love seeing this headline. Things are slowly changing in Washington.

TeddyCare for ALL!

http://www.cafepress.com/tulsatees/3167102



:dem:

... which have no power and would just be a distraction, poorly understood by John/Jane Q. Citizen until too late.

We need a STRONG PUBLIC OPTION!!!!

The accurate word here is conservative or -corrupt.

Don't like it, you Vichy DINOS, and all you Right Wing Dem tools here, TOUGH SHIT!!!

If we don't do it NOW, it will NEVER get done!!!

I say it's GOD DAMNED ABOUT TIME!!!

"She said she saw a gap between liberal lawmakers and what should be a ready-made base for them in likeminded grass-roots organizations that were too narrowly focused on electoral politics instead of governing."

Hello!

"An early experiment this spring confirmed for her the potential power of the linkage. She solicited the net roots for questions to put to Progressives that they would answer on the House floor, live on C-SPAN, during the group’s weekly “special orders” session on Thursday nights. Burner said she expected a couple thousand people to participate, but in the first four weeks, 60,000 people weighed in. "

Hello!


"The group’s organizational strength faces its most serious test this fall, and Burner acknowledged it is incumbent on liberals to convince the White House it will have an easier time getting a bill through the Senate with a public insurance option than getting one through the House without one.

“If Progressives aren’t willing to do the work to make the president do the right thing, it’s unlikely he will,” she said."

Hello!