A Letter We Should Not Forget

[Truth2Tell]

House "progressives" raised hundreds of thousands of dollars on the back of this letter. The next time these clowns try and sell us a similar load, please don't forget this.

July 31, 2009

Dear Madame Speaker, Chairman Waxman, Chairman Rangel, and Chairman Miller:

We write to voice our opposition to the negotiated health care reform agreement under consideration in the Energy and Commerce Committee.

We regard the agreement reached by Chairman Waxman and several Blue Dog members of the Committee as fundamentally unacceptable. This agreement is not a step forward toward a good health care bill, but a large step backwards. Any bill that does not provide, at a minimum, for a public option with reimbursement rates based on Medicare rates – not negotiated rates – is unacceptable. It would ensure higher costs for the public plan, and would do nothing to achieve the goal of "keeping insurance companies honest," and their rates down.

To offset the increased costs incurred by adopting the provisions advocated by the Blue Dog members of the Committee, the agreement would reduce subsidies to low- and middle-income families, requiring them to pay a larger portion of their income for insurance premiums, and would impose an unfunded mandate on the states to pay for what were to have been Federal costs.

In short, this agreement will result in the public, both as insurance purchasers and as taxpayers, paying ever higher rates to insurance companies.

We simply cannot vote for such a proposal.

Sincerely,

Here are the 60 House members who ultimately signed:

Lynn Woolsey
Raul Grijalva
Carolyn Kilpatrick
Jerry Nadler
Phil Hare
Lucille Roybal-Allard
Keith Ellison
Earl Blumenauer
Mel Watts
Donna Edwards
John Olver
Dennis Kucinich
Laura Richardson
Maxine Waters
John Conyers
Judy Chu
Maurice Hinchey
Hank Johnson
Diane Watson
Jackie Speier
Bill Pascrell
Lloyd Doggett
Marcy Kaptur
Mazie Hirono
Bob Filner
Linda Sanchez
Marcia Fudge
Barbara Lee
Andre Carson
Sheila Jackson Lee
Michael Honda
Jim McDermott
William Lacy Clay
Jim McGovern
Yvette Clarke
Eric Massa
Chellie Pingree
Jesse Jackson, Jr.
Elijah Cummings
Bennie Thompson
Gwen Moore
Donald Payne
Fortney “Pete” Stark
Ed Towns
Corrine Brown
Alcee Hastings
Nydia Valezquez
Luis Gutierrez
Grace Napolitano
Albio Sires
John Tierney
Mike Capuano
Chaka Fattah
Jose Serrano
SamFarr
Bill Delahunt
Eddie Bernice Johnson
Robert Wexler
Emanuel Cleaver
Gregorio Sablan

Fool me once....

[NYC_SKP]

1. Just watched Dennis Kucinich on the the Ed Show. Smart man, that guy. n/t

/

[Truth2Tell]

2. I'll screen cap your post for later.

I'm sure you'll need a reminder of that soon enough. :)

[MuseRider]

14. LOL. n/t

[Truth2Tell]

3. Greenwald highlights the problem with the Hose "progressives" approach...

...this process highlighted -- and worsened -- the virtually complete powerlessness of the Left and progressives generally in Washington. If you were in Washington negotiating a bill, would you take seriously the threats of progressive House members in the future that they will withhold support for a Party-endorsed bill if their demands for improvements are not met? Of course not. No rational person would.

Moreover, everyone who has ever been involved in negotiations knows that those who did what most progressive DC pundits did here from the start -- namely, announce: we have certain things we'd like you to change in this bill, but we'll go along with this even if you give us nothing -- are making themselves completely irrelevant in the negotiating progress. People who signal in advance that they will accept a deal even if all of their demands are rejected will always be completely impotent, for reasons too obvious to explain.

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/03/18/progressives/index.html

[kirby]

4. So vote them all out...

and see how thing play out with a more conservative group.

[Truth2Tell]

6. I guess everything is always fine,

as long as things could be worse, right?

[slipslidingaway]

8. Yes, just posted the same thing :) n/t

[slipslidingaway]

7. That is always a problem, everyone knows it could be worse, so they accept

whatever crumbs are thrown their way.

[Truth2Tell]

9. "better than Bush" or "better than Palin"

seem to be the gold-standards by which many DUers judge politicians.

Seems like a rather low bar to me. But whatever.

[slipslidingaway]

11. Yes and that is not progress :( n/t

[MisterP]

12. unconditionally voting for the "lesser of two evils" will invariably increase the evil of both and

narrow the space between the two

[slipslidingaway]

16. And that is exactly what has happened :( n/t

[readmoreoften]

15. Um, it would play out the same?

It takes a Democrat to get pro-insurer health mandates and to bust teachers' unions. When the Republicans get back in office, they can now claim that gently busting unions is "left-wing" and they can drive everything further right--things that were untouchable before the Democrats make them fair game.

[slipslidingaway]

5. knr - if only they had not caved so easily :( n/t

[unapatriciated]

10. k&r

It's a race to the bottom

[saracat]

13. Never forget.

[slipslidingaway]

17. kick nt