Notable Links

Denver Internet Marketing by Parallel Path

Arvada Boutique Clothing Store Stella B's

My letter to Congresswoman DeGette on Health Care

by: SSG_Dan

Fri Jan 22, 2010 at 15:40:46 PM MST

I don't think she'll read it, since it didn't contain a campaign contribution from the Health Care Industry. But I can hope...

Dear Congresswoman DeGette:

I'll make this brief, since you have a lot of work to do on the issue:

Pass the Senate Health Care Bill.

Now, I know that Speaker Pelosi says that there aren't enough Democratic votes in the House to pass the Senate Bill. That too many specific parts of the House bill were negotiated and had to be in the compromise bill.

Tough - try harder.

You see, the alternative is even worse. Since the Republicans in both the House and Senate have not and will not work toward passing Health Care Reform, this is going to have to do. Despite the self-serving press conferences and post-election statements, the only thing the Republicans want to do is to kill this effort. PERIOD.

So, you need to lead the charge. You need to do because it's your job. See, every time I've gotten an email, read a newsletter from your office, or heard you speak at your few public appearances in the District, you talk about how you are the Democratic Deputy Whip. On what an expert you are on Health Care. And the fact you're the Vice Chair on Energy & Commerce Committee.

It's time to deliver on all these positions you keep bragging about.

If you've been given the responsibility of being a Whip in the House, it's now time to live up to the responsibility of the position. If you truly are such an expert on Health Care, it's time to talk to your fellow Congressional Members and tell them this is the best they're going to get at the moment. And if you're the Vice Chair of the Energy & Commerce Committee, you need to make it clear that nothing else is going to get done until Health Care Reform is passed.

It's up to you - please don't disappoint the people you represent in Colorado House District One.

SSG_Dan :: My letter to Congresswoman DeGette on Health Care

Tags: diana degette, (All Tags)

Share this post:

My letter to Congresswoman DeGette on Health Care | 14 comments

Here here! n/t

by: The Longest Line @ Fri Jan 22, 2010 at 23:31:47 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

Very well written, very good points

Where all the cool kids will be on Saturday - Code War!

by: DavidThi808 @ Sat Jan 23, 2010 at 01:29:39 AM UTC

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

I they need an example of actually trying...

from Metro

More than 70 lawmakers battled each other in the parliament on Monday, with members of the anti-China opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) wrestling and yanking the clothes of ruling nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) MPs.

Where all the cool kids will be on Saturday - Code War!

by: DavidThi808 @ Sat Jan 23, 2010 at 04:18:00 AM UTC

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

I Live In Her District

So I just added my voice as well on her web site:

Dear Congresswoman DeGette:

We've come too far, worked too hard, waited much too long for a solution to our broken health care system. Despite its many flaws, the Senate's version of the healthcare package is the best we may see for many decades to come. It is already too late for tens of thousands of Americans who die each year for lack of even minimal access to health care.

Retreating now would be a grave mistake when we have come so close to the finish line.
Democratic losses are (and will be) as much the fault of a lack of courage and action, than it is of pursuing a "far left" agenda, as Limbaugh or Beck would have it.

We need to pass the bill that we can, and fight to improve it another year, once the voters are less fearful for their jobs, the crushing burden of debt, and the apparent ease with which the rich and powerful forever seem to escape the consequences of their actions.

Please use your position and influence to lead your fellow representatives in passing the Senate's version of the healthcare bill now!

Thank you,
Harry Doby

"It may be true that the law can't change the heart, but it can restrain the heartless" -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

by: harrydoby @ Sat Jan 23, 2010 at 21:28:18 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

I like it

I called Polis's office to ask him to pass the Senate bill as well. So far he says he doesn't know what he is going to do. So DeGette can start with him.

by: Emma Anne @ Sat Jan 23, 2010 at 23:22:56 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

The Senate bill is horrendous

Constituents should urge their Members of Congress NOT to adopt the Senate bill. The Senate version of the health care bill is stuffed with sweetheart deals, lacks a public option, allows states to opt out, perpetuates the antitrust exemption for insurance companies (thank you, Ben Nelson), and contains language that could end private insurance coverage for abortions (again, thank you, Ben Nelson). For a good analysis of the Nelson abortion language, see http://www.talkingpointsmemo.c...

Sorry guys, but we did not elect a Democratic President, a Democratic Senate, and a Democratic House to roll back a woman's right to choose. As we know from the Hyde Amendment, once abortion rights are curtailed, they are not easily restored.

Enacting the Senate version of the bill into law would not only be bad public policy, but would lead to further Democratic defeats at the polling booth. No Democrat should be forced to walk the political plank over the "cornhusker kickback" or the other garbage the Senate stuffed into the bill.

A much better alternative would be passage of a slimmed-down, back-to-basics bill (or bills) that focused on the key portions of health care reform, including barring insurers from denying coverage for preexisting conditions.

by: ColoDem @ Mon Jan 25, 2010 at 17:17:14 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

But The Alternative Is Much, Much Worse..

Paul Krugman's recent column explains pretty clearly how it won't work to "cherry-pick" one or two of the key measures. It's pretty much all or nothing, and this is all we get.

Preventing ten's of thousands to die *each year* for lack of adequate care is reason enough to keep this bill alive.

"It may be true that the law can't change the heart, but it can restrain the heartless" -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

by: harrydoby @ Mon Jan 25, 2010 at 21:07:25 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

It's not worth giving up choice

Sorry, but the few decent provisions in the Senate bill do not overcome the Nelson anti-choice language. Paul Krugman does not even mention abortion in his column. (Perhaps one of the Times' female columnists will bring the omission to his attention.)

It is not worth setting back abortion rights at least a generation just to claim credit for having passed a deeply flawed bill.

by: ColoDem @ Mon Jan 25, 2010 at 21:54:43 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

Abortion payments are not the central healthcare issue

I know we on the left are never supposed to say this but abortion is not a sacrosanct right that everything else is secondary to.

You are also facing two major changes on abortion (that I think reinforce each other). First is that support for it is dropping. Second is that a fetus is viable outside the womb at a much earlier age now.

More women will live if this bill is passed than if it is dropped and abortion payments retained.

Where all the cool kids will be on Saturday - Code War!

by: DavidThi808 @ Tue Jan 26, 2010 at 03:35:06 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

Pro choice women will abandon the Democratic party

David,

The pro choice women who comprise one of the key Democratic constituencies strongly disagree with you on this issue.

If the Democrats surrender on a woman's right to choose to win over conservative votes in support of a deeply flawed health care bill, then be prepared to see pro choice women sit on the hands in 2010 -- and beyond. How would you explain to NARAL and Planned Parenthood supporters that the Democrats chose the "cornhusker kickback" over insurance coverage for abortions?

Some of the male Democratic "moderates" may not understand this, but abortion rights remain vitally important to progressive women.

I hope Bennet, Udall, Perlmutter, DeGette, etc. appreciate that supporting the Senate bill would be a slap in the face to millions of pro choice women.

by: ColoDem @ Tue Jan 26, 2010 at 16:00:48 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

No they won't

They'll be pissed but they will vote Democratic because they know a Republican win will be even worse. Many times in politics the chose is for the least bad alternative.

Where all the cool kids will be on Saturday - Code War!

by: DavidThi808 @ Tue Jan 26, 2010 at 20:47:10 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

They will sit on the hands

The pro choice women may continue to vote Democratic, but they will not knock on doors, write checks, stamp envelopes, or otherwise assist the party's candidates if the Democrats sell out on choice. This issue hits a raw nerve with progressive women.

by: ColoDem @ Tue Jan 26, 2010 at 23:54:06 PM UTC

[ Parent ]