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Tell Congress: Finish Health Reform & do it right NOW !
Open Letter to President Obama & Senate Majority Leader Reid About Health Care Reform Bill
"Obama took all his winnings and turned them over to Max Baucus." Howard Fineman, MSNBC, on the Republican win in Massachusetts
Dear President Obama and Majority Leader Reid,
Please stop dithering and kow-towing to Blue Dogs and to insurance industry sell-outs like Ben Nelson and Joe Lieberman -- you don’t need their votes to win in the Senate if you finally abolish the hateful filibuster or at least use the rules of reconciliation . And Mr. President, with all due respect, we don't need any more pretty speeches about the virtues of bipartisanship. Instead, you two must corral right now Senate Dems into one room, lock the door, order out for pizza, and don’t let anybody leave until you pass by simple majority Read PM's Full Letter to Obama and Reid
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Protestors from Health Care for America Now, Progressive Maryland, SEIU, MoveOn, and AFSCME rallied outside the downtown Baltimore meeting of the Republican House Caucus on Saturday, January 30, demanding to know why the Republicans are opposing regulating insurance companies. Several insurance abuse survivors joined the protest, including Marcus Grimes, who wanted to know why he had to go blind four years ago when he could not afford the operation that would have saved his sight.
The message was "Get the Job Done and Get It Done Right" at this rally in Baltimore that featured Senator Ben Cardin's staffer Renee Cohen (left photo), NAACP Baltimore Branch president Marvin "Doc" Cheatham, victims of insurance industry abuses, and medical professionals struggling to provide decent care in a broken system.
Thousands rallied across the nation Jan. 26 at scores of events sponsored by Health Care for America Now, MoveOn.org, US Action, NAACP, unions and others. Hundreds protested the Chamber of Commerce's corporate campaign to kill health care reform at its Washington headquarters. See the HCAN blog posts plus photos , Washington Post story and photo2-min. video below. Sign the pledge to take action today!
Call Sens. Cardin, Mikulski, and your House rep at 1-877-264-4226 . Tell them:
Dems May Bypass GOP on Health Compromise - ABC Obama & Health Care: Critical Condition - USA Today Paring Back Health Care Not So Easy - Assoc. Press Best Columns: New Republic 's Jonathan Cohn , Post 's Meyerson , CAF's What's Next for Health Care
healthcareforamericanow.org Sign the pledge to take action today !
Poll Finds 80% of Mass. Voters
A Research 2000 poll of Massachusetts voters immediately after the election found former Obama voters who voted for Republican Scott Brown said the Senate healthcare bill "doesn't go far enough" and want healthcare reform that includes a public option by a margin of 3 to 2 . Obama voters who stayed home agreed by 6 to 1, and 80% of all MA voters still want the choice of a public option in the bill . If Democrats want to win in 2010 they'd best pass healthcare with a public option with 51 votes in the Senate using budget reconciliation.
AARP leaders (left photo) reaffirmed its support for quick passage of health reform in a news conference Jan. 20 in Salisbury, MD. Matthew Weinstein represented Progressive Maryland (right photo, figure on left). See Delmarva Daily Times article .
The Maryland General Assembly kicked off its 2010 election-year session Jan. 13 in Annapolis. Progressive Maryland will turn to you, our members and supporters, to help us remind lawmakers they must deliver for working families in this worst economic downturn since the Great Depression – or face the consequences at the polls. The centerpiece of PM's "2010 Opportunity Agenda for Working Families " consists of:
Voluntary, public funding of General Assembly races -- to take power away from the insurance companies and energy monopolies and return it to the voters; A menu of bills to once again grow the middle class by applying more broadly the principle of PM's historic 2007 Living Wage Act: i.e., that taxpayer dollars should create middle-class jobs, not poverty jobs; F iscal fairness : before lawmakers inflict any more cuts on a state government budget already cut to the bone, they should make sure millionaires and big multistate corporations pay their fair share of taxes; andKeeping Maryland well positioned to pull down copious federal funding to expand quality, affordable pre-Kindergarten in our state.
In the weeks ahead, look for PM's updates and e-Action Alerts to lobby your state reps to pass laws that create opportunity for working families – not insurance companies, electricity monopolies, and other special interests that write big campaign checks.
PM Federal issues Director Matthew Weinstein spoke at a news conference to launch Recovery Watch Maryland Jan. 19 in Annapolis. See news video below.
PMEF Releases Report The State of Working Maryland 2009
Authoritative overview shows decline of living standard for blue- and pink-collar Marylanders during worst economic downturn in decades. Full report / executive summary
Stop Higher Phone Rates: Urge PSC Reject Deregulation
After years of failing to meet the service quality requirements set forth by the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC), Verizon is seeking to increase its monopolist profits by asking the PSC to deregulate basic phone service in our state. Earlier this year, the PSC rightly and strongly rejected Verizon's request to do so. But Verizon is once again asking the PSC to deregulate. The Progressive Maryland Education Fund made the case against deregulation at a Nov. 20 Baltimore press conference pictured below.
Electricity deregulation in Maryland has been a disaster for ratepayers and deregulation of financial services has been a disaster for the country. Given Verizon’s documented history of poor maintenance and service for customers, the last thing the PSC should do is rush into deregulating prices for basic telephone service. If the PSC decides wrongly, millions of Marylanders will get gouged by monopolist Verizon and service quality will deteriorate further.
PMEF's Rion Dennis (center) and Mark Balsamo, President of CWA Local 2100 (right) spoke at the Nov. 20 press conference. See the printable summary of the issue , news coverage , and Gonzales poll showing Marylanders strongly oppose phone deregulation .
Progressive Maryland Education Fund, Common Cause, and supporting lawmakers released a Gonzales Research poll showing Maryland voters overwhelmingly support voluntary, public funding of campaigns to address the "corrupting" influence of big campaign contributions. See news release , poll , and news coverage .
America's campaign finance system is our nation's peculiar form of political bribery . That's why Congress killed real mortgage reform and it's so hard to pass systemic health care reform – decades after all other advanced countries (see Health Reform items and links below). The bipartisan "Fair Elections Now Act" would create a voluntary, public financing mechanism to free candidates from dependence on wealthy donors. Please email or call your Rep now at 202-224-3121.
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