100 activists turn out in rain to urge Senate President Miller to lead again by publicly supporting the bill and giving it a floor vote
While speaker after speaker decried the dominating influence of wealthy special interests, this worried lobbyist, claiming to represent the "Corporate Liberation Front," argued against reform, and claimed "corporations are people, too" -- drawing derisive laughter from the fired-up crowd. (See news release, and Associated Press story published by more than 8 outlets.)
Latest Links:
- March 4 Volunteer Night: 2010 Pizza Briefing, 6-8 pm at Progressive Md.
- Health Insurers Break Profit Records, 2.7 Million More Lose Coverage
- Tell your Senators & Rep, 'Stop the insurance rip-off, finish reform now!'
- Feb. 10 ABC poll finds large majorities want reform, mandates, regulation
- It's Past Time for President Obama to Show Leadership; Wash. Post Feb 17
- California Death Spiral: Surge in insurance fees points to urgent need to pass national health reform and a public option; Paul Krugman, Wash. Post Feb 19
|
'Melanie's Marchers' from Philly to Capitol Hill |
Fired-up crowds honor Melanie Shouse, who lost her life for lack of health insurance, demand Obama, Reid stop playing footsie with Republicans & finally enact reform right by simple majority vote in Congress
Wed. Noon, Rally with us at Union Station, First &
Massachusetts NE, then march the final stretch with us to
2 pm rally with US House & Senate members at
Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 50, First & Constitution
Details, route map, updates, and donate link at www.melaniesmarch.com.
For more about Maryland events Print the Flier PDF, call 301-495-7004
/410-685-7004 x19 or e-mail Matthew(AT)ProgressiveMaryland.org
More at Health Care for America Now
Russ Kovach addresses marchers in Aberdeen, Harford County, on 135-mile trek from Philadelphia to Capitol Hill. See flier and rally videos: Aberdeen & Baltimore.
ABC poll finds Americans still demand major health reform
- 63% say keep trying to pass comprehensive reform
- 72% for employer mandate
- 56% for indiv mandate with subsidies
- 80% for insurance regulations
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 a good House-Senate compromise bill... Read PM's Full Letter to Obama and Reid
Top Stories, Photos & Cartoons
- 2010 General Assembly: Progressives Introduce Key Bills
- Supreme Court's Removal of Ban on Corporate Spending Means
Urgent Need for States to Pass Voluntary Public Campaign Funding - Advocates Fight for Health Reform as Dems Dither
- Close the Montgomery County Developers' Loophole
- LABOR NEWS, ACTIONS & RESOURCES
Sign the Pledge to Take Action Today!
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.
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 photo, and 2-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: "Americans need quality, affordable health care, not politics.
Don't scale it down – I demand Senator/Representative _____
follow through and pass the reform promised in 2008 and 2009."
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;
- Fiscal 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; and
- Keeping 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.
- News Release: English & Spanish; WJLA-TV 8 story & video
- Principles for Implementing American Recovery Reinvestment Act
- Unemployment Insurance Rescues Md. Workers, Local Business
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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"The other side is counting on people not having a good memory... These folks drove the economy into a ditch and want the keys back. You've got to say the same thing to them you say to your teenager: You can't have the keys back because you don't know how to drive yet..."
-President Obama,
July 8 in Kansas City
PM's political strength comes from over 15,000 individual member-supporters and partnerships with 50 of Maryland's largest community, faith-based, labor, and civil rights groups. But we need your support to continue holding elected officials accountable so they respond to the needs of regular voters – not deep-pocket special interests.
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