Health care on the razor's edge - House to vote today - take action
By Maya Samara on March 21st, 2010
The House of Representatives is going to vote today – Sunday March 22 – in the afternoon on the Health Care Reform act.
What is going to happen? What can we do?
This is expected to be a RAZOR-THIN VOTE. Fence-sitting representatives are making up their minds right now, and we can influence them.
It is easy to send an email (prewritten or your own) directly to your Representative just by entering your voting zip-code http://speakout.barackobama.com/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=67&tag=hcac. And as always use your voting address. Here's another way – if your representative has a Facebook page (just do a search on FB) you can tell him you expect a YES vote. (Some fence-sitters even have a YES/NO poll (for example, Rep Suzanne Kosmas of Florida announced yesterday that she will vote YES after posting a YES/NO poll on her site earlier this week).
So - What is happening? According to the Washington Post, "the final 48 hours before the vote is known as the "whip count," in which Democratic leaders send around a one-page sheet to each of the 253 Democrats asking where they stand on the issue. Those remaining undecided votes will get calls from Obama and his Cabinet secretaries, and have meetings with the House leadership." [and then?]
"If the Democrats prevail in what is expected to be a razor-thin vote, Obama will sign the legislation into law and the Senate will spend the next week trying to navigate its own parliamentary maze to enact the reconciliation bill. If the Senate does not enact those changes, the original Senate legislation would be the law of the land, because the House and Senate approved identical language. If the Senate made any changes to the reconciliation legislation, it would go back to the House for another vote." Congressman Dennis Kucinich was holding out for a public option but announced earlier this week in a moving speech full of conviction why he would vote for the current bill http://www.nowpublic.com/world/dennis-kucinich-supports-health-care-will-vote-yes-video-2592225.html
Many thanks to Strasbourg France chapter for sharing this message.
Maya Samara
Chair, DA Switzerland
It is easy to send an email (prewritten or your own) directly to your Representative just by entering your voting zip-code http://speakout.barackobama.com/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=67&tag=hcac. And as always use your voting address. Here's another way – if your representative has a Facebook page (just do a search on FB) you can tell him you expect a YES vote. (Some fence-sitters even have a YES/NO poll (for example, Rep Suzanne Kosmas of Florida announced yesterday that she will vote YES after posting a YES/NO poll on her site earlier this week).
So - What is happening? According to the Washington Post, "the final 48 hours before the vote is known as the "whip count," in which Democratic leaders send around a one-page sheet to each of the 253 Democrats asking where they stand on the issue. Those remaining undecided votes will get calls from Obama and his Cabinet secretaries, and have meetings with the House leadership." [and then?]
"If the Democrats prevail in what is expected to be a razor-thin vote, Obama will sign the legislation into law and the Senate will spend the next week trying to navigate its own parliamentary maze to enact the reconciliation bill. If the Senate does not enact those changes, the original Senate legislation would be the law of the land, because the House and Senate approved identical language. If the Senate made any changes to the reconciliation legislation, it would go back to the House for another vote." Congressman Dennis Kucinich was holding out for a public option but announced earlier this week in a moving speech full of conviction why he would vote for the current bill http://www.nowpublic.com/world/dennis-kucinich-supports-health-care-will-vote-yes-video-2592225.html
Many thanks to Strasbourg France chapter for sharing this message.
Maya Samara
Chair, DA Switzerland