We have the votes. No excuses. Make it happen.

[babylonsister]

http://www.openleft.com/diary/15536/make-it-happen

Make It Happen
by: Chris Bowers
Wed Oct 14, 2009 at 14:15


The Senate merger process ramps up today. At 2:30 pm eastern, Senators Reid, Dodd, and Baucus will meet with five representatives from the White House to discuss combining the Senate HELP bill with the Senate Finance bill. The combined bill will be sent to the floor for debate, amendments, and passage through to conference committee.

In these negotiations, Dodd and Baucus will largely cancel each other out. That makes the White House and Senate Majority Leader Reid the key players. As such, Open Left is entering the fray on the merger process, running advertisements in D.C. to tell President Obama and Senator Reid we are counting on them as the process goes forward. The ad is on the right, and you can click on it to see the animated, flash version.

The message of the ad is simple: We have the votes. No excuses. Make it happen.

1. There are at least 51 Senators who would vote for Senator Schumer's "level playing field" public option in an up-or-down vote. (Source)

2. There are enough Senators in favor of health care reform with a public option for it to pass through the Senate reconciliation process: (Source)

3. There are now 60 active, voting members of the Democratic Senate caucus, which means no Republicans are required for cloture motions to pass. ((Source)

4. The House of Representatives is not debating whether or not to pass a public option, but whether to pass one tied to Medicare rates plus 5% or one with negotiated rates. As such, there will be a public option that reaches conference committee. ((Source)

5. It will be more difficult to include a public option in health care reform if one is not in the merged of Senate Finance and Senate HELP committee bill that is sent to the floor of the Senate. If a public option is in the bill sent to the floor, it will require 60 votes only for the entire bill to pass cloture. However, if a public option is not in the bill, the public option itself needs 60 votes. (Source)

6. It actually only requires 51 votes to break a filibuster, since we all remember the "nuclear option" fight that took place four years ago. (Source)

Senate process is often used as a weapon against the progressive grassroots. Not wanting to say they disagree with us or for our contributions to stop flowing, Democrats leaders through up their hands and say they didn't have the votes, without saying which votes they don't have or telling the truth about Senate process.

That isn't going to fly this time. The grassroots are learning about Senate process, and we know we have the votes. What we need is leadership from President Obama and Senator Harry Reid to make sure that a public option is included in the final bill, and that no Democrats join with the Republican filibuster of that bill.

Please contribute $25 to send this message to Senator Reid and President Obama. If we raise $5,000 total, we can run this in Roll Call and The Hill, two publications that most D.C. insiders read every day. If we raise $10,000 total, we run it in The Washington Post.

As of 2:10 p.m. eastern, with the CREDO Action match, 87 donors have put us $4,680 toward our goal. Help get us over the top, and take action in the Senate merger process.

[Cha]

1. "MAKE IT HAPPEN"!

That's all they need to know..and I know they've got the will.

[liberal N proud]

2. No excuses!

[OHdem10]

3. Feldman just told Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC that the Baucus Committee BIL

is the the way to pass HIR. There will be no public option.
The Progressives and Liberals will be disappointed but
this is what will pass. He referred to this as being in
the Center.

This Bill is a Republican Bill and I would respect them
a whole lot more if they just admitted. We cannot pass a
Democrat Bill therefore we are accepting a Republican Bill.


The public option actually made it in the Center. The PO is
not a Liberal Bill.

Single Payer, would be more to the Liberal Position..

Just be honest. We are passing a Republican Bill.

[babylonsister]

4. Who is Feldman?

And does he have a crystal ball you believe in?

I'm not hearing that fat lady singing yet.

[OHdem10]

6. Look I am so disappointed I could scream.

Think about it. We all has to wait wait wait for the Baucus Bill.

Why?????? We have been told this is the bill which might get
60 votes.

This is a Republican Bill.

A bill with P0 would be the Center.

Single Payer would be leaning Liberal.

However, I am beginning to believe the fix is in. Too much
has been made of the Baucus Bill.

[dajoki]

5. I felt this way for some time...

the President and Dem leaders need to show some leadership. Screw the bipartisanship!!