Archive for November, 2009:
OFA Supporters Welcome Home Representatives
After casting an historic vote for health reform on Saturday night, many members in the House of Representatives are now heading home for a district work period. OFA Volunteers in Minnesota gathered at the airport bright and early on Sunday morning to greet Congressmen Walz and Ellison as they returned home from Washington.
Shortly afterward, Congressman Ellison posted to his Twitter feed:
Thanks to Obama For America MN for welcoming Tim Walz and I at the airport this morning at 8:30 am. Crew from Obama for America MN understands that the people must keep the energy HIGH until Obama signs the bill into LAW! And beyond.
In Maine, supporters were on hand to greet Representative Chellie Pingree. The Press Herald reported:
About three dozen supporters greeted Pingree as she arrived at the Portland International Jetport from Washington on Sunday morning. They carried flowers, balloons, homemade cookies and signs praising her for her vote.
"I just wanted to thank Chellie Pingree for stepping up and doing the right thing," said Maurie Hill, a 63-year-old retired nurse from Standish.
Pingree said that although the House bill is not perfect, its passage helps move the ball forward. Her advice to her Senate colleagues?
"Get voting!" she said. "It's not easy. We've been working on this for 10 months."
Representative Pingree also took to Twitter to thank supporters, posting:
Thanks so much for all the wonderful people who welcomed me at airport this morning -- made me teary! The cookies were Buy Cialis great!!
If your representative voted for health reform last Saturday, you can use our online tools to call and thank them for their vote.
Before health reform can become law, it must pass one more time through the House of Representatives, so it's crucial to publicly show that voters support reform. Taking 30 seconds to say "thank you" could mean all the difference in the coming weeks.
Morning News
From the New York Times
The White House, Order Generic Cialis Online without Prescription growing concerned that the Congressional timetable for passing a health care overhaul could slip into next year, is stepping up pressure on the Senate for quick action, with President Obama appearing Sunday in the Rose Garden to call on senators to “take up the baton and bring this effort to the finish line.”
Mr. Obama’s remarks came just 14 hours after the House narrowly approved a landmark plan that would cost $1.1 trillion over 10 years and extend insurance coverage to 36 million uninsured Americans; the president called it “a courageous vote…”
“For years we’ve been told that this couldn’t be done,” Mr. Obama said in the Rose Garden. Of the American people, he said, “Moments like this are why they sent us here.”
But for all the exultation, there was a sense inside the White House and on Capitol Hill that the hardest work is yet to come…
As the Senate vote draws closer, the fight on the airwaves, where groups for and against the health bill are already spending millions of dollars on advertising, will only intensify…
From Talking Points Memo
President Obama today said "millions of Americans whose lives will change" when health care reform finally becomes law are grateful to the House for passing a sweeping overhaul bill late last night.
"Given the heated and often misleading rhetoric," Obama said during a brief statement in the Rose Garden, he wanted to recognize the "courageous vote" and add his own gratitude to the House "for taking us this far…."
He lauded "extraordinary activism" of those fighting for health care, as his campaign arm Organizing for America put together thank-you welcoming parties for supportive lawmakers as they arrived at their home airports today.
On WMTW-ABC in Portland, ME
Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, was greeted with cheers upon her arrival at the Portland International Jetport on Sunday after casting a vote in favor of health care reform.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a reform plan late Saturday night that would expand health benefits to millions of people who currently lack insurance.
Pingree's support of the plan won her praise from groups such as Maine Change That Works and Organizing for America Maine.
But the plan also faces strong opposition. Every Republican in the House except one voted against the bill…
Statement of President Barack Obama on House Passage of the Affordable Health Care for America Act
Shortly after the House of Representatives concluded tonight's vote on health insurance reform, President Obama released the following statement:
Tonight, in an historic vote, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would finally make real the promise of quality, affordable health care for the American people.
The Affordable Health Care for America Act is a piece of legislation that will provide stability and security for Americans who have insurance; quality affordable options for those who don’t; and bring down the cost of health care for families, businesses, and the Buy Accutane government while strengthening the financial health of Medicare. And it is legislation that is fully paid for and will reduce our long-term federal deficit.
Thanks to the hard work of the House, we are just two steps away from achieving health insurance reform in America. Now the United States Senate must follow suit and pass its version of the legislation. I am absolutely confident it will, and I look forward to signing comprehensive health insurance reform into law by the end of the year.
As Voting Begins, Over 500,000 Calls
“Rise to this moment”
Shortly after meeting with House Democrats on Capitol Hill in advance of the health reform vote, President Obama delivered the following remarks from the ground of the White House:
Good afternoon, everybody. I just want to say a few words about the landmark vote that the House of Representatives is poised to take today -- a vote that can bring us one step closer to making real the promise of quality, affordable health care for the American people.
For the better part of a year now, members of the House and the Senate have been working diligently and constructively to craft legislation that will benefit millions of American families and millions of American businesses who urgently need it. For the first time ever, they've passed bills through every single committee responsible for reform. They've brought us closer than we have ever been to passing health insurance reform on behalf of the American people.
Now is the time to finish the job. The bill that the House has produced will provide stability and security for Americans who have insurance; quality, affordable options for those who don't; and lower costs for American families and American businesses. And as I've insisted from the beginning, it is a bill that is fully paid for and will actually reduce our long-term federal deficit.
This bill is change that the American people urgently need. Don't just take my word for it. Consider the national groups who've come out in support of this bill on behalf of their members: The Consumers Union supports it because it will create -- and I quote -- "a more secure, affordable health care system for the American people."
The American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association support Cheap Accutane it on behalf of doctors and nurses and medical professionals who know firsthand what's broken in our current system, and who see what happens when their patients can't get the care they need because of insurance industry bureaucracies.
The National Farmers Union supports this bill because it will control costs for farmers and ranchers, and address the unique challenges rural Americans face when it comes to receiving quality care.
And the AARP supports it because it will achieve the goal for which the AARP has been fighting for decades -- reducing the cost of health care, expanding coverage for America's seniors, and strengthening Medicare for the long haul.
Now, no bill can ever contain everything that everybody wants, or please every constituency and every district. That's an impossible task. But what is possible, what's in our grasp right now is the chance to prevent a future where every day 14,000 Americans continue to lose their health insurance, and every year 18,000 Americans die because they don't have it; a future where crushing costs keep small businesses from succeeding and big businesses from competing in the global economy; a future where countless dreams are deferred or scaled back because of a broken system we could have fixed when we had the chance.
What we can do right now is choose a better future and pass a bill that brings us to the very cusp of building what so many generations of Americans have sought to build -- a better health care system for this country.
Millions of Americans are watching right now. Their families and their businesses are counting on us. After all, this is why they sent us here, to finally confront the challenges that Washington had been putting off for decades -- to make their lives better, to leave this country stronger than we found it.
I just came from the Hill where I talked to the members of Congress there, and I reminded them that opportunities like this come around maybe once in a generation. Most public servants pass through their entire careers without a chance to make as important a difference in the lives of their constituents and the life of this country. This is their moment, this is our moment, to live up to the trust that the American people have placed in us -- even when it's hard; especially when it's hard. This is our moment to deliver.
I urge members of Congress to rise to this moment. Answer the call of history, and vote yes for health insurance reform for America.
There are only a few hours left to contact your representative before the vote and add your voice to the President's call.
On the Hill
An update from President Obama:
There are only a few hours left to contact Buy cheap Accutane Online your representative before the historic House vote on health reform.
Last Chance to Vote in the Health Reform Video Challenge
The deadline to vote on your favorite videos in the OFA Health Reform Video Challenge is tonight at midnight. The winning video will air as part of a national television Cheap Cialis ad buy as we enter the final stages of the health reform fight:
Last Chance to Vote in the Health Reform Video Challenge
The deadline to vote on your favorite videos in the OFA Health Reform Video Challenge is tonight at midnight. The winning video will Provigil online No prescription air as part of a national television ad buy as we enter the final stages of the health reform fight:
House Vote Scheduled for Saturday
From Mitch Stewart:
This is it -- the House of Representatives will vote on health insurance reform tomorrow. All signs point to it being incredibly close, possibly even coming down to a single vote.
With the clock ticking, insurance company lobbyists are going all out to stop reform. Please call your represenative now.
President Obama is visiting the House tomorrow to call for reform, and I hope you'll add your voice to his right away. If you haven't called before, now is the Provigil pharmacy time. And if you have recently called, thank you -- now please ask friends, family members, and co-workers in your district to join you.
http://my.barackobama.com/HouseVote
Everything we're fighting for comes down to moments like this -- and every second counts.
Thanks for stepping up,
Mitch