There is a very good reason why a HRC bill needed to be done this year. We have some Senators

[still_one]

who are not in the best of health, and we may not have this opportunity for a long time

It is much easier to amend a bill than create it

[dflprincess]

1. In that case it really is too bad that they decided to work on

saving the insurance companies instead of passing reform.

[still_one]

2. They can amend the bill after it becomes law. Just stay keep on your representatives /nt

[dflprincess]

4. Yeah, that worked so well with NAFTA and NCLB

They will pass this POS and stare at us blankly when we ask them for real reform because they will now considered the issue closed. Though I'm sure it will confuse them when we aren't grateful to them for scamming us this way.

[still_one]

5. OK, then don't urge your representative to do that. That is your right. /nt

[dflprincess]

8. Oh I'll still harass Franken and Klobuchar

(my rep is a lost cause - and Klobuchar pretty much is too) - but I doubt our continuing to call our Senators and Reps will do much good. They haven't seemed to pay a whole lot of attention to all the calls, letters, emails and visits they've been getting the last several months. I imagine the only thing they pay attention to is who is making large campaign "contributions".

[still_one]

14. I am glad that you won't just sit back and take it /nt

[Frances]

26. You are complaining about Franken and Klobuchar?

What if you lived in my native state of Alabama? And had 2 Republicans as Senators who vote NO on everything the Dems propose and who voted YES on everything Rove and Cheney and Bush wanted.

Get some perspective.

[blondeatlast]

30. This Arizonan feels your pain. I know all too well. nt

[dflprincess]

33. Klobuchar is a moderate Repbublican that's in the DFL only

because she knows she'd get no where with the Minnesota GOP which has largely been taken over by the religiously insane. She has been flirting with the Blue Dogs, though has managed to keep that quiet because that would not go over with the activists in the DFL. The strongest position she's taken in the last few months is to come out against texting while driving. Her staff is hostile to anyone who calls to ask about or question something she's done. She has yet to make her actual position on health care reform clear and it mainly appears she likes the status quo. Compare her to Wellstone or even Hubert Humphrey and you'll understand what a disappointment she it.

Franken leans a little more to the left and he might get better as time goes on. He's actually done more good in the short time he's been there than Klobuchar has in nearly 3 years.

But they both sold out on healthcare and that is inexcusable for a DFL senator.

[Frances]

35. I understand where you are coming from

and I think pressure from the left is important. I am so sorry that Wellstone died.

By the way, when I lived in Maryland, I met someone who went to the same church as Humphrey. He said that Humprhey was a very likable man on a personal level. If it hadn't been for Vietnam, Humprhey may have become President.

[dixiegrrrrl]

28. Worked real well for TARP, too. Remember??????

They admitted the voters rejected TARP 100 to 1, and Congress STILL passed it with obscene haste.

[ddeclue]

32. +! - AND PATRIOT ACT TOO!

[Frances]

3. Agree it is easier to amend than create

We will probably have fewer Dem Senators and House members after 2010.

I wish that all the Dems we have now were Progressives, but they are not.

Also if the majority of Dems were as Progressives as DUers, then Kucinich would have been our nominee in 2004 and 2008. The votes just weren't there.

[still_one]

6. We may or may not. If the economy improves, and people get back to work that wouldn't hurt

and we may end up with more Democratics

However, reexamining this legislation, in my view, it IS better than what we have now, and it can only get better

[Frances]

9. I hope you are right

and that Dems don't lose seats

[still_one]

10. I hope so too /nt

[girl gone mad]

19. Easiest to just vote out all the bums who stood in the way of real reforn.

[walldude]

7. I'm supposed to trust that they will "fix it later"?

Why because they have done such a great job standing up to the insurance companies so far? If they wanted to they could get a Medicare buy in for all NOW. After all it's easier to amend something than it is to create a new bill... :evilgrin:

[still_one]

11. No you don't have to, you can sit out the next election, write in a progressive, or run yourself

for office

[dflprincess]

17. Great point about the Medicare buy in

I never figured out why Obama said single payer was "staring from scratch".

Of course, I never figured out why he said we needed a public option to "keep the insurance companies honest". Really, if he was admitting they were crooked, why was he so anxious to protect them? And now there is nothing in this bill to "keep them honest" and he's (and the rest of the Dems) have stopped telling us that's necessary.

[dysfunctional press]

12. hillary rodham clinton isn't even in the senate any more...which bill of hers do you mean...?

:shrug:

dyslexics cusk.

[BP2]

13. Well, that kinda blows out of the water the theory of

this bill being amended, then doesn't it?

Sounds like we're stuck with it.

[FrenchieCat]

21. Certain fixes can go through via budgetary reconciliation, cause you only need 51 votes

via budget reconciliation. But you can't amend via budgetary reconciliation if you don't have a bill, cause you can't create a bill that deals with all that this one does via reconciliation. So we first need the bill, and for that we need 60.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

15. Which brings up Robert Byrd

Why doesn't he retire for the sake of the party. He's had an illustrious career but, he's putting the party at risk.

[Frances]

16. There is a very good chance that a Republican

will be elected to replace Byrd.

West Virginia has voted REpub in the last 3 Presidential elections if memory serves me

[EmeraldCityGrl]

22. oops. I take that back.

[blondeatlast]

31. I was wondering about the chances of a Dem replacing him.

I don't like the odds--what a sad situation for Senator Byrd and WV.

[leftstreet]

18. Can they get it amended before they croak?

I'm sorry, but that's not the brightest rationalization I've heard for rushing through this corporate giveaway.

[silverweb]

20. Exactly.

We get this bill passed, through the joint committee, and signed into law.

People (even tea-baggers) will find that it's not really all that scary and is actually pretty good in many ways -- certainly better than what they have now.

Orin Hatch's worst nightmare will come true and Democrats will increase their constituency, gaining even more congressional seats in 2010.

Democrats will use the momentum subsequently to move ahead faster, more decisively, improve HCR and other items on progressive agenda, and shift the nation a full notch to the left.

Yes. We. Can.

:patriot:

[WT Fuheck]

23. "opportunity" over in 2010 anyway.

[JDPriestly]

24. Then why haven't we amended NAFTA?

It is not all that easy to amend a bill. Besides, the problems with the health care reform bill are so fundamental that it would require a huge overall not just amendment.

What is more, the only true, cost-saving provisions affect seniors and Medicare. That means that Democrats will have a hard time facing re-election in 2010.

It's a bad bill. It should not pass.

[laughingliberal]

25. The bunch who wrote this bill would likely amend it to make it more burdensome and onerous

for the people. The insurance companies will not now give any ground and I don't think they're through. They will continue their march to maximize profits. Does it strike you as an industry that will say, "Okay, we have enough, now."

[Frances]

27. Not on topic, but is that Frida Kahlo's pix?

[laughingliberal]

29. Yes, it is nt

[dorkulon]

34. A Hillary Rodham Clinton bill?

:hide: