Democrats Press GOP Lawmakers to Turn Down Government Health Care

[cal04]

Source: CBS News

A group of House Democrats has released a letter to Republican congressional leaders calling on them to announce which of their members will be forgoing their congressional benefit health insurance (which is subsidized by the government) in light of their party's opposition to health care reform overhaul legislation.

"If your conference wants to deny millions of Americans affordable health care, your members should walk that walk," four Democrats write in the letter, which is addressed to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and House Republican leader John Boehner. "You cannot enroll in the very kind of coverage that you want for yourselves, and then turn around and deny it to Americans who don't happen to be Members of Congress."

According to the letter, the federal government pays more than $10,000 of the premiums of each member of Congress who has a family policy under the most selected plan.

The signatories on the letter are four liberal lawmakers: Joseph Crowley of New York, Linda T. Sanchez of California, Donna Edwards of Maryland and Tim Ryan of Ohio. They sent a separate letter to other Democratic colleagues asking them to sign onto the effort.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20023107-503544.html

---

Rep. Crowley Says GOPers Who Want To Repeal Health Care Law Should Forgo Taxpayer-Funded Health Care
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/11/17/crowley-health-care-drop/

[truthisfreedom]

1. Darn tootin'!

Well put.

[rfranklin]

2. Now, if they were like the Republicans....

every American would hear about this. The media would be hosting Dems 24/7 working over the Repubs because they want healthcare for themselves and not for their constituents.

[happygoluckytoyou]

16. every time a republican sees the light AN ANGEL GET HIS WINGS...

so far, most angels are walking

[madmax]

66. ROFL most excellent happygoluckytoyou... nt

[NewJeffCT]

25. You got that one right

Dems can never get a coordinated message out there.

[Wednesdays]

58. Just who's gonna carry that message?

Fox News? Clear Channel? Drudge? AM talk radio?
:rofl:

The rest of the M$M will give it a collective yawn. If it gets any attention at all, it'll just be fodder for bashing Democrats.

[mlevans]

87. Keith and Rachel.

Perhaps a few others. We should get involved. We should be doing a concerted effort with letters to the editor on this subject to every newspaper we can think of. Maybe use the story of that turkey who was so distressed about not getting his federal health benefits immediately as a jumping off place and take it from there. But we definitely shouldn't leave it alone, and neither should the rest of the Dems in Congress.

[Drale]

3. Awesome just awesome

we need to do more of this, start calling out repukes on their bullshit.

[RayStar]

57. Loving this

I want all the people who waited in long lines for medical treatment to call them out also. A huge movement is need ASAP.

[Old and In the Way]

4. Do a vote now!

Seriously, let the invisible hand of the market take care of them. Unfortunately, it would not surprise me to see the Republican Party offer their membership a special discounted policy that is actually subsidized by Big Healthcare.

[Aviation Pro]

5. Tell these fuckstains everyday....

...that they are serving the people's will and if they fucking don't like it they can go back to their fucking districts and try doing a little real fucking work.

Lazy wads of fuck.

[aquamarina]

22. Your use of nouns, verbs and adjectives cracked me up.

[Wally Pipp]

63. Don't sugar-coat it!!

Tell us how you REALLY feel!!

[Suji to Seoul]

78. They are worthless, pathetic pieces of ucking-fay grab-asstic shit

eom

[florida08]

90. That's how you send a message..bravo

[florida08]

89. lol

clear as a bell

[RBInMaine]

6. GOOD ! Go fucking national with this !

[Solly Mack]

7. K&R

[applegrove]

8. good for them. The teabaggers and freepers will never hear of it because faux won't cover it. But

a good attempt at showing the hypocrisy of the GOP.

[liberalhistorian]

59. Oh, I can see Faux Snooze covering it:

I even bet I can put my psychic hat on and foretell the headline: "Lame Duck Dems take advantage of final power push, insist on denying republican lawmakers their rightful claim to government health care as retaliation for their legitimate concern over big government spending on......health care."

Or something to that effect.

[Zenlitened]

9. Love it!

[katandmoon]

10. GO DONNA EDWARDS!!!! My rep.

[Tx4obama]

11. Good move!

Especially after that newbie GOP'er that campaigned against health care was demanding his HC immediately
See here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x526410

[indimuse]

12. This is what I've been waiting for!!

yes. knr!

[Tx4obama]

15. Hahaha.... your cartoon is funny!

[livetohike]

13. I think I will call my Rep. (GOP) and ask that question

Time for a LTTE campaign, too :-).

[polichick]

14. That's playing hardball - especially if they release the results to the public! nt

[mimitabby]

17. yes yes yes!

[Plucketeer]

18. SPINES???? Did someone say SPINES???

I thought only elephants had spines. You know - those big, lumbering, brutish, beasts that walk all over smaller beings.

[dana_b]

39. I know! this is good n/t

[Beartracks]

51. Congressional spine?!

-------------------------

[madrchsod]

19. amazing ,someone came up with a good idea!

[Tx4obama]

20. Andy Harris, Incoming GOP Rep, Demands Government Health Care Without 28-Day Waiting Period

Andy Harris, Incoming GOP Rep, Demands Government Health Care Without 28-Day Waiting Period
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/16/andy-harris-government-health-care_n_784010.html

I want to see HIM refuse to take government health care since he campaigned against it :)

[AsahinaKimi]

21. Now thats a HARD ball HIT out of the Ball Park...

ITS GOING WAY BACK, To the fence, to the wall...TELL IT GOOD BYE!!!

[Wednesdays]

62. Unfortunately, the game is blacked out.

See my post #58, above.
人々はそれを見ることはありません。 :(

[AsahinaKimi]

64. Guess you are right ...

Its kinda like a home run seen on a late night ESPN flash, where the Osaka Orix Buffaloes hit a home run against the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants.

[Wednesdays]

69. Particularly if (like me), one's limited to network TV

I would love to watch live baseball from Japan, but sadly no satellite or cable. :(

[texastoast]

23. Git'r dun, baggers--let's see that money where your mouth has been

K&R

[riverbendviewgal]

24. great idea

looking forward to what the republicans do.

[alanquatermass]

53. Me too! Hope the Rethugs don't --

-- end up calling the Dem's bluff!

Wouldn't that be SOMETHING, though (if only from a "living theater" kind of perspective)?!

Whattaya think the Dems would do THEN? Cave on Healthcare?

[ehrnst]

26. Their meme is now - Employer subsidized health care is different than Socialized health care.

The rebuttal - if the Gov't is efficient enough to manage and negotiate YOUR health care with the private insurance industry, why not anyone else's?

[struggle4progress]

27. Would have been nice to see this in September

[DemocraticPilgrim]

28. We should not let this one go for 2 years, make ads make banners let's see how long they last ...

without their government run health care.

[FreeStateDemocrat]

29. Calling them out for what they are slimy puke hypocrites.

Millionaire members rootin' at the Federal hog trough. Woooooooooo, Pig ! Sooie! Sooie!
You bunch of two-faced lipsticked little piglets.

[Ebadlun]

30. I'm confused

This sounds like assertive behaviour, yet the OP mentions Democrats.

[Jackpine Radical]

36. Certain (pardon the term) liberal Democrats

have been known to do that, much to the annoyance of their better-behaved colleagues, who understand the vital importance of not annoying Republicans.

[FailureToCommunicate]

40. **spray**!

good one!

:spray:

[bobbolink]

47. !!!

:rofl: :toast:

Welcome to DU! :hi: :party: :bounce::hi: :party: :bounce::hi: :party: :bounce::hi: :party: :bounce:

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

81. Their chutzpah surprises and confuses me.

[femrap]

31. Way to go Ryan....

an Ohioan with a brain and knows how to use it. Stick it to them. Shame the assholes!!!!

[midnight]

32. K&R

[liberal N proud]

33. Make put their pocket book where their mouth is

:rofl:

It will never happen!

[gordianot]

34. The best idea ever, this should become a real cause, never let it rest.

I just emailed my Puke Representative and asshat Puke Senator elect to renounce Government Health care for themselves in the next congress. I will not let this rest until they renounce their Government Subsidized Health Care. Maybe one email a week. I may have a sign made and placed in my yard that they both support Government Health care for themselves.

The first and last question to any Republican should be have you now or ever taken Government subsidized Health Care for any reason.

[stormpilot]

35. HECK yea!!

Piss or get off the pot!!

[grahamhgreen]

37. It may backfire, because they might do it..... but good effort!

[BrklynLiberal]

86. NEVER> Those lying hypocrites would NEVER give up any of their Congressional benefits...

You can bank on that.

[pmorlan1]

38. Bravo!

It's about time!

[SocialistLez]

41. It's only fair, right? NT

[Larry Ogg]

42. Conservatives are hardwired to live and bread

egocentricity, grandiosity, hypocrisy, double standards, self entitlement etc... It is therefor imposable for them to grow a conscience or show any jesters of meaningful parity with working class cannon fodder, pawns and debt slaves that are gullible enough to keep buying their lies and voting them into office...

But now that the Democrats lost the ability to drag the Republican Party into the light of day, so that the voters could see it for what it is before the elections, they decide to bring out the spot light after the elections. Is there something about getting tough after your knocked out that regains the confidence of those you let down?

Is somebody not getting it or is it just me...?

[craigmatic]

43. This is great except that the election was weeks ago. They should've done it then.

[24601]

44. It's employer-provided health insurance and co-incidental that

their"employer" is the federal government. Under FEHBP, which is my primary health care insurance - no care is provided by government doctors like the military or VA systems.

Congress is under the same system I am whey the employer pays up to about 70% of the premium and we pay the remainder, plus deductible & co-pays. Presidents are under the no-cost military system - except that I doubt their families are space-available for dental like a Private's are.

I don't like it when the GOP grandstands and don't like it when Dems do it either.

[OrwellwasRight]

68. Not grandstanding: the FEHBP is comparable to the exchanges

Under the health reform law, people will have either employer-provided insurance OR they will choose from a variety of options under the exchange -- FEHBP is comparable to either system. And, by the way, once the exchanges are up and running, Members of Congress and their staffs will be excluded from FEHBP and have to go to the exchanges. The point of the health care bill is to provide more people with employer-sponsored insurance (thus the tax credits for small businesses that provide insurance and the tax penalties for large businesses that don't), and to have the exchanges as a back-up system for those who still can't get employer-sponsored coverage.

Moreover, the Republican "plan" for healthcare would eliminate the current pre-tax benefit status of employer-provided insurance, increasing the cost to provide it for employers and therefore decreasing its availability to workers.

Thus, calling a Republican out for demanding his employer-sponsored healthcare is perfectly reasonable and not grandstanding. His bullshit comment proved his fear of being uninsured, or being left to the whims of the dysfunctional individual healthcare market, a fate that would be shared by tens of millions of Americans if the Republican call to repeal health reform were to be successful.

[DesertFlower]

45. great idea. nt

[bobbolink]

46. Hurrah! That is what John Edwards talked about doing.. only he promised to do everything

he could to take it away from them.

Too bad it is only 4 who are doing this, but good sign of an emerging spine... I hope it catches on!

I will call my Dem senators and strongly "suggest" they do the same thing!

Toll-free Capitol Hill Numbers:
1-800-828-0498 1-866-388-1015 1-866-220-0044 1-877-851-6437

[NorthCarolina]

48. So, at long last the Progressive Caucus is finding a voice?

Hopefully they feel empowered by the big losses suffered by the Blue Dogs on 11/2, and the fact that their caucus retained over 90% of it's members. Might the Democratic Party have a chance to return to it's roots as an outspoken advocate of the people? One can only hope.

[JoePhilly]

49. Duh ... they should have said this during the HCR "debate" ...

I was screaming for this approach before the tea party town halls!!

[geckosfeet]

50. Only four? Why only four? Hopefully more will sign on.

[Politicub]

52. Touche, bitches!

:rofl:

[humbled_opinion]

54. Although I applaud the action to highlight hypocrisy....

The crap that our Democratic congress passed does not give us the same health care insurance at the same cost that the members of congress get nor does it give us the same type of coverage or the same cost that the retired military get nor does it give the same that retired union workers get....

Many Democrats in Congress opt'd out of being subjected to the HCR act.

So I guess I would also like to see this debacle repealed, or at the very least fixed.

I am not denying that is solves many of the very tough problems for those that are sick or get sick and need coverage, I fully support that portion, however that only effects a small minority. The majority of us will be subjected to forced conscription in the masses of that will be making the insurance industry richer and richer....

Allowing the Insurance corps to continue to gouge the consumers and then to follow that with a mandate that I must purchase, well that is not sitting well with me, at all...

[blue sky at night]

55. my former governor did this....

ted strickland declined his state healthcare package, now we have some knuckle dragger who wants to repeal, repeal, go back to the real america.....huh, that is change?

[DissedByBush]

56. Fun to think of, but not quite right

The federal government is their employer, which is providing insurance as is normal.

The government pays some of the premiums, but then my employer pays a huge share of my premiums too.

[orbitalman]

60. Just watch these asswipes' hypocrisy and spin. n/t

[WillyT]

61. Big K & R !!!

:kick:

[verges]

65. I like my Congressman; Tim Ryan. nt

[Honeycombe8]

67. CBS author can't spell. "forgoing"? Really? Doesn't he have spellcheck?

As far as I know, that is spelled "foregoing." Unless it's an alternate spelling, but I just looked it up, in case I was misremembering, and it didn't give an alternate spelling.

I mean, people...this is someone who works for one of the big networks and is authoring an article for the entire world to read? And he can't spell?

Pathetic.

But as to the substance of the article, it's about time some Democrats are calling Republicans out on their hypocritic stances.

[jtuck004]

70. I think they should ALL forego government-sponsored health care and buy

it from their $174,000 year salaries, until everyone has health care.

Frankly, I think they ALL ought to take a significant haircut on salaries, say 25%, AND benefits, until unemployment is below 4%, but I would be happy with the first part for now.

[harun]

80. Don't agree on the salaries but I would like to see the Dem's pass a bill

getting rid of all government health insurance until the general population has the ability to either be covered by a gov't plan or buy-in to a gov't plan.

I would like to see their salaries much much higher.

[JustAnotherGen]

93. And whatever

The salary amount is at the end of the day? All female republicans should have to work for 23% less. Since they are against equal pay for other women - then they ought to be against it for themselves.


No health insurance. Less salary for the same job. Welcome to being a woman in America ladies. Where being a woman is a pre-existing condition.

[DemocratAholic]

71. too gimmicky

i don't think the irony or the hypocrisy, or whatever it is that that these democrats are trying to expose here, is going to resonate with the average person. this is interesting to people who follow democratic politics, but as far as having an impact on the thoughts of average people, i think this is just another example of how much time we waste trying to be clever. we are so clever that our message is lost. obviously no one expects the republicans to give up their health insurance. so this boils down to sarcasm. sarcasm is a double edged sword. it can make one appear not to be a serious person. this seems too gimmicky to me and i think time would be better spent being introspective and trying to figure what led to this disastrous past election. are sarcastic gimmicks an effective way to deliver our message?

[Arugula Latte]

72. Oh, how interesting.

Welcome to DU.

[markmyword]

73. It's About Time

I LOVE IT, the Democrats(or some of them)have put the
Republicans on the 
defensive for a change.
It's going to be very interesting to see how the Republicans
get out
of this one? 

Are the Republicans FINALLY BACKED INTO A CORNER, like they do
to Obama and 
the Democrats?

You don't want Health Care for Americans, then DON'T TAKE YOUR
FREEBIE
ON THE AMERICAN TAXPAYERS DIME.

THANK YOU Representative Crowley and the other Democrats that
wrote a 
letter to Rep.Boehner and Senator Mitch McConnell.

You mean that EVERY REPUBLICAN will opt out of the government
health
care? This I've gotta see.

[CreekDog]

74. Awesome messaging, but there should be more Democrats signing on

:applause:

[MisterP]

75. well, really the Pubs should be pressed to turn down mandated insurance, nu?

HRC has nothing to do with "affordable health care," no more than North Korea is a well-fed paradise...

[Boudica the Lyoness]

76. Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers

Has a special needs child who has needed expensive operations and on going care that would have bankrupted the average American family. She has another baby on the way and I'd love for her to get a taste of what the rest of the country goes through by footing the bill herself.

[Enthusiast]

77. K&R! nt

[MelissaB]

79. This made my morning.

K&R
:kick:

[raccoon]

82. I thought this was the Onion! Recd. nt

[AllyCat]

83. Well said. Too bad there are only 4 of them.

[dotymed]

84. IMO,

this should be done with their salaries and "automatic" pay raises also.
These politicians "earn?" about four times what the average American does. That doesn't include their glutinous benefits and perks.
Combine that with the corporate money they receive and viola, you have a congress od millionaires, and a vast population of paupers who cannot even get a job without a credit check..........disgusting.

[BrklynLiberal]

85. To quote Buddy Holly : "That'll be the day"...Those tbaggers are all in DC to milk everything they

can out of it...for themselves, that is.....of course.

I saw Linda Sanchez on "The Ed Show" a few days back..and she handed some teabagger his ass on a silver platter..verbally, of course. She was passionate and eloquent. I specifically waited to see who she was. Great woman!!

[wxgeek7]

88. hypocrites

My guess, is that they'll remain hypocrites. I can see it now; they'll read letter, remark "Hell no!", then toss into circular file. I imagine though, that the more publicity this gets, the better for us :)

[valerief]

91. Why isn't EVERY Dem signing this?????? nt

[Johnny2X2X]

92. Pointless

This is the same type of pointless grandstanding as when Republicans called for Democratic Congress members to enroll in the Public option instead of the plan they now have. It's pointless and stupid and get's nothing done.

[GReedDiamond]

99. Wrong...it is not "pointless grandstanding"...

...to point out the utter hypocrisy of these repug shitbags.

What is pointless and stupid, and gets nothing done, is putting up with "bipartisanship," when the other party is controlled and run by psychos and sociopaths, who live only to obstruct and cause more pain, suffering and destruction -- as they pad their re-election war chests and personal bank accounts with bribes and payoffs from astroturf organizations such as Karl Rove's, and/or from China/India/and other "3rd world" slave labor markets, laundered through the US Chamber of (un-American, anti-Democracy) Commerce.

[robinlynne]

94. just 4? Why not 400?

[Control-Z]

95. So, what has the response been? n/t

[Liberalynn]

97. My guess

is "the sound of silence."

[Control-Z]

98. That's what I was figured.

No response at all.

[Liberalynn]

96. Fantastic

Yes, my newly elected Rethug Congressman should give up his health care. He must be unhealthy since he was hospitalized shortly after the election. We all know how Pukes and Insurance companies feel about people with "pre -exsisting conditions."

Then again even if they gave up their government sponsored health care, the insurance industry would probably just give them all free healthcare as a token of their appreciation.