TODAY is the DAY. July 22, 2009 "Call Harry Reid and Max Baucus" day

[PretzelWarrior]

This is it. I am about ready to pick up the phone and dial these guys, and I hope many here will join me. We need to let these guys know that as the leaders of the finance committee and senate majority leader, they are seen as accountable for progress or lack of progress on health care.

If you can let me know what your call went like, that would be great. I'll post mine when I am done with the calls. We need to let them know we are disconcerted by talks of "health care waning" and the lack of progress in the Senate on a reasonable bill. Please let them know you are adamant in your support of the public option and want their commitment. You may also want to let them know you've already called your own senators and representatives to register your opinions to them.

Here is contact information for Max Baucus:

Max Baucus Phone [phone]

Max Baucus Fax [phone]

Here is contact information for Harry Reid:

Harry Reid Phone [phone]

Harry Reid Fax [phone]

Some great resources for you to get info back to Obama team on how your call went as well as other ways to get actively involved in Health Care debate.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/health-care-action-center/?source=feature

Important points about calling these senators' offices that I reworked from the information on the "Organizing for America" website:

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Be polite, respectful and clear.
Introduce yourself to whoever answers the phone and let them know you are aware of their leadership roles in the health care debate.

Tell them you are calling to say that you strongly support President Obama’s three principles for health care reform in 2009. Congress must pass a plan that reduces costs, guarantees choice – including the choice of a robust public insurance option – and ensures quality care for every American.

Ask if Reid/Baucus also supports these three principles. And ask that they take the lead in fighting entrenched and wealthy interests who wish to see meaningful health care watered down or doomed.

[PretzelWarrior]

1. Here's how mine went. First call to Max Baucus....busy signal

So I called Harry Reid's office. It was funny because his phone message gave me the option to speak to one of his staff or leave a voice mail. Obviously I chose to speak to a live body. :) Anyway, I asked if Senator Reid supported a strong public option for health insurance that would allow people the ability to get insurance from the government similar to Medicare as opposed to merely creating coops of existing insurance offerings. The staff person said he is supporting a public option. I then mentioned I am aware he has great power to set the agenda of the senate and I am begging him to push Senator Baucus forward and the Senate Finance commmittee forward to get legislation passed that meets the needs of Americans while lowering costs, etc. They said they are aware it's still in committee and will pass the word along.

I then tried again to talk to Senator Baucus. This time I got through. I again ackowledged Senator Baucus' unique position of power in this debate as the chair of the finance committee. When I asked if he supported a public option, the staff person hedged and said things are still being discussed and negotiated. When the staff person then said that he supports a public option or a coop program, I stayed polite, but I let them know it is clear from survey after survey the American people overwhelmingly support a public option that is not hampered by compromises and is able to offer viable health care coverage to Americans who would rather use that option as opposed to their current insurance. The staff person said they would pass along my support.

Did I accomplish anything? I don't know. I do feel better that I actually did call these guys. I feel we all need to flood them....but I do feel Max Baucus needs to be targeted. If we can make him the target of our ire and start a PAC do defeat him in senate run or otherwise make him pay a price for his support of insurance companies over Americans I am all for it.

[John Q. Citizen]

11. Just so you know; Baucus is in until 2014. He won here in MT with something like 70% just last

election.

Obama has been just as supportive of insurance companies as Max has. If you look at the House bill that was just voted out of three committees it specifies that a public option be up and running by 2013 and that 10 million people be enrolled in it by 2020. Yeah, it's a joke, kind of. On us I'm afraid.

Unfortunately, the house is more liberal than the Senate. So I would be surprised if the Senate passed anything stronger, but we can always hope and push.

I'm a long time advocate for single payer and i'm pissed at both Max and Obama for cutting us out of the debate from the start. I worked long and hard to elect Obama because he said he would listen to all arguments regardless of ideology, but when he didn't bother to invite single payer advocates to the White House summit, I knew the fix was in. I never ever expected that Obama would support or push single payer, I just thought that we might have a seat at the table like the insurance companies and the drug companies and the hospitals, and the AMA did. Just so we could make our case. I'm very disappointed that Obama shut us out of the process.

i happened to be in DC (june 24th and 25th )when the big health care rally took place. My 15 year old daughter and i went to the rally and then we went over to the Hart Senate Office Building and I lobbied both Jon Tester and Max Baucus' staff on health care, Of course i pushed for single payer but I also suggested a strong public option as a back up position. With Tester i suggested he might co-sponcer the Sanders bill that would allow states to do a single payer system (It's the old Wellstone Bill)

This coming Friday Montanans for Single Payer are holding rallies across the state at Blue Cross Blue Shield offices and then at Baucus' offices. They are the "Follow the Money" rallies and we are going to ask BCBS how much it costs to buy a Senator and then we are going to go to Baucus Office and give his staff a giant over sized check to "buy Baucus back."

So anyway, keep pushing and demanding what you want because no one is going to give it to you. You are going to have to demand it. It's our job as citizens to keep pushing.

[PretzelWarrior]

12. thanks for your thoughts on this. I know Baucus feels relatively safe.

But a lot can happen in that number of years. He may be "RETIRED" early if he can become the goat on this entire thing.

[John Q. Citizen]

13. Baucus has already taken a lot of heat. He's put a tremendous amount of time and energy

into health care reform, but his problem is he wants a bill that both the public will like and the insurers will love. It's like he doesn't get it.

He started working on health care in earnest last summer, and this January he released a hundred and eighty page white paper with a bunch of ideas for reform. One of the ideas was for a public option. Also community rating (which is good) and guaranteed issuance. He also said in interviews that 'Americans don't want single payer" but the local paper went to the Obama transition health care meetings around the state and reported back that people at the meetings expressed an overwhelming preference for a single payer system. So everybody knew that he knew that we knew that he was full of shit, at least about Americans and single payer.

Then after the single payer people were arrested trying to testify in his committee, we held rallys at his offices across the state and turned out hundreds of people for single payer. When he had the finance committee staff do hearings around the state at a dozen or more small town medical facilities and such, people showed up and said they wanted single payer. The paper reported that the staff were amazed and caught off guard that so many people wanted single payer.

So it's kind of strange in a way. I think he wants to actually get something major passed (he may be thinking legacy) but at the same time he just doesn't seem to be able to understand that you can't make the insurance industry rich and still afford health care for all. I don't know. I guess we will see.

[NoSheep]

17. Excellent job. Thank you!

[HopeOverFear]

2. On the phone now with Reid

I'm on hold.

[PretzelWarrior]

3. COOL. Same thing happened for me with Baucus. Didn't take long....

[HopeOverFear]

4. I got someone. I just said that I'm in favor of a strong publc option

dude said Reid is also in favor of it. That was it. lol I felt like I didn't do enough. Was that enough?

[PretzelWarrior]

6. I know. it was too bloody easy, eh? Sometimes I think they act as a calculator

just tallying how many people are showing strong reaction to a particular point or another. They can probably see our calls are not from his state and maybe assume we have little effect on his ability to get reelected.

BUT....THE ACT OF CALLING!! You get all the energy going..you make the call...and less than 5 minutes it's done and you're saying, "NOW WHAT?".

I'm working on that myself. Now what?

[HopeOverFear]

10. Right

[Lifelong Protester]

5. got through to Reid

almost immediately. I introduced myself, and asked if the Senator backed President Obama's three principles for health care reform (no answer, I think she was taking notes, but it was hard to have a conversation when I was the only one talking) and I also said I wanted to make sure we could count on the senator to fight the interests of wealthy insurance companies and please fight for a robust public option.
I was taken aback that I actually got through, so I hope I didn't stumble too much in my delivery but the gal said she'd pass my comments along.

Now I have also gotten through to Baucus' office, and passed along the same message. Heard also how the 'public option' is still on the table. I said, good, now the senator needs to know that the majority of Americans want and need that robust public option~please support that! The person thanked me for my call, and I acknowledged how important it was for lawmakers to hear from the public, so I wanted to pass my opinion (and request) along.

Both calls took less than a couple of minutes with minimal hold time!

Call them, folks! It only takes a minute or two of your time and calling DOES make a difference (Russ Feingold told us that at a public meeting here in Wisconsin, so do it!)

[PretzelWarrior]

7. yeah. they don't really do much other than listen to requests

and state they will pass them along. I'd love to read from congressional insiders how much this type of stuff really helps.

I'd like to think the overwhelming response from citizens helped kill social security privatization and also killed Michael Powell's attempts to loosen FCC restrictions that had already been loosened too much re: media consolidation. I believe we can make a difference if we stay with it and don't become distracted by other things.

[NoSheep]

16. It has to help. Imagine if our entire "membership" did this. We have to remain vocal. Present.

[NoSheep]

15. Good thing you weren't asking him to ignore the mining concerns in his state ;-)

[Lifelong Protester]

8. I also recommend this thread

for more exposure and to get MORE CALLS!! Thanks for posting this.

[PretzelWarrior]

9. thanks. it's not bad as a first go round. I will try to do something more comprehensive

for a next round. Because we need people to get vocal.

[grantcart]

14. great idea please kick it tomorrow.