Dick Durbin: Moments Ago

[firedupdem]

Moments ago, the Senate voted to begin its full debate on historic health care reform legislation instead of obstructing it with a filibuster.

Tonight's vote marks the biggest victory to date for our grassroots effort to pass health care reform with a public option. We cannot give enough thanks to the over 100,000 signers of our petition at CitizensForAPublicOption.com for helping to fundamentally shift the momentum towards meaningful reform.

Not long ago, a few loud opponents of reform armed and organized by the insurance industry dominated this debate. Now the American people, the majority of whom support a public option, have spoken out and gained the upper hand.

Not long ago, the public option seemed like little more than a pipe dream. Now it's part of health care bills in both the Senate and the House.

Not long ago, members of our own Democratic caucus weren't sure they could even support an up-or-down vote on health care reform legislation. Tonight they voted to end the Republican filibuster.

But despite this good news, the fight for meaningful health care reform is not over. As we debate amendments to this legislation in the coming weeks, we will work with our colleagues to ensure it continues to address the "Three C's" of meaningful reform: competition, choice, and cost reduction. And we will firmly oppose any effort to eliminate the public option.

Tonight we celebrate a milestone no one thought we could reach just months ago. Tomorrow the fight continues. We will not let up until the President signs a bill we can all be proud of.

Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Senator Dick Durbin
Senator Patrick Leahy
Senator Chuck Schumer

:bounce:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. You rock, Senator Durbin!

As do your two colleagues!


:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[firedupdem]

2. +1

I'm not rolling in negativity with the right wing. We have to keep working to make sure we have 'real' reform! I am proud of the Dems for standing together tonight.

Now they have to keep working!!!

:patriot:

:bounce:

[rebel with a cause]

34. Someone close to me interviewed Durbin the other day.

He then told another person close to the Senator that I loved Durbin. Dang it, I told my person to tell Durbin that I loved HIM. :rofl:

I really didn't expect to be mentioned at all. But I do call his local office and support Durbin as much as I can because he is not as popular here down state as he is up state. We live in a weird place. I want to go some place far away but I don't know if I will ever get to do this again. That is what happens when you escape your cage and then voluntarily go back in it. ;)

[SPedigrees]

3. +2 nt

[dflprincess]

4. You'll notice he said nothing about it actually improving access to care

American will still be dealing with high copays and deductibles and will still have to worry about what a visit to the doctor will cost while being forced to write checks to private insurers for "coverage".

[ClarkUSA]

11. He doesn't have to because only an idiot would think otherwise.

The "bill" will cover 94% of Americans, which includes 31 million folks who are now uninsured -- via the "no pre-existing
condition" thing and the "no rescissions" provisions. The 6% who are too poor to be mandated to pay for coverage will roll into
the beefed up Medicaid plans.

Of course, any insurance company can "offer" you coverage with a high deductible, and still be in compliance with the law.
Anyone who's ever bought car insurance knows the drill. But immediate sunshine on price gouging will discourage excessive
price increases by insurance companies through review and disclosure of insurance rate increases.

Also, increasing funding for Community Health Centers will allow for a doubling of the number of patients seen by the centers
over the next 5 years.

[dflprincess]

25. "Coverage" does not give access to care

Watch Sicko - it makes that very clear.

[dionysus]

26. the longer and harder you push for failure, the more foolish you look.

[dflprincess]

27. I was pushing for reform that would give us the kind of access to care

people in civilized countries have, not access to the crap insurance policies we have now. I will not stop pushing for real reform.

[dionysus]

28. then your heart is in the right place, but we can't go straight from A to Z.

i wish you would realize that.

[dflprincess]

29. We could if Congress wasn't owned by corporate America

They could certainly have done better than this scam - and, if this is the best the Democrats can do with the majorities they have, there's not a whole lot of hope for them every going back and "fixing" this. We're still waiting for them to fix NAFTA.

[dionysus]

30. "We could if Congress wasn't owned by corporate America" therein lies the root problem

until we have public financing, unfortunately we have to work within the system that exists.

i prefer single payer myself, but it didn't even have enough support among democrats to be seriously considered. that's why i consider this bill getting the foot in the door of reform.

[dflprincess]

31. I truly hope you're right

but, as I said, we're still waiting for them to fix NAFTA like they said they would.

[dionysus]

32. me too. if i'm wrong, well, we're all screwed.

:hi:

[Clio the Leo]

5. I love Dick Durbin.

That is all.

(Well, I'll admit I ALMOST left out his last name in the subject of this post at an attempt at some 3rd grade humor, but it's officially Sunday. I have to behave.)

[ChicagoSuz219]

10. So does Pres. Obama...

I'm convinced if they weren't from the same state, he would've picked Dick Durbin as his running mate.

I love him... I also love Joe Biden & get to keep Dick Durbin as my Senator, so it's all good... :-)

[rebel with a cause]

35. Aren't we the lucky ones.

I refer to Durbin as our (Illinois') little bull dog, but he might not appreciate my term of affection. :rofl:

[ChicagoSuz219]

38. Oh, I'm sure he does... :-) nt

[bleever]

6. These guys

will see it through.

K&R.

[Cha]

7. Moving Forward in spite of

all the ugly roadblocks thrown up by the Fail Pushers.

Thank you, Senator Durbin.

[firedupdem]

8. +1 n/t

[ClarkUSA]

13. Statistics are on our side: 97% of all bills that reach this point become law.

After all the whining and the usual lying liars' lies, the bitter Failers here and elsewhere have proved themselves less
than effective. :)

Just wait until the 14 provisions that take place immediately on Jan. 1, 2010 go into effect while the MSM are forced
to cover the CHANGE and HOPE they will engender. Democrats up for re-election next year will have plenty of ammunition
on the campaign trail while Republicans' Party of No soundbites will sound as stale as a used tea bag.

[firedupdem]

20. I didn't know that percentage! Even more excellent!

It's funny how we went from- there will be no public option to it's not good enough, to it's out again and we'll have a trigger, to it will never get to the floor. Whatever haters! We are moving forward!

[ClarkUSA]

22. You bet.

<<Whatever haters! We are moving forward!>>

Yeah! :D

[Cha]

23. Thank you for that info, Clark!

I do know that stagnation is not the way to go.. no matter how many devotees it boasts.

[ClarkUSA]

41. You're welcome, Cha. It's good news, indeed. Let the Failers aka. Obama haters commence weeping.

:toast:

[nickinSTL]

42. huh - I would expect that the more conservative Senators

who voted to allow this to be debated knew that (or if not the exact percentage, at least in a general sense).

Interesting.

[Hekate]

9. There's some encouragement to be had. It's a step.

KnR.

Hekate

[NYC_SKP]

12. I really admire the good Senators for what they have to put up with. K&R!

:bounce:

Thanks, firedupdem!

:donut:

[rosesaylavee]

14. Love Dick Durbin...

So grateful he is my Senator!

[FrenchieCat]

18. He really is a good man, isn't he?

After all, he was key in getting Barack Obama to run in the first place.

I will always remember Durbin's convention speech in Denver, right before Obama spoke....
I said to myself, this guy is really genuine and what a Democratic Senator should sound like!

[rosesaylavee]

19. He is very consistent and that is gold in my book.

He was very close to Paul Wellstone and I think was very impressed by him and strives to carry on the progressive message he promoted. I don't know that Dick will ever rise above Senator as he is far too kind and takes far too many risks being as left as he is, but I just love the man. He's real. And tho he does have a staff responding to questions from constituents, he does take the time sometimes to personalize the responses. I appreciate that. Haven't always liked his response but he does take the time and I do think that he has represented my views well.

[rebel with a cause]

36. He was also mentored by Senator Paul Simon from

here in Illinois. He said that he lost his first three elections and if it wasn't for Simon he would have quit, but Simon encouraged him to continue and he won the next election. Illinois may be the joke of the day for our bad politicians but he have had and have some great ones also.

[quiet.american]

15. K&R nt

[firedupdem]

16. kick!

[ClarkUSA]

17. Thanks for posting this positive message from Senator Durbin on HCR's progress.

:toast:

[grace0418]

21. I heart my senator!

We may have had one embarrassing governor after another, but we've had some damn fine senators in my state!

[rebel with a cause]

37. ditto. nt

[Number23]

24. kick! and a rec too!

[DU GrovelBot]

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[jenmito]

39. kick

[RepublicanElephant]

40. k&r nt