Editor’s note: Neil Abercrombie has finally stepped up to do something great for the American people—he resigned. Rep. Mazie Hirono has pledged not to support the Senate version of Obamacare because it is not socialist enough for her taste. So with your help, Hirono can stand strong in her rejection of Senate Obamacare (which is a huge giveaway to insurance companies) and Hawaii will produce a double win for freedom, justice and the American Way.
by Tim Phillips, Americans for Prosperity
President Obama finally made it official yesterday: he wants Congress to ignore Senate rules - and the American people - and use a parliamentary trick called "reconciliation" to pass his health care takeover legislation. Fortunately, there's a catch: before the Senate can use reconciliation to force through Obama's tweaks, the House would have to pass the Senate health care bill. And we must stop them.
In his remarks the president demanded that Congress cave in and vote "in the next few weeks."
The key vote will now occur in the House of Representatives - perhaps within 10 to 12 days - and we have to win it. That's because it's impossible for the Senate to make changes via reconciliation until after the Senate bill has passed the House. Of course, once the Senate bill passes the House, President Obama will sign it and it will become the law of the land - whether or not the reconciliation trick makes some changes around the edges.
Speaker Pelosi will use every trick in the book to try and find the 216 votes she will need to ram through the health care bill passed "pre-Scott Brown" with 60 votes in the Senate back in December. This will be the key vote.
You remember the Senate bill... 2,700 pages of big government waste, fraud and abuse... corrupt back-room deals including the "Cornhusker Kickoff" to buy Ben Nelson's vote, the $300 million "Louisiana Purchase" to buy Senator Landrieu's vote... $1 trillion in new spending that will run up the deficit... tens of thousands of new government bureaucrats and dozens of new federal agencies... government boards to decide what medical treatments will be allowed and for which citizens based on the government's view of "quality of life"... a vast new entitlement when current entitlements like Medicare and Social Security are already headed for bankruptcy. I could go on but you get the picture.
Democrats in the House will try to justify their votes for the disastrous Senate bill based on vague promises that it will be "fixed" later. But no changes could fix this disastrous bill. If the Senate bill passes the House, a Washington takeover of health care will be a certainty.
That means in just the next few days, we've got to make sure our individual members of the House of Representatives feel the maximum heat from grassroots activists like you and me.
You may think, "My member is a firm NO vote, so it's a waste of time" or the opposite, "My member of Congress is a YES vote so why call or email?" Here's why I'm asking you to call and email them anyway: we need to show the national outrage over this latest attempt to ram this through, and that means burying Congress, all of Congress, with personal calls and emails from Americans.
I'm asking you to take 3 steps.
1. Call and email your member of Congress in the next 24 hours. CLICK HERE to email your member, and CLICK HERE to call your member; - based on your zip code we can provide the right information for your representative. Tell them to vote NO on the corrupt, big government Senate health care takeover bill and tell them Americans do not want this parliamentary trick called "reconciliation."
2. Forward this email to your friends, family, co-workers, and fellow activists across the nation asking them to do the same thing. They may not know how much the House vote matters. Your friends and family need to hear from someone they know and trust that now is a crucial time on health care and protecting our freedoms.
3. Commit to being a part of the "Honk Against the Health Care Takeover" event on March 16. Here's how it will work. On March 16 at 12 noon your time, we're asking you to drive to your nearest congressional district office CLICK HERE FOR THE OFFICE NEAREST YOU and drive around the office for at least 15 minutes occasionally honking your horn. Our goal is to have Americans across the nation telling the politicians to keep their hands off our health care through this "Honk Against the Health Care Takeover" effort.
CLICK HERE to let us know you'll join the effort and please recruit your friends. To show people why you’re honking, when you register we’ll send you a "Honk Against the Health Care Takeover" bumper sticker. You’ll also be able to download and print a sign for your car window on our website.
Yesterday, the president actually said the nation is "waiting for [Washington] to act" on the health care issue. This is arrogance and political posturing at its worst. Like us, the president knows the truth. Every reputable public opinion poll for months has clear majorities of the American people saying "NO" to the health care "reform" coming out of Washington, D.C.
Now is the time to finish the job of protecting this most personal freedom by stopping the Democrats' Washington takeover of our health care in the U.S. House of Representatives.
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CLICK HERE to join our "Honk Against the Health Care Takeover" effort.
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