Senators are telling us where they stand on the public option
Posted on July 10th, 2009 by Jason Rosenbaum in Congress Watch
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With Chris Bowers at Open Left and Democracy for America, Health Care for America now has been posing four specific questions to Senators, asking them where they stand on the public health insurance option:
1. Do you support a public healthcare option as part of reform?
2. Do you support a public healthcare option that is ready on day one?3. Do you support a public healthcare option that is national, available everywhere, and accountable to our government?
4. Do you support a public healthcare option that has the clout to establish rates with providers and big drug companies?
These questions, of course, are designed in a specific way to get Senators on the record about not just whether they support a public health insurance option, but what kind they support. A Senator answering yes to all four questions supports a strong public health insurance option with no trigger that is available in all corners of this country (ie. is not a regional co-op).
Over the last few weeks, tens of thousands of constituents have emailed their Senators asking these four questions. And lo and behold, the Senators have started answering.
Chris Bowers has been collating the answers and keeping the chart up to date. As you can see, he's gotten a ton of answers back from Senators, but a lot of those answers are emails that don't really answer the question:
Unfortunately, as the chart in the extended entry also shows, most Senators are still dodging on those type of specific questions on what sort of public option they support. Based on responses you have sent in, DFA, HCAN and Open Left have compiled all of the "dodge" statements that these Senators have given on the public option, which you can read here.
Let your Senators know that vague, open-ended answers may be good enough for most political news media, but it isn't good enough for their constituents. If you are from a state with a Senator or Senator who is still dodging specific on the public option, send an email telling them to clarify their position now.
We are winning this fight. We are going to win this fight. Send an email to your Senators now, and let's bring this one over the finish line.
He's right. These questions are clearly worded, and the tens of thousands who've emailed in deserve answers to them. Take a moment to email your Senators so we can get even more answers.
And check out the full chart below of where your Senators (at least those likely to support a public option) stand on the public option:
| STATE/SENATOR | Public Option? | Available Day One? | Nationally Available? | Can Bargain for Rates? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AK - Begich (D) | Unknown | |||
| AR - Lincoln (D) | Maybe | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) |
| AR - Pryor (D) | Maybe | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) |
| CA - Boxer (D) | Yes | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) |
| CA - Feinstein (D) | Yes | Yes | Maybe | Dodges (via email) |
| CO - Bennet (D) | Yes | Dodges (via email) | Maybe | Dodges (via email) |
| CO - Udall (D) | Yes | Dodges (via email) | Maybe | Dodges (via email) |
| CT- Dodd (D) | Yes | Yes (supporting HELP bill) | Yes (supporting HELP bill) | Yes (supporting HELP bill) |
| CT - Lieberman (I) | No | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) |
| DE - Carper (D) | Maybe | |||
| DE - Kaufman (D) | Yes | |||
| FL - Bill Nelson (D) | Maybe (via email) | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) |
| GA - Isakson (R) | Maybe | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) |
| HI - Akaka (D) | Yes | |||
| HI - Inouye (D) | Yes | |||
| IA - Harkin (D) | Yes | Yes (supporting HELP bill) | Yes (supporting HELP bill) | Yes (supporting HELP bill) |
| IL - Burris (D) | Yes | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) |
| IL - Durbin (D) | Yes | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) |
| IN - Bayh (D) | Maybe | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) |
| LA - Landrieu (D) | Maybe | No | No | No |
| MA - Kerry (D) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| MA - Kennedy (D) | Yes | Yes (supporting HELP bill) | Yes (supporting HELP bill) | Yes (supporting HELP bill) |
| MD - Cardin (D) | Yes | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) |
| MD - Mikulski (D) | Yes | Yes (supporting HELP bill) | Yes (supporting HELP bill) | Yes (supporting HELP bill) |
| ME - Collins (R) | No | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) |
| ME - Snowe (R) | Maybe | |||
| MI - Levin (D) | Yes | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) |
| MI - Stabenow (D) | Yes | |||
| MN - Franken (D) | Unknown | |||
| MN - Klobuchar (D) | Unknown | |||
| MO - McCaskill (D) | Yes | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) |
| MT - Baucus (D) | Maybe | |||
| MT - Tester (D) | Maybe | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) |
| NC - Hagan (D) | Yes | Yes (supporting HELP bill) | Yes (supporting HELP bill) | Yes (supporting HELP bill) |
| ND - Conrad (D) | Maybe | Yes | No | Yes |
| ND - Dorgan (D) | Yes | Maybe | Yes | Yes |
| NE - Ben Nelson (D) | Maybe | |||
| NH - Shaheen (D) | Yes | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) |
| NJ - Lautenberg (D) | Yes | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) |
| NJ - Menendez (D) | Yes | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) |
| NM - Bingaman (D) | Yes | Yes (supporting HELP bill) | Yes (supporting HELP bill) | Yes (supporting HELP bill) |
| NM - Udall (D) | Yes | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) |
| NV - Reid (D) | Yes | |||
| NY - Gillibrand (D) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Dodges (via email) |
| NY - Schumer (D) | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| OH - Brown (D) | Yes | Yes (supporting HELP bill) | Yes | Yes (supporting HELP bill) |
| OR - Merkley (D) | Yes | Yes (via email) | Yes (via email) | Yes (via email) |
| OR - Wyden (D) | Maybe | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) |
| PA - Casey (D) | Yes | Yes (supporting HELP bill) | Yes (supporting HELP bill) | Yes (supporting HELP bill) |
| PA - Specter (D) | Yes | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) |
| RI - Reed (D) | Yes | Yes (supporting HELP bill) | Yes (supporting HELP bill) | Yes (supporting HELP bill) |
| RI - Whitehouse (D) | Yes | |||
| SD - Johnson (D) | Unknown | |||
| VA - Warner (D) | Maybe | Dodges (via email) | No | Dodges (via email) |
| VA - Webb (D) | Yes | |||
| VT - Leahy (D) | Yes | |||
| VT - Sanders (I) | Yes | Yes | Yes (supporting HELP bill) | Yes (supporting HELP bill) |
| WA - Cantwell (D) | Yes | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) |
| WA - Murray (D) | Yes | Yes (supporting HELP bill) | Yes (supporting HELP bill) | Yes (supporting HELP bill)) |
| WI - Feingold (D) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| WI - Kohl (D) | Maybe (via email) | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) | Dodges (via email) |
| WV - Byrd (D) | Unknown | |||
| WV - Rockefeller (D) | Yes | Yes |
I believe you already have this, but I received this e-mail reply from Sen. Barbara Boxer in response to the four specific questions:
Thank you for writing to me about the need to include a public-interest option as the Senate takes up health care reform legislation. I appreciate hearing from you on this important matter.
I was pleased to be an original co-sponsor of S.Res.156, a resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that health care reform legislation should include the establishment of a federally backed insurance pool.
Introduced by Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), S.Res.156 says that any reform of the nation's health care system should give consumers a choice of an affordable, federally backed option to introduce competition in the health insurance market and contain health care costs. I support this approach.
Again, thank you for writing to me. Please feel free to contact me again about this or other issues of concern to you.
Barbara Boxer
United States Senator
Wow…apparently netroots pressure moved DiFi more than a "whit" because she had been non-committal until now. Good for you, old gal. Thanks for joining Boxer on board the Public Option express. Although the evasive answers on specifics makes me sweat a little… ^_^;;;
Dear Senator Johnson;
Please do not vote for a public option (socialized medicinie.) It will bankrupt America, result in severe rationing of care, and cause long waiting lines to see doctors. Karl Marx said, "First your socialize medicine and everything else follows like night follows day." Changing the tax code to allow all Americans to purchase health insurance as well as save for routine care with PRE-TAX dollars will empower patients and doctors. It will dramatically drive down costs as doctors compete for the value of the routine care, and stimulate more innovation and technology. Government will stifle all technology, and dramatically reduce quality of care. Dr. Allen Unruh
I have not gotten my response back yet from Senators Feinstein and Boxer, but I also added a fifth question that I think we should be asking all the Senators, viz. "will you commit to voting for cloture if the opposition (Republicans) attempt to derail this with a filibuster?"