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Thank You, Dennis Kucinich
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| Contributor | Craverguy |
| Last Edited | Craverguy Mar 16, 2010 04:37am |
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| Category | Commentary |
| Author | Ellen R. Shaffer |
| News Date | Monday, March 15, 2010 11:45:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Let's face it, politicians can be exasperating. Politicians who run for President get a level of exposure that would make most of us run for cover.
But Dennis Kucinich is taking a drubbing for doing what more progressives should be doing: standing up for a public option as part of the health reform bill, and demanding an ERISA amendment.
This is not a simple matter of getting the health reform bill passed. Passing a health reform bill is a bare minimum requirement for the U.S. to make progress towards an acceptable level of social justice and it should be done. Today's Hill reports that the votes in play are -- well, most of them. There are presently 114 Democrats declaring hesitation about the bill:
Firm No, Leaning No, Likely No (36)
Firm Yes (2)
Leaning Yes (5)
Undecided (71)
We'll come back to this.
Last November, 219 Democrats voted to pass a health reform bill, 39 voted No. The bill included a public option, and also included odious provisions limiting access to abortions. Now the speaker needs 216 "yes" votes to pass a scaled back version of the bill, with fixes in the form of a budget reconciliation bill. That means she can lose 37 Democrats.
Congressman Kucinich voted for the House bill when it went through the Education and Labor Committee. That bill included a public option and an amendment he proposed to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), to permit states to implement single payer systems without facing a court challenge by employers. |
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