Diane Watson (D-CA)

Last week, a list of 50 names was leaked that supposedly represents the members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus who have agreed to vote against any health care bill that didn’t meet their criteria.  Ryan Grim contacted Diane Watson, who is in charge of the Progressive Caucus’s whip operation, and she confirmed the validity of the list.

NYCeve and I had spoken with Jerrold Nadler earlier that day, who indicated that there had been an internal whip operation, but that members had simply been asked if they would vote against a health care bill that didn’t have a "robust public plan" — but there was no attempt to define what that meant.

So we decided to contact all 50 offices and try to confirm the validity of the list.  Here’s what we learned:

John Lewis "has not been whipped by the CPC on this issue."
Sheila Jackson-Lee She recently said “our cause, our civil rights issue, is a public option…We will throw ourselves in front of a running train for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."  But her office has "no position at this point."
Andre Carson Reiterated his support for a robust public option — he’s the only member of the Indiana delegation to strongly support it — but refused to comment on internal caucus deliberations, and wasn’t prepared to take the pledge.  Also refused to confirm when asked on camera.
Louise Slaughter "Has not yet taken a position on the bill because there is still much to sort out on the final language."
Chelle Pingree Chellie answered the whip question about supporting a bill that didn’t have a public plan with a “no.”  She definitely feels it must have one.  She’s working hard to get this legislation through and has been an activist in the Congressional Progressive Caucus.  And mostly she feels there can’t be a delay in getting this bill passed.
Jim McGovern "While [Rep. McGovern] is strongly in favor of a public option, he has not said that he would vote against a bill that did not include it."
Robert Wexler Said he would vote against any bill that did not meet CPC criteria, but did not say he had been whipped on it.  Refused to confirm when asked on camera.
Donald Payne Refused to confirm when asked on camera.
Ben Ray Lujan Refused to confirm when asked on camera.
Eric Massa Refused to confirm when asked on camera.

Phil Hare, Donna Edwards, Emanuel Cleaver, Raul Grijalva, Keith Ellison, Jerold Nadler, Lynn Woolsey, Rush Holt, Maxine Waters  and John Yarmuth all say they’ll vote against a bill that doesn’t have a "robust" public plan (the question Nadler said was whipped) — but they had already done so in response to our whip count effort.  Only one person on the list of 50 who confirms Nadler’s account  — Chelle Pingree.

Not one person confirms what Diane Watson said.

What does this mean?  Well, at a time when 76% of Americans want a public plan, there is no meaningful whip operation in the Congressional Progressive Caucus.    At the very moment that the Blue Dogs are drawing a very strong line in the sand trying to destroy it.

Diane Watson needs to explain what is happening here.  Why did she confirm the validity of a list that does not appear to be correct?  Did she do the whipping?  Is this her list?  Was it accurate at one time, but no longer?  And if so, what changed?  What went wrong?

Watson should do a public whip count of those who will commit to vote against any health care bill that does not have robust public plan, because the value of an internal one that nobody feels compelled to live up to is dubious.  And the co-op squeeze play is alive and well — the Senate wants to pass one, the Blue Dogs want one, and Obama says he’s open to having one. 

On our side, Lynn Woolsey wants to go home and "listen to her voters."

Watson’s credibility is on the line here, as is the future of the public plan.   Call her office and ask her to explain what’s going on, and ask her to run the whip count again — publicly.  Or you can post to her Facebook page.

DC:  202-225-7084, LA 323-965-1422