FDL Action asked Congress to put off the August recess and stay in DC to pass a health care reform bill that includes a robust public option. We asked you to join the fight, and you responded with over 32,000 signatures in just 36 hours.

Those signatures were presented to House Majority Whip James Clyburn, who personally accepted them, and told our Mike Stark that America has waited for 61 years for this, and any delay will just sentence another generation to disparate, inferior care.

Let’s match dollars to petition signatures: can we raise $32,274 to pressure the House to pass health care reform before vacation? 

Mike Stark caught up with Peter DeFazio (OR-04) on the Hill and asked him about his position on health care.

Chellie also gave a great floor statement yesterday about the need to vote on a health care bill before recess (vide0). 

We’re adding her to our Health Care Heros page. 

All that claptrap about “fiscal responsibility” is bullshit — all they’re trying to do is load the bill down with more pork for their districts.

If Pelosi truly does have the votes to pass the bill, let the Blue Dogs on E&C go back to their districts and tell all the rich doctors they overplayed their hands and couldn’t shake the House down for them.

Fuck ‘em.

So much of DC politicking over the last few years has been centered around the idea that if Democrats actually act like Democrats, they’ll lose their seats “just like they did in 1994″. Guess what? It’s not 1994, chronologically, culturally or demographically.

We’ve updated the whip count with a whole new round of folks from Mike Stark’s interviews on the Hill. Sadly, many of our new additions fall into the category of “Weasel Words” or “Open to Anything.” All the more reason to hit the phones.

11 down…29 to go.

Can you help us make it 30,000? You can use our invite tool to use your address book to let your friends and family know about the petition.

Rick Scott, the one who’s leading the conservative fight against health care reform, just crowed in an e-mail to his supporters that: Keep Up the Fight – Victory is in Sight! Thanks to a collective effort by a loose knit coalition of free market health care advocates, conservative grassroots groups, and some reasonable-minded elected officials, I am [...]

Chellie Pingree is a freshman member of the House.  She’s showing a lot more guts than the chickenshit freshman Democrats in the Senate who are backing Max Baucus and touting the need for a “bipartisan” compromise.

Joe Lieberman wants to “slow it down.”  Obama wants them to stay and get it done.

Join President Obama.  Tell them to stay.

Harry Reid announced today that Joe Lieberman and the Republicans are getting their wish, and the Senate will not vote on health care until after the August recess.  But the President has other ideas: President Obama has been pushing for both the House and Senate to pass health care legislation before going on their August [...]