Some people are troubled by the huge amount of power the Baucus Bill would give to the non-governmental organization, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. The NAIC is made up of the insurance commissioners from all 50 states, DC, and five US territories. His bill would give the NAIC the power to devise: Model Regulation [...]

They had been withholding support until Reid brought EFCA to the floor, but they recently rejoined the AFL-CIO and are now working on Reid’s behalf.  (Sure hope “screwing us on procedure by keeping it off the floor” doesn’t qualify as “support” for the public option in Trumka’s eyes, because I doubt many others will agree.)

Tell Harry it’s too risky for the Reid name in Nevada to take that particular hit on the eve of an election when he’s down in the polls to “generic GOP challenger.”  Let him know it’s not acceptable for him to protect Democrats who are willing to join with the GOP to keep Democratic legislation from getting an up or down vote.

If he wants to go down that road, he needs to name those Democrats.

Harry Reid needs to tell us which Democrats think they can stand with the Republicans and filibuster a public option. We have 60 Democratic Senators. So what’s the problem?

Speak out now – call on Harry Reid to tell us which Democrats want to filibuster a public option. Click here to sign our petition.

A coalition of Democrats (Congressional Progressive Caucus, Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and Asian and Pacific Islander Caucus) in the House have began a caucus-wide whip count on the robust public option. The "whip count," started last night, seeks to prove that there are a majority 218 votes in the House for what liberals [...]

NPR has an interesting new poll out today. They ask Americans who they think Congress is paying most attention to during this health care reform effort. By a wide margin, Americans think their concerns are being given short shrift in deference to interested parties on the corporate side. Seventy-one percent of Americans think members of [...]

I asked whether Rahm brought up the subject of triggers, something he has been pushing for since January. “Trumka doesn’t want to disclose what others said since it was a private meeting,” was the response.

Please send a powerful message to those seeking to silence progressives by donating Alan Grayson and showing your support.

Sen. Enzi introduced an amendment to lower the actuarial value of the lowest quality plans (bronze level) that could be sold on the exchange from 65% to 60%. His amendment will allow insurance companies to offer plans that cover even less of the cost of medical treatment than Baucus originally proposed. The amendment would mean [...]

Politico is reporting that Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE) has a brand spanking new “alternative” to the public option that he has been secretly shopping around the senate. Carper suggests giving states the option of creating a competitor to private insurers, which could include a government plan, a network of co-ops, or a large purchasing pool [...]

graphic by twolf We hoped it wasn’t true.  We hoped that when Richard Trumka  committed to back a public option and threatened to withhold support from Democrats who wouldn’t vote for one that it wasn’t just pre-convention rhetoric.  But then the big guns came out — Baucus decided that rather than taxing the rich, he [...]