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Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18) will oppose a final health care bill that has triggers or that allows states to opt out of the public option – with an asterisk. She would allow states to opt-out only if they did provided “a more progressive option” offered at the state level.
Activists from Firedoglake, CREDO, and Democracy for America have placed hundreds of calls to progressive Members of Congress to organize opposition to a final health care bill that has triggers to delay a public option, or that allows states to opt their citizens out of choosing the public health insurance option. Reps. Raul Grijalva and Michael Capuano both committed to opposing such a bill last week.
After call reports from activists indicated Jackson Lee’s office was telling constituents she opposed triggers, we called to confirm with her press office.
According to her office, Rep. Jackson Lee would support a plan that allowed states to opt-out in favor of a better public plan. “If a state wanted to opt out if its plan is better” than the federal public option, Rep. Jackson Lee wouldn’t oppose such an effort. Additionally, “the Congresswoman is opposed to triggers that would delay a public option,” according to her office.
Such an opt-out plan is likely not under serious consideration by the Senate, which first floated the opt-out idea in its bill draft currently awaiting a score from the CBO. We’ll know the true structure of opt-outs this week, but they presumably allow states to opt their citizens out of choosing the public option without much of a backup plan.
What’s a “more progressive” state health care option? It could be a state-level single payer program, but it’s otherwise in the eye of the beholder. Rep. Jackson Lee is reportedly organizing Democrats in southern states – who would likely be adversely affected by state opt-outs – to oppose regressive opt-out provisions. Let’s hope they will end up opposing any regressive state opt-out in the final bill, and not just using this “more progressive” caveat as a rhetorical escape hatch.
Tags: action, public option, sheila jackson lee, whip count
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Good idea. I’ve always thought we should throw out triggers of our own.
Here are some triggers for the opt out:
1.) The state must have a plan that offers healthcare to its citizens at a greater rate than the federal plan. In other words if the federal healthcare reduces the texas uninsured rate to 5 percent as opposed to its current 25, then Texas has to produce a plan that keeps the uninsured rate to 5 percent. Oh, and it has to be approved by the US congress and the president. No filibuster allowed.
2. Opt outs must pass not only the state house and governor approval, but a referendum vote throughout the state as well.
Forget “triggers”, forget Stupak, forget “opt-outs”! THIS IS A GARBAGE SUBSTITUTE FOR CRITICALLY NEEDED HEALTHCARE REFORM! WHY AREN’T SHEILA LACKSON LEE, YOU, JANE, JON, EVERY BLOG & EVERY “DEMOCRAT” SCREAMING AGAINST THIS BILL BECAUSE IT STINKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHAT’S SO HARD ABOUT REMINDING EVERY CONGRESSPERSON EVERY DAY THIS BILL IS A DISGRACE, IF THEY VOTE FOR IT THEY ARE A DISGRACE, AND IF THIS IS THE BEST THEY CAN DO WE VOTING DEMOCRATS WILL DO EVERYTHING WE CAN TO DEFEAT EVERY DEMOCRAT RUNNING IN THE NEXT ELECTION AND THE ELECTION AFTER THAT AND ….!
[Mod Note: Please use 'inside voice'. All caps is considered hollering and is not necessary for us to understand the anguish. Thank you.]
If the “progressive” opt-out would be a way to allow states like California to experiment with single-payer, that would be great. But I fear that will be another bite at the apple, much farther down this insurance-heavy and failed road.
I would so like to feel good about this. But I need to know what her definition of “trigger” is?
If the public plan is not an option available to every citizen.. it’s not trigger free.. in my definition of public option.
If she agrees… Hooray! And i will put her down as one of three incumbents who have my support next campaign season.
Yeah, my worry with this caveat is it could blow up with a weird interpretation. I’m all for a state doing that but it would need to be done very, very carefully.
From talking with her staff, I’m very confident she’s opposed to any kind of trigger to put off implementing the public option.
Apologies for the o/t, but I thought this was good enough to pass along.
Isn’t it about time to fire Timothy Geithner?
Thanks Michael… and thanks for the report..)
i give up on the healthcare reform “debate.” Please make it go away.
But even so….. this is a great report Michael. Thanks God there are still alot of people who haven’t given up.
It’s great that progressives oppose a worthless public option substitute. My question is, will they commit to vote NO on such a bill and will they stick to it this time.
If Ms. Lee can defeat an opt-out, I will be very impressed (are there 50 senators on board?) I was never concerned that triggers were a real possibility, but I think the opt-out will be pretty much the hardest thing to defeat, even harder than Stupak.
not holding my breath or betting on it.
TDS coming on. later
watertiger is upstairs!
Late Night: The Grifters II – It Takes One to Know One
Hi everyone -
As admirable as your zeal is for getting health care reform enacted, unfortunately I can’t share your optimism. Between the legislation that has emerged from the national house of representatives, and that soon to leave the slow, doddering, and corrupt senate, health care reform of any sort good for the broad population is D.O.A.
The white house wanted a giveaway to the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, judging by headline news reports over the recent months. Likewise for the Democratic majority in the congress. They’re utterly bought and sold, and, besides, they have to enact something they can call “reform” in front of the TV cameras so that they have talking points in next year’s mid-terms. “See, we did ’something’! We ‘reformed’ health care!”.
The best that aggressive health care reform advocates can hope for at this point, I believe, is fighting a hard enough defensive stop-gap battle to keep the legislation Obama signs from being an utterly insane and miserable pipe dream come true for the notorious industries involved. As it stands, it will be effectively criminal to not hold a private corporate insurance product sometime next year. This is a staggering reality and sign of just how bad things have gotten.
For my part, I am close to concluding that the US is not governable from the standpoint of unified control of the white house and congressional seats producing actual reform serving the interests of the broad population. It just won’t happen. The government officials are utterly corrupt and craven.
I have to admit that I really dislike editing my posts after I write them. We go from raw text input into an HTML-based input. When you edit, if you don’t put markup all over everything, when you save, all your paragraph structure, etc., is gone.
I am taking bets she will fold like a deck of cards
she is a demo they only know folding
any country that makes mega profits off the sick and needy is a country in rapid decline.
without china money it would be all over now
they now own us yes a communist country
and we thought we won the cold war with our military
whoops
This is the right move, we need a more robust public option. I know as she does that the public option has been working too well to allow this opportunity to pass them by. http://cli.gs/23yYaM/
THe bill passed the HOuse by two votes. Anyone taking seriously these commitments not to vote for the bill has been taking too many naive pills. I hate to tell the people here this, but more than a handful of Senate Democrats have said they would filibuster the bill if it even remotely resembles the House one. The more the bill in the Senate resembles the one in the House, the less likely it has of passing. Given the filibuster promise of Lieberman and the statements of a few others on abortion, this bill probably has little chance already.