Federal
Tell Your Senator To Vote NO On Cloture!
Eagle Forum Urges an Unconditional NO Vote on the Cloture Motion to Proceed to the Anti-Life Senate Health Care Bill
Washington, DC - Last evening, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) unveiled his 2,074-page health care bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act. Not only is less strict, less-than-Stupak abortion funding language contained in Reid's bill, but there is still nothing in place to remedy the problem that is the underlying mechanism for carrying out single-payer, government-run health care - the rationing of life-saving medical treatments and placing the most intimate health decisions of every American in the hands of Washington bureaucrats.
Eagle Forum urges the U.S. Senate to cast an unconditional NO vote on the cloture vote on the motion to proceed, which requires a 60-vote threshold and will likely occur sometime on Saturday, November 21st.
"This bill in its entirety is an attack on life at all stages," said Eagle Forum president and founder Phyllis Schlafly. "The presence of the end-of-life counseling provisions in this bill and the Democrats' rejection of all offered amendments to ban the practice of rationing is not a fluke. It is the foundation around which this legislation has been written."
"Regardless of any tweaks made to the abortion language in the bill, one thing is for sure. A YEA vote for cloture on the motion to proceed is not only a vote in favor of government-run health care, but it is also a vote for government-sanctioned euthanasia," said Schlafly. "Just think 'Terry Schiavo' on a massive scale."
Defending life has been a top priority for Eagle Forum since Mrs. Schlafly began battling the radical pro-abortion feminists in the 1970s.
"We all know that being pro-life is more than just being anti-abortion," said Schlafly. "This week, the pro-life community must unite to defend not only the unborn, but the lives of those who rose up all across America in town hall meetings and revealed this bill for what it really is - anti-American socialism."
"There is no cleaning up this bill. Supporting cloture and just hoping for the best is not an acceptable strategy," concluded Schlafly. "The American people's overwhelming opposition deserves to be recognized, and they'll be watching as their Senators cast their votes this week. I urge every Senator who values the will of their constituents to vote NO on this motion."
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About the Cloture Motion to Proceed: Some "on the fence" Senators have recently released statements trying to frame the cloture vote on the motion to proceed as merely procedural and technical and that this vote does not amount to an endorsement of the bill or of government-run health care. When you make your calls, some staffers may give you this excuse - Do not accept it. Here is some background information for you to use while discussing this topic:
According to an analysis conducted for this office by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service (CRS), between the 106th and 110th Congress, there were 41 cases in which the Senate approved the motion to proceed to a bill that the Senate eventually held a vote on final passage. Of those 41, 40 of the bills received Senate approval (S. 1805 in the 108th Congress was the lone exception). Based on these numbers, when the Senate votes to invoke cloture on a motion to proceed to a bill, that bill has a 97.6 percent chance of inevitably passing the Senate.
TAKE ACTION!
As we wade through all of the details of the new legislation for you, please begin taking action right now by calling your Senators and urging them to vote NO on the cloture motion to proceed.
Please call (phone calls are best!) both their district offices and Capitol Hill office.
Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121
If you live in a state with one of these following Senators who is a key target and is currently "on the fence" about how they will vote, please know that your action is very valuable in pressuring these Senators to vote according to the will of his constituents:
Nelson (D-NE) Phone: (202) 224-6551
Lincoln (D-AR) Phone: (202) 224-4843
Bayh (D-IN) Phone: (202) 224-5623
Snowe (R-ME) Phone: (202) 224-5344
Lieberman (I-CT) Phone: (202) 224-4041
Pryor (D-AR) Phone: (202) 224-2353
Tester (D-MT) Phone: (202) 224-2644
Tell Your Representative To Say NO To A Government Takeover Of Health Care
Late last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pulled a nasty Halloween trick - she dropped a nearly 2000-page health care bill down on Congress and is demanding quick action on it. This bill is a disaster in the making. It will introduce a government-run health care option that threatens to destroy private insurance as we know it. It will raise your taxes, and it will increase your insurance premiums, and it will put bureaucrats between you and your doctor. Veterans groups oppose this bill, fearing that paying for this gigantic new entitlement will rob our veterans of the benefits that they have earned defending our country.
The Pelosi Bill will:
Cost $1.3 trillion, or $500 million per page, financed through massive debt and tax hikes
Raise taxes 13 different ways, including forcing Americans to buy a product (health insurance)
Increase insurance premiums and decrease access to health care
This bill must be stopped. The good news is, all of Alabama's Republicans are all working together to defeat this bill. The bad news is, some Alabama Democrats have not yet made up their minds as to whether they will support Alabama families, veterans and health care professionals, or whether they will support the extremists in their party who are trying to take over one-sixth of the US economy via this bill. These Democrats are Reps. Bobby Bright (AL-2), Parker Griffith (AL-5), and Artur Davis (AL-7) The vote will be very close. You can help.
What YOU Can Do:
CALL your Representative and let him know Alabamians don't want a government takeover of health care, and FORWARD this email to your family, friends and neighbors.
Rep. Jo Bonner: 202-225-4931
Rep. Bobby Bright: 202-225-2901
Rep. Mike Rogers: 202-225-3261
Rep. Robert Aderholt: 202-225-4876
Rep. Parker Griffith: 202-225-4801
Rep. Spencer Bachus: 202-225-4921
Rep. Artur Davis: 202-225-2665
Critical Health Care Update!
Pelosi Rallies for a Vote on Health Care this Week!
Take Action!
Please continue calling your Representative and Senators and tell them to oppose the Obama plan!
July 28, 2009
Don't be fooled by reports that the so-called "fiscally conservative" Blue Dog House Democrats have killed Obama's plan for a government takeover of the American health care system. Roll Call reported today that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is more determined than ever to bring the House bill, H.R. 3200, to the floor for a vote by the end of this week. She is reportedly turning up the pressure on the House Energy & Commerce Committee as well as the Senate Finance Committee to reach a "deal" on the 1,000 page, $1 trillion-plus bill and to "pull the plug" on Sen. Max Baucus' (D-MT) bipartisan negotiations altogether and just jam it through for a vote.
As Democrats attempt to frame Republicans as the party of "No," congressional liberals have revealed their health care bill to be the nightmare that its critics have claimed all along. Over the past two weeks, Democrats have defeated and said "NO" to 31 common-sense Republican amendments to H.R. 3200, including:
- Preventing bureaucrats from making personal medical decisions for patients (offered by Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-GA).
- Requiring all Members of Congress to get their health insurance through the proposed government-run plan (offered by Rep. Dean Heller, R-NV).
- Protecting Americans from "hurry up and wait," the rationing mechanism when average waiting time for a medical treatment exceeds the average wait times in private plans (offered by Rep. Kevin Brady, R-TX).
- Preventing taxpayer-funded health benefits from going to illegal immigrants (offered by Rep. Dean Heller, R-NV).
- Specifying that Congress should read the health care bill before voting on it (offered by Rep. Kevin Brady, R-TX).
- Ensuring that workers who like their current health plan can keep it (offered by Rep. Judy Biggert, R-IL).
- Stopping seniors from being stripped of their health care choices, as the Democrat bill cuts the Medicare Advantage program (offered by Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-FL).
- Allowing states to opt out (offered by Rep. Tom Price, R-GA).
- Allowing Americans to continue to enroll in private individual market health plans (offered by Rep. Dave Reichert, R-WA).
- Waive the employer mandate if it will cause layoffs, worker salary cuts, or reductions in hiring (offered by Dave Reichert, R-WA).
A recent Rasmussen poll found that a majority of Americans oppose Obama's plan for government-run health care, an ever increasing trend as more details of the bill, and information about defeated amendments which Americans would support, are disclosed.
Since our last action alert on this topic, many more dangerous provisions have surfaced in the text of H.R. 3200, particularly those that target senior citizens by cutting funding for Medicare and by mandating "end of life" counseling, which should be seen as the beginning of a treacherous path toward government-encouraged euthanasia. Even President Obama told the The New York Times in an interview about his health care plan: "The chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health care bill out here...There is going to have to be a very difficult democratic conversation that takes place." So-called "universal health care" depends on a rationing mechanism, and in the Democrats' bill, the rationing will begin with and directly affect the elderly.
H.R. 3200 also provides for the following seriously concerning items:
- Government real-time access to individual's finances and a national health care ID card (p.58).
- Government use of left-wing community groups, such as ACORN and AmeriCorps, to register individuals for the government health care plan (p. 95).
- No company or business can sue the federal government for price fixing, which means that there will be no judicial review against a government monopoly of the health care industry (p. 124).
- Any nonresident alien is exempt from the individual taxes, insurance purchasing mandates, and fines which are required of every legal, U.S. citizens (p. 170).
- Government will restrict the enrollment of special needs people (p. 354).
- Government mandates Advance Care Planning Consultation-that is, end-of-life counseling on "the use of artificially administered nutrition and hydration" and other end of life treatments. (Section 1233).
- "Advance Care Planning Consultation" may include a government order for end of life plans (p. 429).
- Government Marriage & Family therapy sessions (p. 489).
- Government will design and implement the Home Visitation Program for families with young children and families expecting children, parenting counseling is included (p. 838-845).
- Government-established National Medical Device Registry (p. 1001).
Make no mistake, Obama's and congressional liberals' goal is to vote before the August Recess because they know that when their Democrat colleagues return to their states and districts to hold townhall meetings, they will not be able to avoid the outrage of opposition from their constituents!
Take Action!
It's now or never to turn up the heat on your representative and your two Senators to defeat this bill! The phone lines on Capitol Hill are nowhere near jammed, so we need you to keep up the pressure (remember, phone calls are best) and not allow Nancy Pelosi bring this bill to a vote this week.
The August Recess is scheduled to begin at the end of Friday, July 31st, so there is no time to waste-start calling now! We cannot allow Pelosi, Obama, or their liberal allies in Congress think that the opposition has cooled down!
Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121
