[Peace-discuss] Fw: The myth of 60

Fri Sep 18 16:46:51 CDT 2009

The problem with the key assertion here is that, while the Senate only needs
51 votes to pass the bill, it does need 60 plus to prevent the opponents
from filibustering the bill to death.  Thus, realistically you do need 60
votes to make change happen.  Morover, all the petitions in the world will
not produce the votes necessary to get a reasonable bill that grants any
sort of guarantee of good "healthcare for all" legislation from getting past
the minority who will block it with filibusters and institutes a detailed
set of reasonable and enforceable controls over the insurance industry and
its work-a-day practices.  One only needs to look at the states where the
insurance commissioners who are suppose to regulate the industry in their
states have been captured by the very same industry and do not have the
authority in most instances to demand proprietary documents or carry out
in-depth investigations of individual cases under current privacy laws even
when the client grants permission to them to examine their records.

From: peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net
[mailto:peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of Jenifer
Cartwright
Sent: Friday, September 18, 2009 2:43 PM
To: Peace-discuss
Subject: [Peace-discuss] Fw: The myth of 60

--- On Fri, 9/18/09, Jim Dean, Democracy for America
<info at democracyforamerica.com> wrote:

From: Jim Dean, Democracy for America <info at democracyforamerica.com>
Subject: The myth of 60
To: jencart13 at yahoo.com
Date: Friday, September 18, 2009, 12:31 PM

Jenifer -

 <http://dfa2.convio.net/site/R?i=T9ztJAiMQ2EYqeNCZmSfTw..> Join President
Obama in calling on Congress to get the job done

Yesterday, Governor Dean laid out the strategy for passing the choice of a
public option this year and contrary to the conventional wisdom in
Washington D.C. and the media, the Senate doesn't need 60 votes to make
change happen.

The Senate only needs 50 senators and Vice-President Biden to pass -- by
majority vote -- healthcare reform including a public option in a budget
bill this year. Thanks to you, we have 50 senators on record ready to vote
for real reform.

The budget process can start as soon as October 15. We need to hit the
critical mass of at least 250,000 signers by then to make sure our call to
action has an impact on every member of Congress nationwide. We're already
off to a great start with over 10% of our goal in just 24 hours. If we work
together, I think we can double it and gather 50,000 signatures by Monday.

As the President said in his speech to Congress last week, this is the
season for action. The majority of Americans want the choice of a public
option and majority votes in Congress will pass it. Join me in calling on
Congress to get the job done this year.

ADD YOUR NAME RIGHT NOW
<http://dfa2.convio.net/site/R?i=OySosTCo69La6io9zB44cw..> 

The myth of 60 is pushed by those who want to kill reform.

But the foundation of American democracy is based on majority votes and the
United States Congress is no exception. While Senate rules allow a
procedural tactic known as the filibuster to block most bills without the
support of 60 senators, there are exceptions -- because Senate rules also
ban the use of a filibuster to block budget reconciliation bills. That
means, if the Senate can't pass healthcare reform including the choice of a
public option with 60 votes, they can still pass it in the budget bill this
year by majority vote.

As I mentioned above, your hard work has identified a majority of Congress
in both chambers -- at least 218 House Democrats and 50 Senators -- who will
vote for the final healthcare bill if it includes the choice of a public
option rather than vote against the bill and kill reform. So Congress has
the majority votes needed to pass a public option. 

The question is do they have the political will to fight back against
right-wing fear mongering and misinformation to deliver real reform?

It's up to us to demand action. Let's work hard to get 50,000 signers by
Monday.

ADD YOUR NAME -- THEN PASS IT ON
<http://dfa2.convio.net/site/R?i=INolzL_CC8KCIJTeUcK0bQ..> 

We're winning because you know it takes action to succeed. You don't sit
back and hope for change, you deliver results and get the job done. That's
why we're going to win.

I know I can count on you to deliver. Thank you for everything you do,

-Jim

Jim Dean, Chair
Democracy for America
<http://dfa2.convio.net/site/PixelServer?j=1_lpNUloN3z8l6FU8m4NYg..> 

Democracy for America relies on you and the people-power of more than one
million members to fund the grassroots organizing and training that delivers
progressive change on the issues that matter. Please Contribute Today
<http://dfa2.convio.net/site/R?i=kKa4Tj1mcERMIJ5VHtM3eg..>  and support our
mission. 

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