Thread: Don't let Calif Liberal Henry Waxman ruin our health care!

Key Chairman Threatens to Bypass Committee on Health Care Bill

A key House committee chairman on Friday threatened to bypass moderate Democrats who are holding up the health care reform bill and bring the package straight to the floor, in the latest showdown on health care that is dividing Congress and Democratic party ranks.

A key House committee chairman on Friday threatened to roll over moderate Democrats who are holding up the health care reform bill and bring the package straight to the floor.

The statement underscored the deep divisions the health care reform debate is causing in the ranks of the Democratic Party.

Fiscally conservative Blue Dogs are holding up the bill in the House Energy and Commerce Committee over cost concerns and other issues. But Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on Friday accused those Democrats of empowering Republicans.

"I won't allow them to turn over control of the committee to the Republicans," Waxman said, threatening to bypass the committee process.

"I don't see what alternative we have," Waxman said of talks that have raged for days with the Blue Dogs. "This can't be an interminable discussion."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat Caucus Chair John Larson, and Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman also need special attention today. Give them a call and tell them to follow procedure and address the concerns of their own caucus in committee:
Nancy Pelosi (CA-CD
John Larson (CT-CD1)
Henry Waxman (CA-CD30)

(202) 225-4965
(202) 225-2265
(202) 225-3976

And please keep calling your own representatives in the House and in the Senate, too. The switchboard number is (202) 224-3121.


The radical move would mean Waxman would finish writing the bill in private and merge it with the two bills that have already passed out of the committee in the chamber before bringing it to the floor.

But such a move wouldn't necessarily serve Democratic leadership any good.

Nearly all 52 Blue Dogs are expected to vote against the health bill if it hits the House floor in its current form. That spells doom for the measure when coupled with unanimous Republican opposition.

Moreover, senior Blue Dog sources tell FOX News that bypassing the committee could only inflame the situation further.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has heard complaints in stereo from the liberal and conservative wings of her caucus. The Blue Dogs are giving her an earful with their grievances. But Friday, Pelosi met with the liberal Congressional Black Caucus, which implored the speaker not to cave in to the Blue Dog demands.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is the only House panel yet to vote on the legislation -- the Education and Labor Committee and the Ways and Means Committee have approved their versions.

On Friday, multiple sources with the Blue Dogs told FOX News that they still don't have an agreement with the White House and Democratic leaders.

But Pelosi has said she's "confident" she has the votes and that she wants to bring the bill to a floor vote next week.

FOX News’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07 ... ce-health/

The radical move would mean Waxman would finish writing the bill in private and merge it with the two bills that have already passed out of the committee in the chamber before bringing it to the floor.

We need to stop this

800.828.0498

Originally Posted by working4change

The radical move would mean Waxman would finish writing the bill in private and merge it with the two bills that have already passed out of the committee in the chamber before bringing it to the floor.

We need to stop this

Yeah, we want that transparency that Obama promised.