Capitol Offense: Where Is Congress on the Public Option

Today, I'm joining with Democracy for America, Health Care for America Now and Open Left in supporting the Stand With Dr. Dean Campaign. The idea is to put pressure on our members of Congress to find out where they stand on health care reform and whether or not they support Dr. Howard Dean's call for a reform that includes a public option. See Dean's statement here:



Chris Bowers has suggested that we use crowdsourcing techniques to find out where everyone in Congress stands, which also helps pressure them to take the right stand. So here's the plan:

1. Contact your member of Congress via e-mail and ask them the following questions:

1--Do you support a public healthcare option as part of healthcare reform?
2--If so, do you support a public healthcare option that is available on day one?
3--Do you support a public healthcare option that is national, available everywhere, and accountable to Congress?
4--Do you support a public healthcare option that can bargain for rates from providers and big drug companies?

Don't call, do this via e-mail because we want a written response. If they are vague in answering these questions, contact them again and ask for clarification. If they don't answer you, keep contacting them (and have your friends and family contact them) until they do give you the answers.

2. Forward the responses to me at quinnelk@hotmail.com. We're going to publish an official response from as many of our members as possible so we know where everyone is. And we'll keep a track of who isn't responding so we know who to put pressure on. Similarly, once we find out who is on board and who isn't, we know who to put further pressure on down the road.

3. If you have your own blog, post the responses there, too. The more public pressure we can put on Congress, the easier we make it for them to do the right thing.

Here is the public contact info for each of our Florida members of Congress:

Rep Gus Bilirakis R FL-9 http://bilirakis.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=212&Itemid=44

Rep Allen Boyd D FL-2 http://www.house.gov/boyd/zip_authen.html

Rep Corrine Brown D FL-3 http://www.house.gov/corrinebrown/IMA/issue.shtml

Rep Virginia Brown-Waite R FL-5 https://forms.house.gov/brown-waite/IMA/issue_subscribe.htm

Rep Vern Buchanan R FL-13 http://buchanan.house.gov/contact.shtml

Rep Kathy Castor D FL-11 https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml

Rep Ander Crenshaw R FL-4 https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml

Rep Lincoln Diaz-Balart R FL-21 http://diaz-balart.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Offices.Contact

Rep Mario Diaz-Balart R FL-25 http://www.house.gov/formmariodiaz-balart/ic_zip_auth.htm

Rep Alan Grayson D FL-8 https://forms.house.gov/grayson/contact-form.shtml

Rep Alcee Hastings D FL-23 http://www.alceehastings.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=104&Itemid=

Rep Ron Klein D FL-22 klein.ron.web@flsenate.gov

Rep Suzanne Kosmas D FL-24 https://forms.house.gov/kosmas/contact-form.shtml

Rep Connie Mack R FL-14 http://mack.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactConnie.ContactForm

Sen Melquiades Martinez R FL http://martinez.senate.gov/public/?p=EmailSenatorMartinez

Rep Kendrick Meek D FL-17 http://kendrickmeek.house.gov/contact1.shtml

Rep John Mica R FL-7 http://www.house.gov/mica/messageform.shtml

Rep Jeff Miller R FL-1 http://jeffmiller.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home

Sen Bill Nelson D FL http://billnelson.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm

Rep Bill Posey R FL-15 http://posey.house.gov/Contact/

Rep Adam Putnam R FL-12 http://adamputnam.house.gov/contact.shtml

Rep Tom Rooney R FL-16 https://forms.house.gov/rooney/contact-form.shtml

Rep Ileana Ros-Lehtinen R FL-18 http://www.house.gov/writerep

Rep Clifford Stearns R FL-6 http://www.house.gov/writerep

Rep Debbie Wasserman Schultz D FL-20 schultz.debbie.web@flsenate.gov

Rep Robert Wexler D FL-19 http://wexler.house.gov/email.shtml

Rep C. W. Bill Young R FL-10 bill.young@mail.house.gov

We'll also post the results of these at the WatchBlogs dedicated to each Republican member and at the Florida Democratic News blog.

You can also sign the petition on health care here.

I'm Kenneth Quinnell and I approve this message.

Read more on Florida politics at the Florida Progressive Coalition blog (http://flaprogressives.org) and the Florida Progressive Coalition Wiki (http://quinnell.us/sspb/wiki/).

Tell the Party of No - "Yes We Can"

Thank You from DCCC Chair Chris Van Hollen

Debate Between Ander and Jay McGovern

Fla. Dems Good on Environment, Reps Not So Much

The League of Conservation Voters released their scorecards for Congress. Can you guess what the pattern is? Of Florida Republicans, only Ileana Ros-Lehtinen does as good as any Democrat and that's only one person. Beyond that, all Democrats do way better than all Republicans. No shocker there.

Alcee Hastings (D), 92%
Ron Klein (D), 92%
Timothy Mahoney (D), 92%
Kendrick Meek (D), 92%
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D), 92%
Bill Nelson (D), 91%
F. Allen Boyd (D), 85%
Corrine Brown (D), 85%
Kathy Castor (D), 85%
Robert Wexler (D), 69%
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R), 69%
Vern Buchanan (R), 62%
Gus Bilirakis (R), 38%
Ginny Brown-Waite (R), 38%
Mario Diaz-Balart (R), 38%
C.W. Bill Young (R), 38%
Mel Martinez (R), 36%
Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R), 31%
Ander Crenshaw (R), 15%
Ric Keller (R), 15%
Connie Mack (R), 8%
John Mica (R), 8%
Adam Putnam (R), 8%
Dave Weldon (R), 8%
Tom Feeney (R), 0%
Jeff Miller (R), 0%
Cliff Stearns (R), 0%

Esquire Endorsement

Esquire endorsed Jay McGovern over Ander:

Crenshaw, our pick in '06, has tossed his principles overboard in favor of election-year expediency. Offshore drilling won't increase our national security. Electing a veteran who understands that "diplomacy is not appeasement" will.

Letter to the Editor on Crenshaw/McGovern Race

With the price of a barrel of crude oil fast approaching $140, it's no secret that our country is facing the most dire energy crisis in our history. Increasing demand and limited supply are causing prices to skyrocket with no end in sight. Jay McGovern recognizes the brutal impact these record gas and energy prices have on family budgets. While Ander Crenshaw offers more of the same failed, backward looking policies of the past eight years, Jay McGovern understands the complexity of the crisis we're facing and offers a fundamentally new way of thinking about energy solutions. McGovern knows that there is no single answer for removing our dependence on foreign oil. We need a sound, comprehensive approach to solving these problems, and Jay McGovern is just the man for the job. While some talk about energy solutions, McGovern makes it happen.

Jay McGovern is an engineer who is trained to solve problems. It's his job to take big problems, to break them down into smaller, more manageable problems, and to find solutions to those issues. He's carried over this analytical approach to problem solving into his personal life. Jay processes his own bio-diesel to fuel his car. While gas is $4 a gallon, Jay makes his own diesel to fuel his car for about 80 cents a gallon. At his farm, Jay has installed solar panels on his barn to produce hot water for his farm. In other words, Jay has lived his life in the pursuit of finding better alternatives to the energy dilemmas of our day, the types of renewable and alternative energy solutions in which our country so urgently requires investment.

On the other hand, Ander Crenshaw's voting record on energy legislation during his past eight years in office proves that he doesn't get what needs to be done to adequately address our gas and energy crisis. Here's a quick overview:

● Voted NO on raising corporate average fuel efficiency (CAFÉ) standards; incentives for alternative fuels. [Bill HR.6 ; vote number 2003-630 on Nov 18, 2003]

● Voted YES on passage of the Bush Administration national energy policy which authorized 25.7 billion dollars of tax breaks for the oil and energy industries while offering little in the way of incentives for conservation, alternative fuel, or renewable energy development. [Energy Policy Act of 2004; Bill HR 4503 ; vote number 2004-241 on Jun 15, 2004]

● Voted NO on keeping the moratorium on offshore drilling for oil. [Ocean Energy Resources Act; Bill H R 4761 ; vote number 2006-354 on Jun 29, 2006]

● Voted NO on removing oil & gas exploration subsidies which sought to end the unwarranted tax breaks & subsidies which have been lavished on Big Oil during the Bush Administration, a time of record prices at the gas pump and record oil industry profits. [Long-Term Energy Alternatives for the Nation(CLEAN); Bill HR 6 ("First 100 hours") ; vote number 2007-040 on Jan 18, 2007]

● Voted NO on tax incentives for renewable energy. [Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act; Bill H.R.5351 ; vote number 08-HR5351 on Feb 12, 2008]

Based on this record, it's no surprise that Crenshaw received a 0% rating from the Campaign for America's Future (CAF) on energy issues and a 5% rating from the League of Conservation Voters on environmental issues.

Crenshaw also supports a "gas tax holiday" over the summer. This idea, which John McCain and George Bush also support, has been thoroughly debunked as a gimmick that only enriches the pockets of Big Oil while passing on paltry savings to the consumer at the pump. Furthermore, this proposal does nothing to address the root cause of the problem -- our dependence on foreign oil. While Crenshaw offers gimmicks, McGovern provides real solutions.

The United States has only 5% of the world's population. However, we account for 30% of the world's automobiles, and we produce 45% of the world's automotive carbon dioxide emissions. Our addiction to oil harms our environment, our economy, and our national security. Jay McGovern understands these hard realties and knows that the only way we're going to break this costly cycle is to invest heavily in alternative fuel solutions and renewable sources of energy.

In much the same way the Space Race spawned numerous technological innovations in aerospace engineering and electronic communication which we consider commonplace today, Jay believes we should embark on a similar, bold, new race to develop sustainable and renewable energy sources. Whether it's clean coal, bio-fuels, wind, solar, hydrogen fuel cells, nuclear, or any future renewable technology that works – they're all components of a bigger, comprehensive solution.

Support Jay McGovern