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This may be the most important few days in the history of healthcare reform. The House bill will be much better than the Senate version, and it must be strong in order to make the House/Senate conference bill include a robust public option available to all Americans on day one.
If you didn't see the diary I wrote on Saturday about the House markup, please read it.
Also please watch this powerful video, on exactly what lobbyists do to get all the seats--always, without fail. The lobbyists and special interests get in, and crowd out the American people.
UPDATE:
It's official, we're off to the races. Just received word from Speaker Pelosi's office as follows. This means we need all hands moving toward Washington for the markups.
Please check back for additional details and read the comments of Jane Hamsher.
Pelosi, House Leaders, Committee Chairs to Hold Press Conference on Introduction of Health Care Legislation
Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Democratic Leaders, and Committee Chairs will hold a press conference in the Rayburn Room of the Capitol today, July 14, at 2:45 p.m. to discuss legislation introduced today by the Tri-Committees on health care reform.
Okay, so now we have certainty on the legislation. Now, we must remove the vice-like grip of the lobbyists. The way we do this is by having the American people sit in the mark up room and fight for a good bill as hard as the lobbyists will try to destroy it.
But before I go any further, a little bit of housekeeping. A lot of you asked how you could help, especially if you can't get to Washington. We're starting to run up some big expenses, so Jane Hamsher has put up a FIGHT THE LOBBYISTS DONATIONS PAGE:
https://secure.firedoglake.com/...
The lobbyists have countless millions. If you can throw in a few dollars to help with the mounting costs of this undertaking that would be a great help and we thank you for your generosity.
IF YOU HAVE ANY DOUBT WHAT WE'RE FIGHTING, PLEASE LOOK AT THIS. LOBBYISTS BUY ALL THE SEATS AT THE TABLE.
Nataline Sarkisyan's parents coming to Washington to sit front and center in markup room.
One of our expenses among many, is getting Nataline Sarkisyan's parents to Washington and putting them up in a hotel for four nights.
It's huge that Nataline's parents have agreed to come from Los Angeles to sit in the front row during the markup. They are the living embodient of this national catastrophe, and Hilda Sarkisyan will tell the Congresspeople that no other American family should ever lose a child to a murderous for profit insurance company.
URGENT CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS.
PLEASE SIGN UP HERE. CAN YOU COME TO WASHINGTON? THERE ARE OTHER THINGS YOU CAN DO, PLEASE GO TO THE SIGN UP SHEET AND LET US KNOW HOW YOU CAN HELP. AND THANK YOU! ALL THESE RESPONSES ARE GOING DIRECTLY TO JANE HAMSHER.
IF YOU CANNOT COME TO WASHINGTON THEN COULD YOU DONATE A FEW DOLLARS TO FIGHT THE LOBBYISTS MILLIONS?
YOU CAN DONATE HERE:
https://secure.firedoglake.com/...
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU GET IN LINE?
I've discussed this isssue with Jane Hamsher.
We're going to need leaders to step up once on line and organize yourselves. Go up and down the line and identify who belongs with us, and who is being paid to wait on line for the lobbyists.
Be very kind to the paid line waiters. They are our friends and are doing what they must in order to survive. If you can convince them to stand down, that's great, but these line standers are not the enemy. This will be a true test of spontaneous community organizing.
We'll expect everyone to maintain line decorum and be sure that our allies get bathroom brakes and any other necessary needs taken care of, in a manner that does not jeopardize their place.
So don't be shy. Take control. Introduce yourselves to one another and take charge.
We going to try like hell, to get the American people into the healthcare markup, but we can't do it without a lot of volunteers.
We need people based in Washington, or people able to travel to Washington, to volunteer to stand on line ahead of the lobbyists and the people they pay to stand on line for them.
Here again is a sign up sheet. Please indicate, the day or days you're able to take a seat for the American people.
By now, you know what happens during a markup and why it's so urgently critical that we take all the seats this time.
Here is some information on where we believe the markups will be held. I'll be updating as new, revised or more current/accurate information is received. This is from people who know, but be cautioned, this could change.
What room will the markup be in and what is the capacity of the room? If you don't know the exact room yet, just a sense of the likely location.
I believe that each committee will markup in their hearing rooms. For Ed&Labor that is 2181 Rayburn (public capacity= roughly 75). For Energy & Commerce, it is 2123 Rayburn (public capacity= roughly 120). For Ways & Means it is 1100 Longworth (public capacity= roughly 125). It is possible that committees will have overflow rooms, but that is often a game-day decision.
When will markup begin?
They usually start at 10am, but it might be as early as 9am depending on the committee’s and Members’ schedule (floor schedule/votes would have an impact on scheduling)
How long they run will depend on how many amendments and much debate each committee has. As you’ve seen in the Senate, it can run days.
And a lot of people have asked about when the infamous amendments will be available for the public to scrutinize.
This is an email explaining the amendment situation from a House staffer.
So we hope and expect the amendments will be posted on the tri-committee web sites.
We've been informally advised that a typical ploy of obstructionist republicans is to dump a huge number of amendments out of the blue and this makes it quite difficult for the tri-committee staff to get them on the website as quickly as possible. So keep alert to this curveball.
Yes good to hear from you – glad you’re checking in. We try to get all amendments offered during markups, and the status of those amendments, posted as quickly as possible. It’s hard to say exactly how quickly they will get posted – but our staff will be doing it as fast as humanly possible to continue our commitment to doing this in as open and transparent a way as possible.
You can check out how we post all info from markups here: http://edlabor.house.gov/...
Please note: I've been asked by a senior Hill staffer to amend the preceeding blockquote, (no pun intended), as follows. This staffer is a huge supporter, and wants everyone to know that in fact, we will not receive all amendements as they happen. It seems to me the only way we will have this information is with boots on the ground, that is people sitting in the rooms and funneling this information to the outside world.
If things look bad, we will need a huge rapid response team to contact the congresspeople to forcefully remind them that approving bad amendments will have dire electoral consequences for them in 2010.
RULE 14. RECORDS & ROLLCALLS (a) Written records shall be kept of the proceedings of the Committee and of each subcommittee, including a record of the votes on any question on which a roll call is demanded. The result of each such roll call vote shall be made available by the Committee or subcommittee for inspection by the public at reasonable times in the offices of the Committee or subcommittee and shall be made available on the Committee’s website not later than 3 business days after conclusion of the markup. Information so available for public inspection and on the Committee’s website shall include a description of the amendment, motion, order, or other proposition and the name of each member voting for and each member voting against such amendment, motion, order, or proposition, and the names of those members present but not voting. A record vote may be demanded by one-fifth of the members present or, in the apparent absence of a quorum, by any one member.
Our page is the official record of the committee. The amendments don’t enter the public record until the vote on full bill.
These rules apply only to our committee, you’ll need to contact the Ways & Means and Energy & Commerce about their rules and what they plan to do.
I know that isn’t what you wanted to hear, but that is the state of the committee rules. So to be clear "doing it as fast as humanly possible to continue our commitment to doing this in as open and transparent a way as possible." will be after the markup has finished.
HERE AGAIN, IF YOU CAN GIVE A FEW DOLLARS TO FIGHT THE LOBBYISTS, WE WOULD BE SO GRATEFUL:
https://secure.firedoglake.com/...
YES WE CAN.