Merry Christmas to millions more Americans who will have health insurance!

I'm glad that our Senators were able to vote on their version of the Health Care Reform Bill early yesterday morning, so they could get back home before the blizzard! Let's pray that they are able to relax and rejuvenate their hearts and minds for the next big steps in getting this law ready for President Obama's signature! Thank you, thank you, thank you, to the 60 United States Senators who did the right thing for the health of this nation!

Backtracking--Dec. 12 Health Care Reform Party

On December 12 we had a "Happy Health Care for All Americans" party, to thank the volunteers who have made this historic change in our health care delivery system a reality (with the final bill being signed by President Obama within the next few weeks.)

Our guests included doctors and people of all vocations, people who were unemployed and looking for work, people who were retired, people who had chronic health conditions and people who were healthy, people who have health insurance and those who do not. THEY ALL SACRIFICED TO WORK FOR HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM--gathering Declarations of Support for the President's Health Insurance Reform Plan, calling people to ask that they contact their Members of Congress, talking to people at their doors and in public places, participating in educational workshops and doctors' press conferences, making sure that health insurance reform advocates were well-represented at Emanuel Cleaver's Coffee and Claire McCaskill's Town Hall Meeting, delivering Declarations of Support to Cleaver's office, joining with other organizations to thank Congressman Cleaver in person for his support, making visits to Senator McCaskill's office--VERY ESSENTIAL ACTIVIST WORK TO END UNNECESSARY SUFFERING AND DEATH, and to make health care available to all Americans! It is incredibly humbling to realize that these folks have accomplished in the last 7 months what 7 U.S. Presidents over the last 100 years have been trying to achieve. It is not only the logical thing to do for our national economy, it is the RIGHT thing to do. Some day all these volunteers can look back and say, I DID WHAT I COULD to end the madness and the lie that it's okay that people should be sick and die because of the inhumanem inefficient, and ineffective way that health care USED TO BE delivered in the United States of America.

First Vote In Senate Moves Health Insurance Reform Forward

60 Votes and we are movin' on, but, to be honest, I am already lost regarding which vote was taken. :) If it's the first vote, it must be the vote for cloture on the Manager's Amendment, but I need to check that out...

Brian Noland, OFA Regional Field Directors, explained how things will be happening in the Senate...

“At some point in the next few days, Reid will file THREE SIMULTANEOUS motions for cloture: one on the Manager's Amendment, one on the Reid Substitute, and one on The Bill.

The Manager's Amendment refers to what will be the compromise, whatever that will look like coming after the CBO score.

The Reid Substitute substitutes a clean version of the bill for the mess that has been produced through this amendment process.

The Reid Substitute then becomes The Bill, on which debate must end before there is a final vote.

Debate on each cloture motion will proceed in that order. So here is the best I can offer by way of timeline:

START
1. Reid files 3 cloture motions.
2. A day passes for the cloture motions to ripen.

MANAGER'S AMENDMENT
3. Cloture vote taken on the Manager's Amendment. 60 votes required.
4. After cloture is invoked, 30 hours of debate on the Manager's Amendment
5. Up or down vote on Manager's Amendment.

REID SUBSTITUTE
6. Cloture vote taken on the Reid Substitute. (Note that this happens IMMEDIATELY after the vote on the Manager's Amendment.) 60 votes required.
7. Assuming cloture is invoked, 30 hours of debate on the Reid Substitute. (See 4, above.)
8. Up or down vote on Reid Substitute.

THE BILL
9. Cloture vote taken on the Bill. (Note that this happens IMMEDIATELY after the vote on the Reid Substitute.) 60 votes required.
10. Assuming cloture is invoked, 30 hours of debate on The Bill. (See 7, above.)
11. Up or down vote on The Bill”.

Keep on keepin on

Of course we are disappointed that the Senate health care bill does not include a public option and that Medicare for folks as young as 55 seems to have gone by the wayside. But it's not over 'til it's over. And even in the most conservative version of what might come out of the Senate, we will still have a bill that includes President Obama's eight principles--including expanding coverage to MILLIONS more Americans; controlling costs for individuals, families, businesses, the government and our national economy; insuring choice in doctors and plans;

David Plouffe talked on a conference call today, in the most passionate tone of voice I've heard him use. He made no bones about it...this is historic, this is the biggest legislation since Medicare and Social Security...we are not doing this for political expediency, but to save lives and to save our economy. I'm totally paraphrasing here...we can't let our emotions lead us to irrationally reject a whole lot of "good" out of our frustrations that the bill is not perfect.

I've gained a newfound respect for Harry Reid, when reading about how hard he is working and how he is negotiating with Senators to get their support by being in tune with what motivates them. He didn't just start this when we started working on health insurance reform. This is who he is and has been for a long time...building the relationships that will ultimately pay-off for the American people.

I've found that many people interested in politics spend a lot of time critcizing, second-guessing, tearing down others. Working on the Obama campaign and with OFA has helped me appreciate that our energy could be used so much more productively, to actually accomplish something.

Barack Obama is not trying to shove health insurance reform or anything else down anyone's throats. He is gentle genius. He is an honest and compassionate leader. He is confident, and he is all about getting the important things done, not getting bogged down in his own popularity, or ego. David Plouffe basically said today that we need to look at the big picture and what we are doing, in the context of history. And we will look back on this time and be proud of what we did to change the world.

Obama and Nobel Peace Prize, etc.

Barack Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize today. His words were consistent with everything he said during the presidential campaign, and with his life story, as told in his autobiography. He is an amazing, gifted, and compassionate man. I wish we did not have to engage in war. I wish people did not try to dominate others through aggression. I am glad that our President understands the importance of diplomacy and of creating good will in the world. It is so sad and troubling that we must defend ourselves from those who seek to harm us. May peace break out on this planet.

An 80+ year old friend from church called me. That may have been the second time in 23 years she has called. She wanted to know "What's going on with the United States Senate? Have they been bought off by the health insurance companies, or what?" After talking about health insurance for awhile, she said (I'm paraphrasing), "A year from now our country will look completely different. God brought Barack Obama to us, and is working through him, and our President cares more about doing the things that are good for the United States than he cares about himself.'