Senate Democrats: Use reconciliation to pass a public option

The public option isn't dead. The Senate can still include a public option in the health reform bill through reconciliation, which takes only 51 votes to pass.

In the Senate, eight Democrats have signed on to a letter written by Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) urging urging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to pass the public option using reconciliation. And in the House, 119 Democrats have signed on to a letter crafted by Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) and Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) with the same message. Representative Alan Grayson (D-FL) hand-delivered more than 225,000 signatures from members of CREDO Action, Democracy for America, and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee in support of the public option to the Senate. Watch a video of the delivery here:

Add your voice too! Sign our petition telling President Obama, Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid that the Senate must use reconciliation to pass a better health care bill with a strong public option.

Voters did not elect President Obama and a Democratic supermajority in the House and the Senate so that health care reform could be written by the likes of Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson.

Progressives have been told for months that we must accept a mediocre bill in order to overcome a filibuster. The fact of the matter is Senator Harry Reid and President Obama took reconciliation off the table even though it represented our best chance to get an up-or-down vote on real reform.

The reconciliation process is a way for the majority of the Senate to pass items that affect the budget under rules that prohibit a filibuster.

With the election of Scott Brown, the Democratic Caucus in the Senate accounts for only 59 votes, one short of the 60 votes required to stop a filibuster. It's hard to imagine a single Republican senator voting with the Democrats to stop a filibuster, so now the Democrats have an incentive to do the right thing and pass a stronger bill via reconciliation.

Sign our petition telling President Obama, Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid that the Senate must use reconciliation to pass a better health care bill with a strong public option.

Sign the petition

We've reached 84% of our 4th NEW goal of 150,000 signers! (126,709)

The petition to President Obama, Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid reads:

"The loss of Ted Kennedy's seat -- due to a lack of enthusiasm among Democrats and Independents -- sends a clear message to Congress. The Senate health care bill is not the change we were promised in 2008, and it must be improved. The Senate must use 'reconciliation' to pass a better bill with a strong public option."

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