Re: [QUAD-L] Fwd: House Approves Budget Bill

[Eric Olson]

How do you figure this is good news?  [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: GOOD NEWS! Dana In a message dated 2/1/2006 6:23:37 P.M. Central Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Dear Dana, Tonight -- Wednesday, February 1st -- the House of Representatives approved the budget reconciliation bill by an extremely close vote of 216-214. All Democrats and 14 Republicans (including five whose votes we succeeded in changing) voted against the bill. Click here to see the roll call vote and find out how your delegation voted. Despite this heartbreaking loss, we want to thank all of you for your hard work fighting the budget reconciliation bill all year. Your calls, e-mails, meetings, op-eds, editorial board meetings, and all the other work you did -- all of these were crucial. While we didn't win this one, we came much closer than we could have dared last year. And we did make it very difficult for the other side: Perhaps they will think twice before trying to do this again soon! But even though we lost in Congress, the fight's not over yet. It's now up to you. State advocates will need to do whatever you can to minimize the harm this bill could do to people who rely on Medicaid. Each governor and state legislature will be making its own decisions about how to implement the new legislation. Many of the most harmful cuts in the reconciliation bill are at the discretion of the states. In the days ahead, we'll be writing analyses about what's in the reconciliation bill and developing tools to help with the next stage of this fight; we'll get them out to you as soon as we can. Our Medicaid Action Center will be updated regularly, so keep checking with us. But there are two things we all must do. First, from now until November, we must make sure the public understands what happened: that this Congress heartlessly made the poorest of the poor pay more for health care so they could give more tax breaks to their rich friends. Second, there is no acceptable excuse for this vote; if your Representative voted FOR this shameless bill, you should make sure they know you will hold them accountable for the harm that will be done. Peggy Denker   Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.  Tell-a-friend! If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Families USA. This message was sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED]. Visit your subscription management page to modify your email communication preferences or update your personal profile. To stop ALL email from Families USA, click to remove yourself from our lists (or reply via email with "remove" in the subject line). -------- Families USA | 1201 New York Ave., NW, Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20005 www.familiesusa.org | [EMAIL PROTECTED]     Subject: House Approves Budget Bill From: "Peggy Denker, Families USA" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thu, 02 Feb 2006 00:23:20 GMT To: "Dana Wray" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Dana Wray" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Dear Dana, Tonight -- Wednesday, February 1st -- the House of Representatives approved the budget reconciliation bill by an extremely close vote of 216-214. All Democrats and 14 Republicans (including five whose votes we succeeded in changing) voted against the bill. Click here to see the roll call vote and find out how your delegation voted. Despite this heartbreaking loss, we want to thank all of you for your hard work fighting the budget reconciliation bill all year. Your calls, e-mails, meetings, op-eds, editorial board meetings, and all the other work you did -- all of these were crucial. While we didn't win this one, we came much closer than we could have dared last year. And we did make it very difficult for the other side: Perhaps they will think twice before trying to do this again soon! But even though we lost in Congress, the fight's not over yet. It's now up to you. State advocates will need to do whatever you can to minimize the harm this bill could do to people who rely on Medicaid. Each governor and state legislature will be making its own decisions about how to implement the new legislation. Many of the most harmful cuts in the reconciliation bill are at the discretion of the states. In the days ahead, we'll be writing analyses about what's in the reconciliation bill and developing tools to help with the next stage of this fight; we'll get them out to you as soon as we can. Our Medicaid Action Center will be updated regularly, so keep checking with us. But there are two things we all must do. First, from now until November, we must make sure the public understands what happened: that this Congress heartlessly made the poorest of the poor pay more for health care so they could give more tax breaks to their rich friends. Second, there is no acceptable excuse for this vote; if your Representative voted FOR this shameless bill, you should make sure they know you will hold them accountable for the harm that will be done. Peggy Denker   Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.  Tell-a-friend! If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Families USA. This message was sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED]. Visit your subscription management page to modify your email communication preferences or update your personal profile. To stop ALL email from Families USA, click to remove yourself from our lists (or reply via email with "remove" in the subject line). -------- Families USA | 1201 New York Ave., NW, Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20005 www.familiesusa.org | [EMAIL PROTECTED]