On Wednesday evening, 10 March, we attended a teleconference hosted by Americans for Prosperity with over 14,000 other citizens from across the nation. Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN) gave his personal assessment of the health care reform process and took questions from attendees before the hour-long call ended.
Here are some of our notes from that call:
Congressman Pence was very clear that if the House of Representatives passes the Senate’s version of the bill, even without “fixes” and a reconciliation vote in the Senate, the President can and will immediately sign the bill into law. From that point it will be very difficult to overturn the law because entitlements are never overturned and President Obama would be sure to veto this kind of action. If the Republicans do not have a two-thirds vote to override that veto, the law would stand. So Pence was concerned to stop it now, rather than pondering future action.
Pence said the Democrat leadership is doing everything in their power to pass the Senate bill in the House. But the Senate bill cannot be fixed. “Don’t be fooled. A stream of public funding for elective abortion is in the Senate bill and cannot be fixed in reconciliation.” The bill cannot be repaired, Pence went on to say. He reiterated that if the House can vote for the Senate bill, they will pass it into law and Obama will sign it without any further action.
The website HonkNo.com was discussed and listeners were encouraged to visit the site and follow its suggestions.
During the question and answer session Congressman Pence was asked to suggest any actions concerned citizens can take to have impact in this process. He suggested the following:
1. Target Democrats who are from conservative districts and who voted for the bill during the first round. Encourage them to reconsider their vote and to listen to their conservative constituents.
2. Target pro-life Democrats. Remind them that the Senate bill will use taxpayer money to fund elective abortions and the Senate is not likely to change that in reconciliation or with any “fixes.” Right-to-life language is not in the Senate bill and it cannot be fixed.
Democrats who have already voted no are also vulnerable. Contact Congressman Stupak and his pro-life allies in the House and remind them about the right-to-life issues in the bill. Whether or not voters support abortion rights, it is law that taxpayer money must not be used for funding.
3. Finally, Rep. Pence said, Congress reads everything with their names in it. They count how many phone calls, faxes, and emails they receive. So Pence suggested the group continue to make contact with representatives. And writing letters to the Editor of your representative’s local newspaper is the surest way to get their attention, Pence suggested.
“You must realize,” Pence said, “Washington, DC, is designed to project the appearance that the opinions of the voters do not matter,” but they do.
End of conference.
And on that same note, Congressman Paul Ryan was interviewed by Sean Hannity this evening. He said the Democrats are privately very fearful because they know the public does not support this bill and they fear losing their seats in the upcoming election.
