Congressional Black Caucus Pushes Obama To Back Strong Public Option
Hours before President Obama's Wednesday night speech to a joint session of Congress on health care reform, leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus renewed their demand for a strong public insurance option in the final bill.
"We're unwavering in our support of a robust public plan," caucus Chair Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) told reporters at a press conference Wednesday. "This is really a matter of life and death."
While the Obama administration and some Congressional Democrats have waffled on the public option's status as a central element of reform efforts, the more than two dozen lawmakers made it clear they do not intend to compromise.
"We must have a public health plan along with the private ones. Without a robust public plan, there is no guarantee of change, no guarantee of lower rates and no inclusion for all," said Donna Christensen, the U.S. Virgin Islands delegate and the caucus' health care policy chair. "We are determined to see that our health care system is not just reformed, but transformed."
Joined by Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) and the presidents of the NAACP and the National Urban League, the caucus members pushed back against the charges of "death panels" and socialism that drowned out much of the reform debate during the August Congressional recess.
"We challenge the lies, the distortions and the myths," National Urban League President Marc Morial said, arguing that the public option is "the very essence" of free-market capitalism. "Think of what the cab driver could charge if there wasn't a bus," NAACP President Ben Jealous said. "Think of what FedEx could charge if I couldn't buy a stamp."
Grassroots organizers are working to drum up support across the country, including in Blue Dog districts and the states of key members of the Senate Finance Committee's so-called "Gang of Six," Jealous said.
Likewise, the caucus members stressed that they will do whatever they can to achieve meaningful universal health care coverage, with some members adding that it has been a goal of the caucus for the four decades since its inception. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-Mich.) said the three House committee bills will be resolved into one within the week, and she said she expects a strong public option along the lines of the version approved by the Ways and Means or Education and Labor committees will emerge from that process.
"We are determined to take advantage of this opportunity that may never come again," said Christensen. Without fundamental changes, "we would just be tinkering around the edges of a broken system, applying a Band-Aid when full resuscitation is what is required," she said.
Shortly before limping from the room on crutches, Christensen called on Obama to put his political capital on the line for what is widely acknowledged as one of his signature issues.
"I want to say to our President that we have worked long and hard with you to get to this point and we are here to support the health care system that you have envisioned and called on this Congress to enact on behalf of every person living in this country," she said.
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First Posted: 09- 9-09 01:36 PM | Updated: 09- 9-09 11:54 PM