Well, that didn't take long.
Sunday, I was so pleased to vote for health care reform. This morning I was honored when President Obama signed the bill that provided insurance coverage to 32 million Americans, and proud of all you for helping me push the final vote through.
But even before President Obama could put pen to paper, Washington Attorney General Robert McKenna announced that he was hell bent on tearing down all of this progress.
By announcing that he would join a partisan group of Attorneys General from states like South Carolina and Texas in suing the federal government to stop health care reform, he's made it clear this isn't about people -- it's about scoring cheap political points with the extreme right wing.
This is unacceptable. My colleagues and I fought over 2,000 insurance lobbyists in Washington DC to get health care reform passed -- and now we have to fight Washington State's Attorney General too?
When Rep. Kind, Rep. Braley, Rep. McCollum, and I were representing the House Quality Care Coalition until 3am Saturday night to negotiate a solution to longstanding inequities in Medicare and cobble together the votes to pass the bill, we were doing what was right for America.
Meanwhile, all weekend, right-wing Tea Partiers attacked our efforts and stopped at nothing to try to kill this landmark bill. I knew we'd be in for more of these attacks -- but I didn't expect it to come from our own Attorney General.
We have fought too hard and have come too far to give up now. This legislation delivers critical reforms, like providing health insurance for an additional 32 million Americans, eliminates discrimination based on pre-existing conditions, and corrects reimbursement disparities that have been costing Washington families for decades. That is a big win for all of us, and I won't let Rob McKenna take it away.
If you agree that we can't give up critical reform that was 30 years in the making for one politician to try to win the support of right-wing extremists, then sign this emergency petition right now.