{"id":218151,"date":"2010-01-23T19:00:34","date_gmt":"2010-01-24T00:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/firedoglake.com\/?p=63273"},"modified":"2010-01-23T19:00:34","modified_gmt":"2010-01-24T00:00:34","slug":"progressive-caucus-whip-diane-watson-will-%e2%80%9chold-her-nose%e2%80%9d-and-vote-for-senate-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/218151","title":{"rendered":"Progressive Caucus Whip Diane Watson Will \u201cHold Her Nose\u201d and Vote for Senate Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DianeThe whip operation of Diane Watson (CA-33)<\/a>, chief Whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus was AWOL this summer<\/a> when it came to lining up members of the progressive caucus to vote for only a public plan.<\/p>\n

FDL activists started calling her offices yesterday, and again we find out Rep. Watson is off the progressive reservation.<\/p>\n

Caucus whip Diane Watson’s office tells her constituents that she’s “willing to hold her nose and vote for a bill that had an individual mandate but no public option,”<\/strong> according to a FDL activist call report. This, while Raul Grijalva, leader of the progressive caucus, is being called a “monster”<\/a> for standing up against passing the Senate’s insurance industry giveaway bill as-is.<\/em><\/p>\n

The caller from Los Angeles reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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I got to speak with Congresswoman Watson’s staffer Charles Stewart. He was very gracious and took quite a bit of time to deal with my arguments, but found them unpersuasive. He said she would be willing to hold her nose and vote for a bill that had an individual mandate but no public option and hope that things can be somehow patched up in conference.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This summer, Diane Watson pledged<\/a> to vote against any plan without a public option along with more than 60 other Members of Congress. To thank her, 1,659 progressive activists<\/a> donated $4,486 to Diane Watson. And yet Diane Watson is openly breaking this pledge, betraying progressive activists, and shirking her responsibilities to the progressive caucus.<\/p>\n

It’s not an isolated incident. Dave, another caller from Los Angeles, reports<\/a> that Watson’s office told him she hoped the bill would be fixed in conference – yet another soon to be broken promise to progressives.<\/p>\n

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Bullshit, plain and simple. Her aide said Watson believes this is the closest we’ll ever come to passing a healthcare bill, and actually thinks it can be amended after passed! I asked if she is aware there will be a number who will profit off of this bill? She ignored my question. I asked to be put on the record – as one who does NOT have health insurance – as being OPPOSED to the bill because it does not include a public option.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Watson herself told FDL News’ David Dayen in November that “we can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”<\/a> That same day, her office told a constituent calling her office to call Joe Lieberman instead.<\/a><\/p>\n

Call the chief whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Rep. Diane Watson, and tell her passing the Senate bill as-is isn’t acceptable: DC: 202-225-7084, LA 323-965-1422. You can also post to her Facebook page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you haven’t yet, please sign our emergency petition. Tell the House Progressives to stand firm: keep your word and vote \u201cno\u201d on the Senate bill. We’ll deliver the petition early this week.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Share <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The whip operation of Diane Watson (CA-33), chief Whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus was AWOL this summer when it came to lining up members of the progressive caucus to vote for only a public plan. FDL activists started calling her offices yesterday, and again we find out Rep. Watson is off the progressive reservation. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4097,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-218151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4097"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218151\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}