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Representative Scott Murphy's vote against the House health care reform bill last November is disappointing - and puzzling. He has repeatedly and publicly proclaimed his support of a strong public option, which goes along with his focus on cutting cost, fraud, and waste and on improving quality. And, he connected his past role as a small business owner to the importance of health care reform.
Yesterday, we launched a new community petition website, StandUpScott.org, to allow folks to remind Representative Murphy of his campaign promise to support the health care reform bill. Rep. Murphy's spokesman responded with a statement calling for cost containment and quality improvements. He's worried that the bill doesn't contain cost for small businesses and individuals.
But, the House health care reform bill does just that. In fact(pdf), 15,500 small businesses in New York's 20th Congressional District would be able to provide coverage to their employees through new tax credits. And, 35,000 of Rep. Murphy's currently uninsured constituents would have access to health insurance. |
| The House bill, in many respects, is much more focused on lower and middle income families. Taxes would rise only for the wealthiest of Americans, whose livelihood would not be significantly affected by the change. The Senate bill has taxes for those making more than $250,000, while the House for the richest 0.3% of Americans. As for small businesses, I've heard many members of Congress, both House and Senate, adamantly and irrevocably remind the public that small businesses are the engine of economic growth. The White House's position is equally strong and has invited small business representatives to a roundtable discussion.
When we stood up for Rep. Murphy last year during the special election, we did so with health care reform in mind. He told us he'd be a champion for reform. With the vote on the final bill, Rep. Murphy has one last chance to show us that he is the champion we thought he'd be.
We don't yet know what the conference bill will look like.
But, what we do know is that Representative Scott Murphy should work hard in the next few weeks to ensure that many of the good parts of the House bill remain intact. These include affordability by not taxing health benefits and pushing for employer coverage, and keeping insurance companies honest through tougher regulations, consumer protections and a public option.
These provisions, after-all, address most of his concerns about health care reform - and mean that about 30 million Americans who don't have coverage right now will get it.
So, no matter where you live, take a minute right now and visit StandUpScott.org and sign the petition. Tell Rep. Murphy that his reasons for voting against the House bill simply aren't good enough. This is his last chance to show us we did the right thing when we stood up for him. Now, he needs to stand up for us. |
