[NYAPRS Enews] Alert: April Recess Actions to Reject Repeal and #ProtectOurCare

Fri Apr 7 09:37:41 EDT 2017

NYAPRS Note: The following comes courtesy of Ron Manderscheid. Act today!

Below and attached is a full run down of what you need to know about recess and health care; including, top line messaging, what needs to be done and key targets. The short version: we have to make sure Republicans stop their efforts to repeal the health law once and for all. We can do that over the next couple of weeks, if we make sure they hear loudly and clearly from their constituents.

April Recess: Reject Repeal and #ProtectOurCare

The next congressional recess is right around the corner. Between Friday, April 7 and Sunday, April 23, members of the Senate and House will leave Washington and return home for two weeks. We cannot let up the fight to protect our health care - Speaker Paul Ryan is promising to bring forward another bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act. And just days before recess is set to begin they have promised to make their already bad bill worse. Their latest repeal effort would allow states to eliminate protections for those with pre-existing conditions.

We need to send a strong message over the next few weeks to #ProtectOurCare: Do not take away our care. Stop trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Here's where things stand right now: (1) The House had to pull their health care repeal bill after at least 30 Republicans refused to vote for it. (2) At that time, Paul Ryan admitted, "Obamacare is the law of the land. [...] We are going to be with it for the foreseeable future." (3) Flash forward and Paul Ryan and other House Republican leaders are back at it, talking about bringing their even worse repeal back after recess. President Trump and Republican operatives are urging him on and there will be tremendous pressure on House members to go along, even those who publicly opposed the Ryan bill before.

So what does that mean: The Affordable Care Act is still under threat and we need to intensify pressure to make sure Republicans get the message that repeal has been rejected and it's time to give up on repeal.

Here is what is included in this email to help guide you and your organization in keeping the pressure up during recess:

1.   How you can help: A list of the top activities and strategies to plan for recess.

2.   Key Members: Check out key targets below; including those who voted yes or said they would support the law, those that said no and those that refused to say one way or the other.

3.   Talking Points: This includes topline points, key questions to ask members of congress, basic facts and more.

4.   ResistanceRecess.com<http://resistancerecess.com/>: It's back - and here is a guide on how best to use this website in your planning.

________________________________

Here's What You Can Do To Help

1.   Turn out to town halls or other events: You'll be able to find all public events that focus on members of congress - including town halls with members as well as empty chair events or protests at an office - ResistanceRecess.com<http://resistancerecess.com/>. We need to make sure that health care breaks through and that people share their health care stories. MoveOn provided details on how to best use the site and share materials (more information at the bottom of this note).

2.   Keep up the calls: Republicans need to keep hearing from folks over the next couple of weeks to #RejectRepeal. Feel free to share SEIU's call-in numbers with your members to get calls going into the House and Senate: English: 866-426-2631; Spanish: 877-736-7831

3.   Get members on the record: We need Republicans to recommit that they will not repeal the health care law and will not cut coverage, increase costs or eliminate basic services - like cancer screenings and prescriptions drugs.

4.   Hold members accountable: Nearly one hundred Republican members voted or came out publicly in support of ripping apart people's health care. They need to hear directly from their constituents about what that means at public events and through LTEs, calls, and social media.

ASK: Don't repeal the health law. We can't afford higher costs and cuts in coverage just to give the rich another tax break. Additional messaging is below but it's important to keep it simple - we've got to make sure repeal is off the table.

________________________________

Demand that Congress Protect Our Health Care And #RejectRepeal

Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act failed because people loudly rejected their plan to rip away health coverage from 24 million people and raise health care costs for millions more. Instead of working to improve our care and fix the law, House Republicans have said that in the next few weeks they'll once again try to repeal the law - putting partisan politics before the health and financial security of tens of millions of people in America.

Ask

Keep it simple and demand Republicans reject repeal and #ProtectOurCare: Do not take away our care. Stop trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Key Questions to Ask Members of Congress

Members need to keep hearing from their constituents so they understand that it's time to give up on repealing the health care law. Remember: Keep it personal. The best and most impactful questions are ones where someone shares their story about what the Affordable Care Act has meant to them or their family.

1.   Do you agree with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan<http://www.cbsnews.com/news/paul-ryan-says-he-doesnt-want-to-negotiate-with-democrats-on-health-care/> that you should not work with Democrats to fix the Affordable Care Act and work together to bring costs down?

2.   Will you give up on repealing and replacing the law with anything that results in people losing their health coverage and increasing costs?

3.   Choose your own issue: It's clear that people are against the American Health Care Act - will you pledge to never vote for legislation that:

a.    Creates an age tax that makes health care more expensive for people between the ages of 55-64?

b.    Guts Medicaid by shifting costs to states through a block grant or per-capita cap and rationing the care of seniors, kids and people with disabilities?

c.    Allows insurance companies to stop covering basic services such as prescription drugs, maternity care and cancer screenings?

d.   Stops women from getting their health care from a Planned Parenthood?

1.   Do you agree with the latest repeal efforts that include weakening protections for people with pre-existing conditions by allowing insurance companies to charge them as much as they want?

2.   Do you think the Trump Administration should be working to strengthen the individual market versus trying to sabotage it?

Basic Points

The Republican health care repeal bill was really bad for people and now Republicans are talking about making it even worse. Instead of working together to make a better health care system, they're giving into the demands of the extreme-fringe.

*         At a time when Americans are concerned about health care being too expensive, the Republican repeal effort would raise premiums by 20 percent, even charging people over 50 five times more than younger people, increase out-of-pocket costs and deductibles, while leaving 24 million more people uninsured.

*         Caving to extreme parts of their party, Republican leaders made the bill even worse - letting insurance companies stop covering basic services such as prescription drugs, doctor visits or maternity care.

*         And now, Republicans are talking about destroying protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions, allowing insurance companies to charge them as much as they want.

*         Medicaid cuts and changes to health insurance rules would have dramatically cut access to mental health and opioid use disorder treatment.

It's time to move on. Republicans were unable to repeal the law because the American people - along with a bipartisan majority in congress - want to keep the law's protections and key components.

Republican Senators, Governors and even Republican Members of Congress joined a bipartisan majority to oppose repealing health care because of key provisions of the Affordable Care Act that they wanted to keep: access to affordable care, Medicaid expansion, essential health benefits, protections for pre-existing conditions and much, much more. They all admitted that repeal of health care would increase costs, cut coverage and stop insurance companies from covering basic services.

The Affordable Care Act is more popular than ever. Polls show voters don't want it repealed. They want Democrats and Republicans to work together to bring down costs - for coverage and prescription drugs - to protect patients and to make sure even more people have access to affordable coverage.

*         The Kaiser Health Tracking Poll shows the ACA has the highest favorability since it began polling-more than 60 tracking polls ago and Pew Research had support at an all-time high.

*         The newly released Quinnipiac poll had only 1-in-5 supporting full repeal.

The Administration has complete power to make the exchanges successful. Now that efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act are over, the Trump Administration and Congress have a responsibility to make the law work and to do everything in their power to keep the Health Insurance Marketplaces healthy and stable. The Affordable Care Act is the law of the land. It is the government's responsibility to make sure it works for people and that competition is strong.

If the Republicans break our health care system, they will be held responsible - if you break it, you own it.  As the Wall Street Journal editorial board recently wrote, <https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-obamacare-republicans-1490396943> "Republicans run the government and that means they are responsible for what happens in health care."

*         President Trump regularly cheers for his plan is to sabotage the law, but the American people will not tolerate the Administration rooting for people to suffer in order to give them political gains.

________________________________

Key Members

Check out how members planned to vote on the health care repeal bill below; including those who refused to say one way or the other how they would vote, those who voted yes in committee or said they would support the Republican effort or those that said no. Members listed as "swing" were considered to be swing votes for the health care repeal bill.

Would Not Commit

These members were considered swing votes for repeal and refused to say which way they would vote. It's important that they hear directly from their constituents about stopping efforts to repeal health care.

District

First

Last

Position

CA-08

Paul

Cook

No stance

CA-10

Jeff

Denham

No stance

TX23

Will

Hurd

No stance

CA-25

Steve

Knight

No stance

ME-02

Bruce

Poliquin

No stance

CA-21

David

Valadao

No stance

Members Who Leaned Yes

These members did not come out in full support but were leaning yes.

District

First

Last

Link

FL-26

Carlos

Curbelo

W&M yes but wavered at the end

FL-25

Mario

Diaz-Balart

Budget yes but later was undecided

CA-48

Darrell

Issa

Said he was "leaning yes"

NY-02

Peter

King

Suggested he was a 'yes'

WA-08

David

Reichert

W&M yes but later became undecided

IL-06

Peter

Roskam

W&M yes, but does not want to revive repeal bill

NY-22

Claudia

Tenney

Moved to uncommitted

Members Who Voted Yes for AHCA in Committee or Said They Would Support

These members voted in committee to rip apart health care for millions or made public statements indicating their intention to vote yes or that they were leaning yes. They need to hear from their constituents that their vote will not be forgotten and that it's time to stop efforts to repeal the law. Members are listed in alphabetical order by whether they were "swing votes", Freedom Caucus or blank if neither - swing votes, in particular, need to hear from their constituents.

District

First

Last

Swing Vote or HFC

Notes

NE-02

Don

Bacon

Swing

CO-06

Mike

Coffman

Swing

NY-27

Chris

Collins

Swing

E&C - yes

PA-06

Ryan

Costello

Swing

E&C - yes

NY-19

John

Faso

Swing

Budget - yes

MN-02

Jason

Lewis

Swing

Budget - yes

NJ-03

Tom

MacArthur

Swing

FL-18

Brian

Mast

Swing

AZ-02

Martha

McSally

Swing

PA-07

Pat

Meehan

Swing

W&M yes

MN-03

Erik

Paulsen

Swing

W&M - yes

TX-32

Pete

Sessions

Swing

MI-07

Tim

Walberg

Swing

CA-45

Mimi

Walters

Swing

E&C - yes

TX-19

Jodey

Arrington

-

Budget - yes

IN-03

Jim

Banks

-

MI-01

Jack

Bergman

-

Budget - yes

FL-12

Gus

Bilirakis

-

E&C - yes

MI-08

Mike

Bishop

-

W&M - yes

TN-06

Diane

Black

-

W&M yes and Budget yes

TN-07

Marsha

Blackburn

-

E&C - yes

TX-08

Kevin

Brady

-

W&M - yes

IN-05

Susan

Brooks

-

E&C - yes

FL-16

Vern

Buchanan

-

W&M - yes

IN-08

Larry

Bucshon

-

E&C - yes

TX-26

Michael

Burgess

-

E&C - yes

GA-01

Buddy

Carter

-

E&C - yes

OK-04

Tom

Cole

-

Budget - yes

ND-AL

Kevin

Cramer

-

E&C - yes

WI-07

Sean

Duffy

-

GA-03

Drew

Ferguson

-

Budget - yes

TX-17

Bill

Flores

-

E&C - yes

FL-01

Matt

Gaetz

-

Budget - yes

VA-09

Morgan

Griffith

-

E&C - yes

WI-06

Glenn

Grothman

-

Budget - yes

KY-02

Brett

Guthrie

-

E&C - yes

MS-03

Gregg

Harper

-

E&C - yes

NC-02

George

Holding

-

W&M - yes

NC-08

Richard

Hudson

-

E&C - yes

KS-02

Lynn

Jenkins

-

W&M - yes

OH-06

Bill

Johnson

-

E&C - yes

TX-03

Sam

Johnson

-

W&M - yes

PA-03

Mike

Kelly

-

W&M - yes

IL-16

Adam

Kinzinger

-

E&C - yes

OH-05

Robert

Latta

-

E&C - yes

MO-07

Billy

Long

-

E&C - yes

TX-24

Kenny

Marchant

-

W&M - yes

CA-04

Tom

McClintock

-

Budget - yes

WV-01

David

McKinley

-

E&C - yes

WA-05

Cathy

McMorris Rodgers

-

E&C - yes

OK-02

Markwayne

Mullin

-

E&C - yes

PA-18

Tim

Murphy

-

E&C - yes

SD-AL

Kristi

Noem

-

W&M - yes

CA-22

Devin

Nunes

-

W&M - yes

TX-22

Pete

Olson

-

E&C - yes

NY-23

Tom

Reed

-

W&M - yes

OH-15

Jim

Renacci

-

W&M yes; Budget yes

SC-07

Tom

Rice

-

W&M - yes

IN-04

Todd

Rokita

-

Budget - yes

LA-01

Steve

Scalise

-

E&C - yes

IL-15

John

Shimkus

-

E&C - yes

MO-08

Jason

Smith

-

W&M yes; budget yes

NE-03

Adrian

Smith

-

W&M - yes

PA-16

Lloyd

Smucker

-

Budget - yes

VA-02

Scott

Taylor

-

NJ-02

Glenn

Thompson

-

OH-12

Pat

Tiberi

-

W&M - yes

MI-06

Fred

Upton

-

E&C - yes

MI-07

Tim

Walberg

-

E&C - yes

OR-02

Greg

Walden

-

E&C - yes

IN-02

Jackie

Walorski

-

W&M - yes

AR-04

Bruce

Westerman

-

Budget - yes

AR-03

Steve

Womack

-

Budget - yes

GA-07

Rob

Woodall

-

Budget - yes

NY-01

Lee

Zeldin

-

TX-06

Joe

Barton

HFC

E&C - yes

OK-01

Jim

Bridenstine

HFC

AZ-08

Trent

Franks

HFC

Switched to yes after Trump called

AL-06

Gary

Palmer

HFC

Voted against in Budget Committee but was planning to vote yes on the floor

TX-02

Ted

Poe

Former HFC

Resigned from Freedom Caucus after measure was pulled

AZ-06

David

Schweikert

HFC

W&M - yes

Members Who Said They Would Not Support

These members came out publicly against the Americans for Health Care Act or were leaning against it.  It's important that they hear directly from their constituents that it's time to move on from repeal and sabotage and work together to fix the law. We need to make sure that the swing votes, in particular, hear from their constituents that they must #ProtectOurCare.

District

First

Last

Swing vote or HFC

Link

NV-02

Mark

Amodei

Swing

https://twitter.com/ericawerner/status/845301108100780032

VA-10

Barbara

Comstock

Swing

PA-15

Charlie

Dent

Swing

https://twitter.com/RiegerReport/status/845073766648549382

NY-11

Dan

Donovan

Swing

https://twitter.com/daveweigel/status/845068741314592769

PA-08

Brian

Fitzpatrick

Swing

https://www.facebook.com/RepBrianFitzpatrick/posts/1835306890068316

WA-03

Jaime

Herrera Beutler

Swing

http://www.thestranger.com/slog/2017/03/23/25038268/another-republican-against-trumpcare-washington-states-jaime-herrera-beutler

OH-11

Dave

Joyce

Swing

https://twitter.com/RepDaveJoyce/status/845325913696874496

NY-24

John

Katko

Swing

http://www.syracuse.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/03/on_verge_of_do-or-die_vote_on_obamacare_rep_john_katko_reamins_a_no.html#incart_river_home

NJ-07

Leonard

Lance

Swing

https://twitter.com/deirdrewalshcnn/status/845076946841153536

NJ-02

Frank

LoBiondo

Swing

https://twitter.com/RepLoBiondo/status/845091234280587265

FL-27

Ileana

Ros-Lehtinen

Swing

https://twitter.com/Taniel/status/844657853570994176

NJ-04

Chris

Smith

Swing

https://twitter.com/mikedebonis/status/845078460179591168

IA-03

David

Young

Swing

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2017/roll189.xml

AK-AL

Don

Young

Swing

https://www.adn.com/politics/2017/03/24/don-young-canceling-the-health-care-vote-was-a-victory-for-alaska/

MI_03

Justin

Amash

HFC

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2017/roll189.xml

AZ-05

Andy

Biggs

HFC

https://biggs.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-andy-biggs-s-statement-upcoming-ahca-vote

IA_01

Rod

Blum

HFC

https://twitter.com/dnewhauser/status/845247925588574209

VA_07

Dave

Brat

HFC

https://twitter.com/andrewhtynes/status/845270512355954689

AL_05

Mo

Brooks

HFC

https://twitter.com/EamonJavers/status/845245537209212929

NC-13

Ted

Budd

HFC

http://www.journalnow.com/opinion/columnists/rep-ted-budd-nothing-short-of-full-repeal-of-obamacare/article_8f92217a-5612-592c-be72-3abc543a1224.html

TX_01

Louie

Gohmert

HFC

https://twitter.com/scottwongDC/status/845100735868096513

AZ_04

Paul

Gosar

HFC

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2017/roll192.xml

MD-01

Andy

Harris

HFC

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/blog/bal-rep-andy-harris-remains-a-no-on-gop-health-care-bill-20170323-story.html

NC_03

Walter

Jones

HFC

https://twitter.com/mikedebonis/status/845080445612167169

OH_04

Jim

Jordan

HFC

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/mar/27/jim-jordan-mishmash-health-care-bill-failed-delive/

KY_04

Tomas

Massie

HFC

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2017/roll189.xml

NC_11

Mark

Meadows

HFC

https://twitter.com/MEPFuller/status/845074351904972801

NJ_11

Rodney

Frelinghuysen

https://www.facebook.com/rfrelinghuysen/posts/816598255160874

NJ-02

Glenn

Thompson

http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2017/03/where_do_pas_republican_us_hou.html

________________________________
Ways to Engage with ResistanceRecess.com<http://ResistanceRecess.com>:

Email emma.einhorn at moveon.org<mailto:emma.einhorn at moveon.org> for more details and to partner on events as described below.

*  Send your members to ResistanceRecess.com<http://ResistanceRecess.com> to sign up for events

MoveOn is happy to provide referral-tracking URL codes to quantify your member engagement. We can send back the RSVPs periodically and a full list at the end of recess. RSVPs will receive a confirmation and reminder email from MoveOn, but can be suppressed from our mailing list if you choose. If you want to post the events on your own site, or need an export of the zip codes, we can provide that too.

*  Take the lead for on-the-ground bird dogging at an event

MoveOn encourages groups with trained volunteers or staff on the ground to head up the bird dogging tactics. If you want to take point on events, please email Emma and you will be able to contact RSVPs through the MoveOn event tool to coordinate your efforts.

*  Submit your town halls and events by clicking "+ create new event"

MoveOn welcomes allies to post your events at ResistanceRecess.com<http://resistancerecess.com/>. We will send an email recruit to members in the area 1-2 days before the event to any events targeting a specific member of Congress. MoveOn does not support civil disobedience, so all events must meet our legal guidelines.

*  Tracking town hall data - submit individual events we are missing, or email us about bulk uploading events

Right now, ResistanceRecess.com<http://ResistanceRecess.com> is partnering with TownHallProject.com<http://TownHallProject.com> and Democracy Partners data to populate information about public events with members of Congress. If you are also tracking events, please submit events on the site or contact Emma about bulk upload options.

*  Post Organizing guides or issue-specific resources

Check out the materials page here<https://www.resistancerecess.com/survey/resistance-recess-host-materials/> to see talking points, sample questions, and organizing tools for local volunteers. These are publically available to anyone who visits the site. We are happy to host resources with full attribution to partner organizations.

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