At this late hour, every state must take care of its own delegation; it simply is to far along to continue working on the entire House - UNLESS you know people in other states that can help call or influence their representatives. For our purposes here and now - let's concentrate on Texas.
Within the Texas delegation in the US House, there are 32 members. Of that delegation there are 20 Republicans that have stated flatly they will vote NO on the Obama HealthCare scheme. (No Republican from Texas who is of sound mind would do otherwise!) That leaves 12 Democrats to account for.
As of last night, there were two Democratic Representatives from Texas that "say" they are going to vote NO or are leaning no. Overnight, we lost one of those to the undecided column which normally will mean a YES vote. Those two Democrats are:
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D) - 28th District - has told Investor's Business Daily if they do not change the abortion language he is a NO. Late news received early this morning, would indicate that Cuellar is wavering and CANNOT be counted on to vote NO, abortion language or not! (His District is strongly Pro-Life and that is the key!) The District for Cuellar includes areas just to the south of San Antonio, Seguin, Floresville, Pleasanton, Laredo, Pearsall, parts of McAllen, Hebbronville); and
Chet Edwards (D) - 17th District - has told CNN that he will vote NO. (His District includes portions of the Fort Worth suburbs to the south, Cleburne, Waco, Bryan)
These 2 representatives need to be called without fail. Representative Cuellar needs to be called and called and called. Here are the phone numbers where he or his staff can be reached:
Washington Office - 202-225-1640
Laredo Office - 956-725-0639
Mission Office - 956-424-3942
Rio Grande City Office - 956-487-5603
San Antonio Office - 210-271-2851
Seguin Office - 830-401-0457
If you cannot get thru to one office, call the other. Be polite, but be firm. Tell them why you expect the representative to vote against this bill - and that you are counting on him to do so. If he does not - you will NOT vote for him in November!
Representative Edwards is different; he has stated flatly that he will vote NO. Good. We hope he will keep his word, but he needs to be reminded by as many people as possible that we EXPECT him to vote NO and we are watching. Thank him for voting NO when they tell you he intends to do so. But he needs to be called. If it gets down to one vote, Chet Edwards is one of the people Obama will go to in order to save the bill!
Here are the numbers for Chet Edwards:
Washington Office - 202-225-6105
Cleburne Office - 817-645-4743
Waco Office - 254-752-9600
Brazos Valley Office - 979-691-8797
That leaves 10 Democrats unaccounted for. 2 of those Democrats are officially listed as Undecided. They are:
Rep. Solomon Ortiz - 27th District - Ortiz was a very late YES in November when the first Health Care bill was voted on. His district includes Corpus Christi, Aransas Pass, Kingsville, King Ranch, Brownsville, San Benito and South Padre Island.
Here are the phone numbers for Ortiz:
Washington Office - 202-225-7742
Corpus Christi Office - 361-883-5868
Brownsville Office - 956-541-1242
Ciro Rodriguez (D) - 23rd District - Ortiz voted YES in November also and we can only assume that he is leaning that way again. (His District includes a portion of San Antonio, far west Texas and the cities of Crystal City, Eagle Pass, Del Rio, Fort Stockton, Uvalde and Pecos.)
The phone numbers for Rodriguez are:
Washington Office: 202-225-4511
Del Rio Office: 830-774-5500
Eagle Pass Office: 830-757-8398
Fort Stockton Office: 432-336-3975
North San Antonio Office: 210-561-9421
South San Antonio Office: 210-922-1874
Constituent Services Hotline: 1-866-915-3493
THESE 2 REPRESENTATIVES NEED TO BE CALLED AND CALLED AND CALLED. THEY ARE OUR BEST HOPE OF PICKING UP A POSSIBLE 2 MORE VOTES WITHIN THE TEXAS DELEGATION.
BOTH OF THESE REPS VOTED FOR THE STUPAK AMENDMENT AND BOTH COME FROM HIGHLY PRO-LIFE DISTRICTS. AS OF THIS WRITING, OBAMA-PELOSI-REID-WAXMAN ALL HAVE SHUT OFF ANY HOPE OF WORKING OUT AN AGREEMENT WITH BART STUPAK FOR REMOVING FEDERAL FUNDING FOR ABORTION. WE NEED TO REMIND THESE REPS OF THAT FACT!
Keep in mind that both of these people have already voted FOR the Health Care bill once. However, when they voted, the elections in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts had not fully been realized; now they have. Representatives Ortiz and Rodriguez need to be told EXACTLY what is going to happen if they vote for this bill - politely - but firmly.
Of the additional 8 Democrats left (listed below) we can assume they are all solid Yes votes, regardless of what they have said publicly.
Lloyd Doggett (D) - 25th District - Includes Austin, Wimberly, Buda, Kyle, San Marcos, Luling, Gonzales, Shiner, Yoakum, Hallettsville, Bastrop, Flatonia, Eagle Lake, Schulenberg, Weimar, Eagle Lake, La Grange, Smithville, Bastrop, Camp Swift
Charlie Gonzalez (D) - 20th District - San Antonio
Al Green (D) - 9th District - Houston Area: Includes the southwest metropolitan portion of Houston and also contains areas of Missouri City, Mission Bend and part of Fort Bend County
Gene Green (D) - 29th District - Houston area: Includes the southeast metropolitan portion of Houston and Harris County, along with a portion of northern Harris County to include South Houston, Galena Park, Pasadena, Baytown, Channelview, Cloverleaf
Ruben Hinojosa (D) - 15th District - Includes the Rio Grande Valley and Costal Bend regions which encompasses Beeville, Edinburg, Harlingen and McAllen. Counties which are represented in the 15th District are Bee, Brooks, Dewitt, Duval, Goliad, Jim Wells, Live Oak and Refugio Counties, as well as parts of Cameron, Hidalgo, and San Patricio Counties
Sheila Jackson Lee (D) - 18th District - Houston area: Includes the eastern and northern portion of Houston
Eddie Bernice Johnson (D) - 30th District - Dallas area: Includes Downtown Dallas, Fair Park, Oak Lawn, Old East Dallas, Pleasant Grove, South Oak Cliff, Balch Springs, DeSoto, Hutchins, Lancaster and Wilmer; parts of Cedar Hill, Duncanville, Ferris, Glenn Heights and Ovilla
Representative Silvestre Reyes (D) - 16th District - El Paso and far west Texas
Robert Gibbs, Obama's Press Secretary, has stated flatly that we will have nationalized health care by this coming Saturday - but as of this moment - THEY DO NOT HAVE THE VOTES!
We have seen in the past, the lengths this Administration is willing to go to pass this Bill.... and it has NOTHING to do with helping people when they need good health care.
BOTTOM LINE: Do not let up now. This bill CAN be stopped. Make the calls. Have your friends make the calls. And Pray.
Rep. Debbie Riddle will share her personal, unforgettable testimony to the transformative power of a free and fair vote in her talk,