Over the weekend, 220 members of Congress showed they're on the side of working families and earned our thanks for passing landmark health care reform. AFL-CIO reports our friends at Health Care for America Now have set up an easy tool where you can contact your member of Congress and thank him or her for voting "Yes" on H.R. 3962.
Here in New York, the vast majority of the congressional delegation voted 'yes,' including newly-elected Rep. Bill Owens, the North Country Democrat who was sworn in on Friday and voted "yes" the very next day.
Voting 'no' were the only two congressional Republicans from New York, Peter King of Long Island and Christopher Lee of western New York. Joining them in voting 'no,' despite a flood of phone calls and e-mails from labor activists, were Democrats Mike McMahon of Staten Island; Scott Murphy of Glens Falls and Eric Massa of Corning. We remain hopeful that we'll be able to convince Murphy, McMahon and Massa, all first-term Congress members, to support healthcare reform.
There's still a great deal of work ahead. There are substantial differences between the Senate and House proposals which will be ironed out in conference committees. We will be working to ensure that NYSUT members reach their members of congress to support a final version that provides a robust public option, does not tax health care benefits of those with coverage now, and will make the nation's health care system work better for everyone.