The camel’s nose is under the tent. And this camel is ready to trample liberty in America.

Saturday night, all 58 Democrats and 2 Independents in the U.S. Senate voted to bring H.R. 3590, the government healthcare takeover bill, to the floor for a debate and possible amendments after Thanksgiving. It was the bare minimum to achieve the 3/5ths majority. The senators are now flying to their home districts for a weeklong vacation.

Whenever that final debate occurs, it will take another 60 votes to invoke “cloture” to end that debate. The good news is several senators who voted “aye” to allow debate say they will kill the bill unless the “public option,” the very foundation of the legislation, is removed.

ACTION: Thank you to everyone who called, emailed and faxed senators to oppose government-controlled healthcare. Now, please call and protest at the district offices of your U.S. senator and other U.S. senators — especially the swing votes (Democrats Ben Nelson, Blanche Lincoln, Mary Landrieu and Independent Joe Lieberman) — to express your deep concern.

Remember, H.R. 3590 would increase insurance premiums, increase taxes, costs $2.5 TRILLION over 10 years, imposes an individual mandate that everyone buy health insurance, launches a federal “abortion insurance” program, cuts and restricts MediCare, and would result in rationing. 

The Democrats’ plan would NOT increase affordability or portability of health insurance. NOR would it restrain frivolous medical lawsuits that have been driving up doctor’s insurance and insurance premiums over the last several years. NOR would it reward, instead of financially punish, consumers who live healthy lifestyles.

Dems get their 60 — TONIGHT
Posted: Saturday, November 21, 2009 7:55 PM
From NBC’s Domenico Montanaro

After hours of debating whether to allow debate to begin on a health reform bill, the Senate voted in favor of letting that happen tonight along strictly partisan lines, 60-39.

The outcome had become all but assured earlier today when Sen. Blanche Lincoln, a moderate Democrat from Arkansas, the last Democratic holdout, said she would vote with her caucus.

It is important to realize that this is just the beginning, the opening kickoff if you will. Lincoln, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) have all said they would not vote for a bill that in the end that includes a public option. And more importantly Joe Lieberman (I-CT) has said he would join a Republican filibuster on the back end if a public option is included.

The other wild card: Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME). Snowe, who voted against cloture tonight, is against the “opt out” version of the public option. But, of course, she is in favor of her “Trigger” option.

By the way, don’t be surprised if, as we’ve been saying is possible all along, that at the end of the day, Snowe’s Trigger becomes the compromise — particularly after the CBO said Reid’s opt out would not do much to change the current system and would likely have the adverse affect of raising premiums overall.

While writing to you this evening, out of the corner of my eye I was also watching C-Span, which covered the Senate floor debate on H.R. 3590, the government healthcare takeover bill, and will cover it more Saturday morning.

Taking advantage of the C-Span cameras this evening were Republican doctors Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and John Barrasso of Wyoming, who did a stellar job explaining what’s good and bad about our current healthcare system.  

As longtime physicians who care about preventative medicine and healthy lifestyles, Coburn and Barrasso are strongly opposed to adding a lot more government to the mix because, as they say, government has created most of the current healthcare obstacles that harm Americans by robbing people of patient-driven freedom of choice.

Read more of what Coburn is teaching and what Barrasso is teaching about right, not wrong, reform of healthcare in America.

SATURDAY IS D-DAY

The vote to bring government-run healthcare to the U.S. Senate floor is scheduled for Saturday. Debate will begin at 10 a.m. EST and will continue for 10 hours. Watch it on C-Span. At 8 p.m. the important vote for cloture (to end debate) will occur. Lots of pro-family Americans have been working toward denying the 60 votes necessary to end debate. It’s going to be very close.

Many people are having trouble directly calling the four swing votes, so please call the main switchboard 202-224-3121. Make separate calls when you ask for Senators Blanche Lincoln, Ben Nelson, Joe Lieberman and Mary Landrieu. Urge them to “Kill H.R. 3590. Don’t let this government healthcare bill come to the floor or become law!”

DANCING DEMOCRATS

Friday developments: Democrat Ben Nelson jas agreed to join Joe Lieberman in voting to bring H.R. 3590 to the floor Saturday to allow debate after the Thanksgiving recess. In addition, Mary Landrieu, who has negotiated with Harry Reid to insert some “Louisiana pork” in the bill, now says she’s “leaning towards” voting “yes” to bring H.R. 3590 to the floor. This leaves Democrat Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, who’s in a tough reelection bid next year, as the final elusive 60th vote to let government-run healthcare out of its cage.

We’ve received several reports that phone machines of the targeted senators are full. Therefore, I recommend trying again in the AM, especially for Blanche Lincoln, then Mary Landrieu, Ben Nelson and Joe Lieberman. Staffers might be there to unclog their message machines or take calls. If you can’t get through at their U.S. Capitol offices, try their district office phones or fax or email them:

Blanche Lincoln contact information 
Ben Nelson contact information
Mary Landrieu contact information
Joe Lieberman contact information

THE FIRST OF THREE POSSIBLE VOTES

Passing government-run healthcare in the Senate ultimately requires three votes:

Vote 1 is Saturday, Nov. 21 on whether to bring the government healthcare takeover bill to the floor. This requires 60 votes. As noted, there are probably 59 votes right now.

If Vote 1 attains 60 votes, H.R. 3590 would be debated and amended sometime after Thanksgiving Day. 

Vote 2 would then decide whether to end that debate. It will take 60 votes to invoke cloture and this will be the last chance to stop government-run healthcare on the Senate side. Joe Lieberman has already said he’ll participate in a filibuster if unless the so-called “public option” is removed.

If all 58 Democrats and 2 Independents vote to end debate (and right now, they are 3 to 4 votes short of this 60-vote requirement), Vote 3 can occur, which is to pass the actual bill. This requires only 51 votes and those Democrat votes are definitely there if the two 60-vote hurdles are bridged.

So please, take action right now. Call, email and fax the four swing votes anyway you can. Saturday is the first chance to kill government-controlled healthcare. Pro-family citizens and all those who stand for liberty ought to act like it’s our last.