VIA/PICO Goes to Washington as Health Care Debate Begins in Senate

November 23, 2009

Dear VIA Leaders and Friends,

Saturday night was another landmark occasion for health care reform! The Senate passed a procedural bill to bring the health care bill to the floor for debate, with the necessary 60 votes to avoid a filibuster.

This means the substance of the bill can now be debated. There are significant improvements for premium subsidies for moderate income families earning over 250% of the federal poverty level, all the provisions regulating the insurance companies are present, and the Congressional Budget Office projects it will reduce the federal deficit by $130 billion in the first ten years.  One area of concern, however, is that subsidies for low-income families earning between 133-154% of the level are not sufficient.

Debate will start the week after Thanksgiving, and the bill will likely be on the floor for several weeks. During that time VIA will plan call-in days and various other activities to ensure that the voices of people of faith in support of reform are heard! More details to come soon.

Thirteen PICO leaders were in Washington this past week making Congressional visits, including VIA’s own Kathy Bonilla of the First Unitarian Universalist Society in Burlington, and Susan Reid of Christ Episcopal Church in Montpelier. Susan was quoted in a nice article featured in Episcopal Life.

Cheers,
Rev. Debbie Ingram

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