Senator Ben Nelson and the Insurance Industry

Last week, [we] called on Senator Ben Nelson to support President Obama's health care "public option" -- and to oppose the health and insurance interests that gave him over $2 million.

The good news: we made big progress! We got covered in the Omaha World-Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AP, and many other places. This pressure caused Nelson to say he is now "open" to the public option after initially calling it a "deal breaker."

The bad news: Nelson keeps actively siding with insurance interests. Every time he says he's "open" to a public option, he qualifies it by saying it cannot "erode" private insurance. In other words, the public option can compete for customers as long as it won't win. That makes no sense.

We need to break the link between special interests and Congress. That's why people across Nebraska are joining the Change Congress "donor strike" for political reform. Can you join today by clicking here? http://change-congress.org/nelson/

Across the nation, thousands of people have pledged not to give a penny more to any member of Congress unless they co-sponsor fundamental campaign reform. Already, Nelson has lost access to over $21,000, based on the past contributions of his constituents.

The bipartisan Fair Elections Now Act would create a new system of "citizen-funded elections" for Congress - public funding plus small donations. This would allow politicians to spend their time working for folks back home, not pandering to special interests. And it would help taxpayers by liberating politicians to slash billions per year in corporate welfare.

Nearly 70% of Democrats and Republicans support this. But Ben Nelson is not yet on board.

Let's make clear that insurance companies, health care companies, HMOs, and other special interests shouldn't come before the people of Nebraska in our democracy.

Can you join the Change Congress "donor strike" for political reform today? Just click here!

Thanks for helping to change Congress.

Sincerely,
Japhet, Stephanie, Adam, and Monica

P.S.  We're looking for Democratic Party officials and government officials who support the public option. If that's you, let us know by responding to this email! info@change-congress.org