U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, fresh off a rousing neighborhood meeting on health-care reform that ended with people chanting “just say no,” said this morning he’s more resolved than ever to seek congressional approval of health-care reforms.
The Austin Democrat said people who attended the gathering Saturday morning at a South Austin grocery store first heard him talk about why he favors change and then he took questions. Doggett said he subsequently said he wanted to talk one on one with crowd members interested in other issues, but that proved impossible because of deafening chants of “just say no.”
It was the din, Doggett said, that encouraged him to depart for a community event in Bastrop, where he said some in the Austin crowd followed. Later, he said, a few people opposed to Democratic health-care proposals showed up at a Democratic Party event in Bastrop.
Doggett said of his stop at the grocery store: “It wasn’t as if I wouldn’t listen and respond. They had their say; they just went a little too far.”
Separately, Doggett issued this statement today about Saturday’s event:
This mob, sent by the local Republican and Libertarian parties, did not come just to be heard, but to deny others the right to be heard. And this appears to be part of a coordinated, nationwide effort. What could be more appropriate for the “party of no” than having its stalwarts drowning out the voices of their neighbors by screaming “just say no!” Their fanatical insistence on repealing Social Security and Medicare is not just about halting health care reform but rolling back 75 years of progress. I am more committed than ever to win approval of legislation to offer more individual choice to access affordable health care. An effective public plan is essential to achieve that goal.
Doggett says he's more resolved than ever to pass a health-care plan | Postcards
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