While 22 of the more conservative New Dems and Blue Dog coalitions in the House have broken ranks with their leaderships' position against a public option:

A band of 22 New Democrat and Blue Dog lawmakers say they support a “robust” government-run health plan, boosting chances of moving healthcare reform with a public insurance plan through the House.

Democratic centrists remain the biggest obstacle to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) ability to pass a healthcare bill with a public plan, and many conservative Democrats oppose a public option as unfair to private insurers.

Single Payer may have found a couple of more open windows despite your attempts to slam the door on real healthcare reform. From Healthcare-NOW! we have an action alert based on the news that Single Payer will be introduced into one of the many committees that has juridiction over healthcare reform:

Healthcare-NOW! has received confirmation that, in a display of Congressional leadership, Congressman Anthony Weiner [NY 14], will introduce a single-payer amendment similar to HR 676 to the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s portion of the tri-committee healthcare legislation.

We need your help in telling members of the Energy and Commerce Committee that the people want single-payer now. It’s crucial for them to hear from you on this historic vote.

First, see if your Rep. is in the Energy and Commerce Committee here. (If not, call Chairman Henry Waxman at 202-225-3976)

Then, call the Congressional Switchboard at 800-473-6711 and ask to be connected to him/her. Ask to speak with the health legislative assistant. Say:

“Hello, My name is __________, and as your constituent, I urge the Representative to vote YES on Representative Anthony Weiner’s HR 676 amendment to the Energy and Commerce Committee’s healthcare bill.”

This is a historic vote on single-payer legislation in a committee of jurisdiction over healthcare reform. The amendment symbolizes the elimination of the for-profit health insurance companies from the health care system; replacing them with a publicly funded, privately delivered single-payer system that guarantees comprehensive health care for everyone in the United States.

This amendment shows that the grassroot support for single-payer is being heard. Let’s keep the pressure up on Congress. Join us on July 30th in DC for a national lobby day and rally.

Thanks for all that you do,
Healthcare-NOW! National Staff

It is important, IMHO, for us to keep up the pressure on Single Payer because, if push comes to shove and anything has to go to reconciliation, the conservatives in the House - both Republican and Democratic conservatives - need to know that a strong public option that is available on day one and for every American that wants to participate is the best compromise they are going to see in healthcare reform. 

Those of us pushing for real reform can help ensure that it moves along at a much quicker pace through the process if we make it clear to those that stand in our way that further compromise is not going to happen and if they make us go around them... We can and will just go for promised land without their healthcare insurance lobbyist bought and paid for sorry butts.

Via Corrente, we have already seen what could be viewed as a very powerful Democratic party ally in the House move over to the Single Payer camp in the last week:

Labor Delegation Persuades Cong. John Murtha To Co-Sponsor HR 676

Johnstown, Pennsylvania. After meeting with western Pennsylvania labor leaders on June 29, Representative John Murtha agreed to sign on as a co-sponsor of HR 676, national single payer health care legislation introduced by Congressman John Conyers (D-MI). Eighty-five House members, in addition to Conyers, now have their names on HR 676.

Murtha, who has represented Pennsylvania’s 12th CD since 1974, is the eighth most senior member of the House of Representatives, and chairs the Defense subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. He joins PA 14th CD Congressman Mike Doyle as the second co-sponsor of HR 676 from western Pennsylvania.

So if we have to continue sit here and watch the right wing pile amendment upon amendment into the process only as a means of obstructing reform like tparty pointed out was clearly happening in the Senate HELP committee the other day:

This is a revealing moment from Monday's markup of the health care bill in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee that illustrates the level of procedural obstruction Senate Republicans are willing to rise to in order to impede its progress and in the hopes of killing its momentum.

At the opening of Monday's hearing, Sen. Dodd asked Sen. Enzi (R-WY), the ranking Republican on the committee, if he would agree to accept by unanimous consent a total of 64 Republican amendments. After a whisper from an aide, Enzi, a little perplexed and not a little embarrassed, refused to allow the 64 Republican amendments to be accepted, lowering his voice to mumble, "I think some of our members want votes on some of those." Dodd's visible exasperation and disbelief is priceless.

Sen. Enzi's pitiful performance here is visual proof of the aim of Senate Republicans - which is not to have their amendments heard, voted on, and accepted, but rather to drag out the legislative process as long as possible on health care reform. And they have many reasons to want to do so, as Brian Beutler at TPM notes:

if Congress enters recess with weeks of work left to do, party leaders may have to make a call; and those who oppose passing health care through the reconciliation process -- Republicans and some Democrats -- might be trying to run out the clock -- to call leadership's bluff, or, at the very least, to touch off a game of legislative chicken.

This is just one example and there are certainly many more ways for those in both Houses opposed to the bill generally and the public option specifically to impede its progress in the coming days. For instance, work on the Senate HELP bill, delayed as it has been, is far ahead of that on the Senate Finance bill.

Take note, conservatives - both in the Republican and and Democratic party - that our side is getting stronger and may very well be in a position to make reconciliation your worst nightmare. And you will not see any further concessions from our side. In fact, we may just skip every little bit of insurance industry input that you bring to the table in bad faith altogether and go straight for the gold healthcare standard of single payer.