Congressional Letter Demanding 'No IMAC' Is Bipartisan, With 75 Signers

August 18, 2009 (LPAC)—LPAC confirmed today that 75 Members of the House of Representatives opposed the Obama White House's "IMAC" idea for an appointed national health-care board with independent and automatic power to cut or eliminate tests, drugs, procedures, and medical care generally to seniors, poor, and disabled people. The bipartisan group of 45 Democrats and 30 Republicans "closed" gathering signatures on their letter on July 31 when Congress recessed, and could clearly gather more opposition now (see LPAC Breaking News of Aug. 14).

The letter initiated by Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) was to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, demanding she not propose to put this IMAC, "or any like proposal, in HR 3200 or any other legislation," as Obama and OMB Director Peter Orszag unconditionally demand.

Lyndon LaRouche has called this IMAC Obama's copy of Hitler's "Tiergarten 4" euthanasia policy, a charge now linked to LaRouche's name in town meetings all over the United States, and in media all over the world.

The signers of the Neal letter are both liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans, with particularly strong representation from New York, California, and Massachusetts.

ALABAMA Democrat Artur Davis;

CALIFORNIA Republicans Brian Bilbray, Dana Rohrabacher, Mary Bono Mack, and Ken Calvert; and Democrats Susan Davis, Sam Farr, Bob Filner, Mike Honda, Laura Richardson, and Linda Sanchez.

CONNECTICUT Democrat Joseph Courtney.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton.

FLORIDA Democrats Corrine Brown, Kendrick Meek; and Republicans Ginny Brown-Waite and Bill Posey.

GEORGIA Democrat John Lewis. I

OWA Republican Tom Latham.

KENTUCKY Republican Brett Guthrie.

LOUISIANA Republicans Rodney Alexander, John Fleming, and Steve Scalise.

MARYLAND Democrat Donna Edwards.

MASSACHUSETTS Democrats Michael Capuano, William Delahunt, Barney Frank, Steven Lynch, Edward Markey, James McGovern, Richard Neal, John Olver, and John Tierney.

MISSOURI Democrat Russ Carnahan.

NEBRASKA Republicans Adrian Smith and Lee Terry.

NEW JERSEY Democrat Bill Pascrell.

NEVADA Democrat Shelley Berkley. NEW YORK Democrats Gary Ackerman, Tim Bishop, Joseph Crowley, Eliot Engel, John Hall, Maurice Hinchey, Steve Israel, Nita Lowey, Dan Maffei, Carolyn Maloney, Eric Massa, Greg Meeks, Jerrold Nadler, and Edolphus Towns; and Republicans Peter King and Christopher Lee.

NORTH CAROLINA Republican Howard Coble.

OHIO Democrat Marcia Fudge and Republicans Steve LaTourette and Patrick Tiberi.

OKLAHOMA Republican Frank Lucas.

OREGON Republican Greg Walden.

PENNSYLVANIA Democrats Robert Brady, Chaka Fattah, Allyson Schwartz; and Repulicans Jim Gerlach, Joseph Pitts, Todd Platts, and Glenn Thompson.

TEXAS Republicans Mike Burgess, Michael McCaul, Ron Paul, and Pete Sessions; and Democrat Eddie Bernice Johnson.

VIRGINIA Democrat Rick Boucher.

WASHINGTON Republican Dave Reichert.

WYOMING Republican Cynthia Lummis.