October, 16 2009, 11:48am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Laura Bonham, PDA Communications Coordinator
Laura@pdamerica.org, (435) 336-2123
Tim Carpenter, PDA National Director
Tim@pdamerica.org, (413)-320-2015
PDA Leadership Joins Single-Payer Push in Pennsylvania
WASHINGTON
With Pennsylvania poised to become
the first state to enact single-payer healthcare legislation, PDA
national director Tim Carpenter and other members of the national
leadership team will travel to the Keystone State to join local
activists working to secure the bill's passage.
"From
the halls of Congress to the capital rotunda in Harrisburg, it's all
about healthcare reform," said Carpenter. "While single-payer advocates
are bracing themselves for a hard fight in Washington, we're preparing
to win the single-payer fight in Pennsylvania."
A series of grassroots events will culminate on Tuesday, Oct. 20, with a Healthcare4AllPA rally at the capitol building in Harrisburg, beginning at 10 a.m.
The events will start Saturday, Oct. 17, at 1 p.m. with a special Healthcare NOT Warfare rally
on the steps of the Beaver County Courthouse. At 6 p.m., everyone will
be on hand for the grand opening of the Healthcare4AllPA office in
Pittsburgh, followed by a round-table strategy session with Carpenter and PDA Field Director Conor Boylan for PDA members and friends.
On
Sunday, Oct. 18, the focus will shift to central PA, with a
single-payer planing session in McConnellsburg. That meeting will
feature Carpenter, Boylan, Healthcare4AllPA Executive Director Chuck
Pennacchio and local Democratic Party leaders. It will begin at 1 p.m.
in the Community State Bank building at 425 Fulton Drive.
The team will then travel to Harrisburg for the rally on Tuesday.
"Pennsylvania
is just one state where PDA is working to pass single-payer
healthcare," Carpenter said. "We will continue with our electoral
strategy of electing progressives to Congress who will support Medicare
for All when we find ourselves back at the reform table in the
not-too-distant future. Until then, we'll also be working at the
grassroots to implement single-payer systems state by state."
Progressive Democrats of America was founded in 2004 to transform the Democratic Party and U.S. politics by working inside and outside of the party by working to elect empowered progressives and by building the progressive movement in solidarity with with peace, justice, civil rights, environmental, and other reform efforts. For more information about PDA, please see PDAmerica.org.
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