Yesterday, Lisa Rosenberg wrote about the discharge petition for H. Res. 554, the Read the Bill Bill. Already the petition has had an effect. Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that she would not bring the health care reform bill to the floor until it had been online for 72 hours. The discharge petition would allow the bill to be brought to a vote without committee consideration. This could be the only way to get a vote on the bill this year. Currently, there are 173 signers of the discharge petition — all of those signatures came in two days! The petition needs 218 signatures to force the bill to the floor.

At this moment there are only three Democrats who have signed onto the petition. They are Reps. Brian Baird, Walt Minnick and Parker Griffith. There are 32 Democratic cosponsors of H. Res. 554 who have yet to sign the petition. If you care to call them and let them know that they should sign the petition, please do. You can see the list below and find their contact information at Open Congress.

1. Michael Arcuri (NY-24)
2. Dan Boren (OK-02)
3. Leonard Boswell (IA-03)
4. Bobby Bright (AL-02)
5. Chris Carney (PA-10)
6. Ben Chandler (KY-06)
7. Steve Cohen (TN-09)
8. Jim Costa (CA-20)
9. Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-03)
10. Lincoln Davis (TN-04)
11. Peter DeFazio (OR-04)
12. Chet Edwards (TX-17)
13. Gene Green (TX-29)
14. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (IL-02)
15. Marcy Kaptur (OH-09)
16. Frank Kratovil (MD-01)
17. Daniel Lipinski (IL-03)
18. Dave Loebsack (IA-02)
19. Dan Maffei (NY-25)
20. Carolyn Maloney (NY-14)
21. Jim Marshall (GA-08)
22. Kendrick Meek (FL-17)
23. Charlie Melancon (LA-03)
24. Mike Michaud (ME-02)
25. Dennis Moore (KS-03)
26. Mike Quigley (IL-05)
27. Mike Ross (AR-04)
28. Mark Schauer (MI-07)
29. Heath Shuler (NC-11)
30. Adam Smith (WA-09)
31. Jackie Speier (CA-12)
32. Gene Taylor (MS-04)