2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Bernie Sanders Explains How He Would Deal With An Obstructionist Congress [View all]LiberalLovinLug
(14,173 posts)No I did not see your link.
Your post is still a load of cow manure in that YOU know that Bernie Sanders has long fought for a Single Payer system. So I researched more about that "pulled single payer", and found out this:
http://www.pnhp.org/news/2009/december/sen-bernie-sanders-on-his-amendment-for-single-payer
Instead, his amendment to create a single-payer health care system was used as a tool by Senate Republicans to create gridlock in the chamber as they sought to derail the health care reform plans of Democrats and President Barack Obama.
"That is an outrage," said the Vermont independent on the floor of the Senate Wednesday afternoon. "People can have honest disagreements, but in this moment of crisis it is wrong to bring the United States government to a halt."
Sanders' proposal wasn't going to garner many votes on the Senate floor, but it would have been the first time that a single-payer health care system was debated and voted on by Congress. Single-payer supporters saw that as a positive step forward.
But when Sanders introduced his amendment, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-OK, asked that it be read in its entirety before a vote, an unusual move given that the readings of most proposals are waived as a courtesy and for the sake of time.
Sanders' amendment is 767 pages long. After 20 minutes, a Senate clerk got through reading the table of contents. Three hours later, a reluctant Sanders withdrew his amendment.
.....
Sanders said a request from Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, convinced him to pull the amendment from consideration. Reading the whole bill would have taken 10-15 hours, Sanders said, and a pressing vote on the new defense budget was scheduled for later that evening.
"I've been told that if there are more amendments to be considered, mine is at the top of the list," Sanders said, adding that his single-payer plan still exists as a separate bill introduced earlier this year.
Forcing the reading of the single-payer amendment was just the latest attempt by Republicans "to suppress any debate on health care reform," said Dr. Quentin Young, the national coordinator for Physicians for a National Health Program, a Chicago-based organization representing 17,000 medical professionals.
"This was a cynical and obvious move," said Young, who described the country's health care system as deteriorating.
Young didn't hold Democrats free of criticism either, however. He said the bill considered by the Senate which has been stripped of the public health insurance option and the Medicare expansion is "a giant step backwards." He said Sanders should vote against the bill.
"The President's role in this has been shameful," said Young, who was Obama's friend and neighbor during the President's early days as a politician in Chicago. "He's backed off all of his campaign promises while caving into the insurance industry."
Sanders said Wednesday that he has not decided yet how to vote on the bill, which now lacks many of the proposals he saw as vital to reform.