Bernie Sanders Could Filibuster Health Care Bill That Does Not Include a Public Option
By Heather Tuesday Nov 10, 2009 2:00pm
Ed Schultz asks Bernie Sanders to respond to this report from The Hill Another Independent could be a spoiler as Reid moves forward on healthcare:
With a pronounced independent streak to match his political alignment, Bernie Sanders of Vermont may be another headache for Democrats trying to cobble together 60 votes for healthcare reform in the coming weeks.
At a time when most attention is being paid to the Senate’s other, more well-known Independent, Connecticut’s Joe Lieberman, it is Sanders who could end up playing spoiler for Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). As Reid struggles to find 60 votes that will unite on procedural votes, his party’s centrists are pulling the healthcare bill politically rightward while Sanders is staking out a far-left position.
Asked if he will support Democrats on procedural votes once the healthcare bill hits the Senate floor, Sanders was repeatedly noncommital, twice telling The Hill that he intends to push for a bill that includes a government-run, public-option insurance component and refusing to guarantee his support on cloture votes.
“All I’ll say for now is that I want the strongest public option possible in the bill,” Sanders said. “Beyond that, we’re going to have to look at what develops.”
Pressed further, Sanders’s office also offered no guarantees.
Gotta' love The Hill calling support for the public option a "far-left" position. It's not "far-left" when the majority of the public supports it. Sen. Sanders was again noncommital on whether he would be willing to go so far as to filibuster the health care bill during this interview, but said he is going to fight to make sure that the bill is not just a giveaway to the insurance industries.
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fair is fair.
It is time someone stood up for what the people need.
Call and thank him for his bravery...call the rest about their cowardice 1.800.828.0498.
I say we eliminate ALL government subsidized healthcare.
After a significant portion of the red state populations have died off from schlerosis of the liver, tobaccy chewin' and diseases from man on barn animal sex, then we can move on to getting good universal coverage for real Americans.
multiple rankings for our bestest at everything free nation in the area of infant mortality? I wonder if he could enlighten us on where we rank in man on barn animal sex deaths. Are there different calculations used? For example, some might take that to mean only deaths caused by diseases involving barnYARD animals.
Others might rank the critters whether they stay in the barn or go outside as well. Still others might think fowl do not live in what could technically be classified as barns.
Yeehaw, lib!
http://counterpunch.org/murphy11092009.html
I'm not savvy enough of the minutiae to know what the hell's up with this whole mess any more, but this guy makes a compelling argument, bolstered by my suspicions that few of our elected "representatives" are interested in working for us.
Is this supposed to be a Bad thing?
Good for Bernie. I agree.
it's hicks, and big business teamed up together. odd pairing.
.
This is the point I've been trying to make when I defend the bill against the Conservatives and Conspiracy theorists; criticize the bill all you want, but do so based on what it actually is, not what you imagine it to be. Objective reality means far more to me than a passingly palliative attempt at health care reform.
I think the Dems should bring the healtcare even legislation even MORE to the right. Eliminate Medicare in order to placate the minority party, driven by the most extremist right wing minority elements in this country...so that the minority Party can then run for election on a platform that tells America that the Democrats destroyed Medicare.
Grayson has stolen all the limelight allowed to liberals and Bernie keeps bringing up that damned fact that we spend twice as much and get a whole lot less.
...counts Lieberman as a liberal, too, so that's where the bulk of the rest of our time goes...
once upon a time. So he says.
crossed the red sea counts as marching for civil rights though...
i am for the "robust public option". a large competitive collective group. ultimately, i feel this could be a transition to a universal/single payer system. anything less then a robust public option would probably hinder a reasonable transition. it's difficult... the right is very concerned about the clout the democrats will have with the collective public option demographic. this is party before people. i'm going to have to agree with mr. sanders,.... filibuster the bill if it doesn't include a robust public option.
Bernie is the Senator that will always Tell it like it is.
Thanks for Keeping the Debate Going.
Bernie is putting the screws to Holy Joe. You filibuster the public option and I'll filibuster the bill without a public option that is a giveaway to your Connecticut big insurance buddies.
Well played Bernie. Well played.
Excellent observation, Six.
Brilliant play by Sanders.
Hats off to all you liberal lovin', socialist, care about your neighbors, save the country radicals at C&L!
If only we had 60 like this guy. Our country would be fixed up in no time.
are convinced that
healthcareinsurance reform is socialist, I want them to give up their Social Security and Medicare benefits!Dr. Acula:
...And their Food Stamps and Public Roads and Police and Fire Departments... (I could go on and on and on...) And have them sign a contract that says they will NOT take Medicare or Social Security when they Come of Age.
One of if not the only person in the senate that gives a shit about anyone other then himself.
republicanism/conservatism is a mental illness that is killing America!
a gift for the health insurance industry on us just so they can pretend they actually helped real people. Please!!! No single payer, then leave it the way it is so we can keep working on it. If this passes, nothing else will be done for years and years, if ever. They'll just keep saying, "Give it time to work."
Why did i vote NO:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/47611
He also mentions here the STATE right for Single Payer been removed from the bill.
I like this guy even if he is a politician.
I think I am a socialist too and that is a good thing.
fellow humans, then you are one. It is a very good thing.
the most christian nation on earth, yet we made caring for our fellow humans to be somehow a moral flaw?
...something about teaching a man to fish or something? Well, I gots my fish! If those lazy bastards don't want to learn, that's aginst Jesus right there!
Jesus was a supply side economic fascist? I missed that part of the New Testament.
Supply Side Christianity!
... of increased revenue caused by decreasing taxes were based on "loaves and fishes" arithmetic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK7gI5lMB7M
It was Reagan and his Generation of Followers... They kept repeating "Greed is Good," until the Economy went in the toilet.
I'm going to write him and tell him I want him to do this.
*
... what they call a poison-pill? anyone?
That's my read on it too. This is classic wedge politics from the Repugnicants and their Blue Dog 'moderate' allies on the D side of the aisle.
It was planned months ago, could see it coming a mile away
I didn't grasp much during my three months at Bryant U., but I remember hearing about this strategy. Maybe the word poison caught my attention? I may only have a G.E.D. now... but I have eyes and ears as well as a fairly good memory to boot! Damn thumpers
Talk about being in bed with the pharmaceutical industry. :P
Poison pill
Obviously meant to be controversial, the Stupak Amendment will draw the bulk of progressive fire thus shielding the underlying corporate giveaway from serious scrutiny from the left.
In the end, they can strip the Stupak Amendment from the final bill as a bone to throw to progressives who have been screwed in the remainder of the bill.
IMHO
Maybe... but these guys are all C Street Fascist Christians... It wasn't The Catholic Church...
Shultz's point in the introduction is a very good one. Why the rush to put a bill together regardless of its relative merits?
Rushing into things didn't keep the USA PATRIOT act, the invasion of Iraq, nor the $TRILLION bail-out of the banks from swcking. I think it has been well demonstrated that the powers that be prefer to have the public in a state of panic -- in which state they can be manipulated into damn near anything.
Spoiler?
The "spoilers" are Stupak and Lieberman.
Since when does saying "NO" to a spoiler make oneself a spoiler too?
Just like calling a racist a racist makes oneself a racist ..
Have we stepped through the Looking Glass?
with the STU-PID-pak amendment intact, and no widely-available public option, what would be the point??? It won't help anyone but the insurance execs who will be able to collect billions more in mandated premiums for shitty coverage.
I believe I commented about this many months ago - that the Repukes & Blue Dogs would bring forth such a crummy bill that it will either not pass or it will be epic fail because not enough people will have access to the public option. That will give all the pols the right to say, "well, I tried," in their elections speeches next year......and millions of Americans will still be without health insurance/care.
Is this a great country or what??!!
Well, it's a great corporate entity if that's any comfort.
I cannot wait for the eminent discomfort of being screwed once again.
I hope Bernie Saunders sticks to his guns though. My daughter and I, all through this endless fucking debate keep saying "positive thinking caps". It doesn't help.
I am developing a deep dislike for Ed Schultz. All that hail-fellow stuff reminds me of a used car salesman's bravado. When it comes to policy, in the guise of showing that he's a real man and a real liberal, he seems determined to push healthcare and Obama off a cliff.
I practice law, and he reminds me of the kind of client who insists on taking a totally unrealistic position and when things go south, gets terribly upset because you did what he told you to.
happening? You know, allowing a client to take an unrealistic position and then your running with it? Wouldn't that be inappropriate per your state's code of ethics? What state do you practice in?
nodrama said:
"I practice law..."
Keep Practicing... and let us know when you get it right.
Rimshot....
.
albabe, yes ma'am! :D
force Bernie to do a "real" filibuster and have to stand for hours doing something, all the while for the last few yrs letting repubs do nothing except say they're going to filibuster and then caving to them.
Make lieberman stand in the chamber and list the reasons he's against a public option, make him state it out loud for all to hear. lieberman will fold in about 10 min or less after he realizes how obscene and ridiculous he looks.
You GO Bernie. Give em hell
Do it, Bernie, do it!! There is no earthly reason why Blanche Lincoln and jowly old Mrs. Lieberman can "defy their anointed ruler" like a couple of hunchback rebel princes, but Bernie Sanders CAN'T. There will be no excuse for not standing up to the bitter end for a real public option or better. Other Dem senators, taking the opposite rebel view, aren't afraid. Why should Senator Bernie Sanders and a host of other Dems like him be??
not a Dem.
Go Bernie!
This bill is CRAP. No it's not: it's much worse than crap.
Senator Sanders' easy web form allows letters from out-of-state, unlike many U.S. Senators, to whom you can type a heartfelt message of thanks or encouragement or just a plea on some issue, click send, and get the error message back that you don't live in her/his state, so go away. Barbara Boxer comes first to my mind.
Go Bernie! He should and I'm sure he's considering it because he understands what the public option is already doing in Ohio! http://cli.gs/23yYaM/
This country needs 60 (or even 80) more Senators just like you, that will stand up against the Corporatists and work for the needs of the voting (and often not voting) constituents. Rahmabama and crew DINOs are getting ready to "screw the pooch" -- US!
If you think that the POS bill (HR-3962) that just made it's way through the House, to the accolades of all the Corporatist DIMs, is somewhat malodorous, you just wait until it gets through the Senate and faces the ultimate mash-up in reconciliation. It will, in spite of Bernie Sanders, look like a fresh gold-plated turd crapped from the Medical Industrial Complex, because that is one of primary "complexes" that actually run this country, along with the Military, Energy, Financial, and Agra-business complexes.
The chains of economic slavery bound the citizens of this country with the "twin births" of the Federal Reserve and Income Taxes by President Harold Wilson, and heralded the start of the Imperial Age of the USA. War is really BIG business, great for the war profiteers and the Central Bankers. We don't even have to declare war anymore, any war, all war, and each now is begun with great pomp and ceremony by our ever more powerful Propaganda served piping hot as news. And each is interminable in one form or another - the Cold War, the Falling Dominoes Wars, the War on (of) Poverty, the War on (of) Drugs, the War on (of) Terror, the War on (of, by, and for) Oil.
Drain the Treasury and tax the ever-increasing horde of the poor into abject poverty, all while flowing the wealth of the nation into the coffers of the already obscenely rich. Grover Norquest has to be paraphrased in order to strike at the whole underlying truth he spoke when he said "that we need to shrink government (entitlements to the people) small enough to drown in a tub." Newt Gingrich and the Neo-Cons crafted their "Contract ON the American Middle Class" (or "Contract With America" in NewSpeak). The 2000 US Supreme Court threw out the last vestiges of democracy in this country, while the bipartisan "Help America Vote Our Way" legislation sealed our fates.
Is it really any surprise, at this point, to see the abomination that is passed off as "Real HC Reform" that emerged from the House? Does anyone really doubt that what will devolve in the Senate will not be any improvement? The Senate is largely a crufty Corporatist C-Street "Church" Men's Club & Choir.
I predict that when the American people come to the full realization that the FUBAR HC legislative mash-up that comes from House-Senate Reconciliation has its full impact, by whatever sweet-smelling name it goes by, will provoke revolution in this country, assuming of course that we are all still healthy enough to participate. Representative Kusinich and like-minded House members, as well as Senator Sanders and the smattering of like-minded Senate members can "speak truth to power" bravely, but the outcome will be little better than Don Quixote tilting at wind-mills.
We are so, so screwed ... it's a Rahma-Obama-Nation!
Howard Dean and Bernie Sanders for president in 2012. who's with me???
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