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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNew Congress' history-making members got a Day 1 visit from Medicare for All activists
New Congress history-making members got a Day 1 visit from Medicare for All activists
"We did not elect the first historic group of women to Congress in our country's history for them to just sit back and watch. We elected them to lead."
Amanda Michelle Gomez
Jan 3, 2019, 4:26 pm
Please count us as allies, said a staffer for Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) to grassroots activists who were wearing Medicare for All t-shirts and were gathered in the congresswomans newly-minted office Thursday.
Pressleys staff were among many of the House of Representatives freshmen class that warmly welcomed dozens of advocates who visited the offices Thursday. It didnt matter that they were early for open house; Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs (D-NY) office wasnt even set up yet, with no internet or business cards to hand out.
Last year, these same activists visited Capitol Hill to demand that lawmakers do not repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA); many were escorted out by law enforcement. Now, staffers want to have a conversation with activists about health policy.
The women who were elected, they were activists and organizers in their own right. They come first with a dedication to service for the people and our issues and what we want to see at the forefront of the conversation and as politicians second.
The new members Reps. Pressley, Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Ilhan Omar (D-MN), to name a few also ran on Medicare for All. But whats more, activists stressed, is that each representative embodies an organic social solidarity because of their shared identities with activists be it activism, gender, or race. For this reason, CPD activists said, these members should be at the forefront of the health care movement to make sure marginalized communities arent left out, as was the case with past progressive reforms. (See Franklin Roosevelts New Deal.)
more...
https://thinkprogress.org/activists-urge-history-making-members-of-congress-to-lead-the-fight-for-medicare-for-all-f3e9e73e2fb5/
BigmanPigman
(51,623 posts)We need to keep the pressure on the new reps and old ones too. Last night on Rachel Maddow she mentioned the Indivisible activists who are already doing "Part 2" of the Indivisible Guide. They got bad reps to quit, got new reps elected and have been at all the local offices since we won the midterms making sure that the agenda they campaigned and won on is enacted. RESISTANCE WORKS!
Hermit-The-Prog
(33,400 posts)Whodathunk activists would be active?!?
Go, go, GO!
GulfCoast66
(11,949 posts)I think the solution is turning the now popular ACA into a french style mixed system. BUT that will never happen unless we have a vocal group pushing even harder.
We are close to having an overwhelming majority of Americans supporting Universal Healthcare. If we find a system that achieves that while keeping those with employer based plans feeling safe(50%of the population) then we can get it done.
That will not happen without the specter of Medicare for all hanging over peoples heads. Look how quick marriage equality opinion changed. We are almost there on Universal Healthcare.