2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumPolitico today - "Sanders had big ideas but little impact on Capitol Hill"
Jesse Ferguson @JesseFFerguson 39m39 minutes agoFrom Politico today - "Sanders had big ideas but little impact on Capitol Hill" http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/bernies-record-220508#ixzz42i8hBMfW
Democrats who worked with the Vermont senator say he contributed to the debate, but rarely forged actual legislation or left a significant imprint on it.
At the heart of Bernie Sanders campaign is a promise to bring about sweeping change. But on some of the top issues at the center of Sanders' presidential bid -- health care, taking on the big banks and corporations, fighting for rights, raising attention to income inequality -- the revolution has been slow in the 25 years he's spent in Congress.
Sanders and Clinton both repeatedly turned to his Senate record at the Democratic debate in Miami Wednesday night. Clinton hit him for voting against the TARP II bailout, arguing that if everyone had voted as he voted, we would not have saved the auto industry, and attacked him for voting against the 2007 immigration reform bill.
"Madam Secretary, I will match my record against yours any day of the week," Sanders responded, in one of the many moments he brought up his Senate work.
He was on the committee that wrote Obamacare, he said again, and he introduced what he called the most comprehensive climate change legislation in the history of the Senate.
I have been criticized a lot for thinking big, for believing we can do great things as a nation, Sanders said.
Rarely has that thinking translated into actual legislation or left a significant imprint on it, according to Democratic members and their staffers who have worked with him.
read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/bernies-record-220508#ixzz42i8hBMfW
Land Shark
(6,346 posts)The system is rigged, so of course the real heroes rarely are able to get things through
litlbilly
(2,227 posts)pangaia
(24,324 posts)Lizzie Poppet
(10,164 posts)AzDar
(14,023 posts)http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/11/politics/sanders-ohio-lawsuit/
Also:
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/06/bernie-sanders-john-mccain-va-deal-107491
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/bernie-gets-it-done-sanders-record-pushing-through-major-reforms-will-surprise-you
None More Blind Than Those Who Refuse To See...
bigtree
(85,986 posts)...push your candidate without the personal attacks.
AzDar
(14,023 posts)bigtree
(85,986 posts)...blocked.
dchill
(38,465 posts)Why don't you write a nice, long post about Hillary's legislative achievements?
I'm SO ready to be blocked!
MADem
(135,425 posts)The fact that he sued because he thinks he'll get more votes from the seventeen year olds is a self serving thing, and has nothing to do with his legislative bona fides.
He's been on the Hill for 25 YEARS and he has damn little to show for it.
MADem
(135,425 posts)He does not have a visible record of accomplishment on the Hill, and he has been there for a QUARTER CENTURY--longer than many of his supporters have been alive.
It's great to claim to be against stuff, and claim to be for stuff, when there are no fingerprints on anything.
AzDar
(14,023 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)anyone talks about is that VA piece, which relied HEAVILY on the gravitas of John McCain to get it over the finish line.
25 years. A quarter century. Where is the Sanders - Blah Blah Act?
His touch has been LIGHT in the extreme. He's at the periphery, not the center. He pushes and pokes at the edges, he doesn't break ground.
AzDar
(14,023 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)AzDar
(14,023 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)The link you keep ignoring has a Big Long Fucking List of legislative accomplishments in it.
Try reading.
Number23
(24,544 posts)But that aside, I don't know what the hell is wrong with this place where people scream "LIAR" at someone for just posting an article that discusses Sanders' shortcomings as a politician. Does screaming "liar" somehow change the content of the article?
MADem
(135,425 posts)If I have a different opinion about a politician, or if I do not believe they can do the things they claim they are going to do, my go-to phrase is not "He's a LIAR!"
I have to wonder what motivates that kind of commentary. Never heard that kind of aggressive vitriol here in years past.
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)Only to the blind.... for those who just skim the surface.
Besides, what's the use of "getting things visibly done" if the things suck? Like voting to go to war, or to extend the Patriot Act?
Lizzie Poppet
(10,164 posts)dchill
(38,465 posts)Number23
(24,544 posts)this way. Just remember that the next time you or anyone is accused of "lying" because you posted an article that dares to discuss Sanders' shortcomings as a politician. And you know good and well there will be a next time.
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)i.e. Triangulation aka Collaboration.
bigtree
(85,986 posts)...where's the legislature to back up Sanders' initiatives?
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)That just take longer to achieve. Especially, when some Democrats would rather collaborate with Republicans to keep them from being achieved.
Like single payer health care and free tuition.
bigtree
(85,986 posts)...not necessarily the only consideration I'd expect from a candidate.
rock
(13,218 posts)Than just about anything!
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)Just like the 8 hour work day, integration in the south, manned space flight, the end of smallpox, gay marriage, and hosts of other things that would "never" happen and were impossible.
Maybe we should have dismissed them in the same way that Bernie's "big ideas" of single payer health care, free education, and breaking up the banks, are being dismissed.
Armstead
(47,803 posts)Lobbyists speak much louder in Congress than some cranky Senator from Vermont.
And reading that article, there's a weird slant to it. It is filled with paradoxes like "one of the most inf;luential Senators" followed by "one of the least influential Senators."
And gosh, Clinron supporters are ready tom slam Bernie in an article. Gosh what a surprise.
TheCowsCameHome
(40,168 posts)He's even had fewer investigations, accusations, and inquiries brought against him in all his years in the Senate - can you imagine that?
He's a real zero, that Bernie Sanders.
vintx
(1,748 posts)Sanders has a system, said Sen. Sherrod Brown, who served with him in the House before both were elected to the Senate in 2006. "He would call them 'tripartite amendments' because we'd have him and he'd get a Republican, he'd get a Democrat and he'd pass things. He's good at building coalitions," Brown said.
...
Burr, who said that he and Sanders reached an "impasse" in the VA talks before McCain volunteered to take the lead, said, "Senator Sanders understands what it takes to get legislation across the goal line."
"I think he's very outspoken in terms of where he is ideologically," Burr said. "But when he gets down to the need to get legislation into law, then I find him to be one who's willing to sit down and compromise and negotiate to get to a final product."
...
But he is not without friends on Capitol Hill and has spent decades building relationships with members that could help him to push a policy agenda through Congress in a way that President Obama has, at least until recently, been reticent to do.
"Clearly if you want to get anything done, you have to work with members of Congress and you have to work with members of both political parties," Sanders said. "I have done that and as president, I certainly would do that. But that's kind of what you have to do no ifs, buts or maybes."
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/07/bernie-sanders-is-a-loud-stubborn-socialist-republicans-like-him-anyway/450597/
arcane1
(38,613 posts)AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)is a lie. A LIE.
vintx
(1,748 posts)Democrats have their marching orders apparently.
MADem
(135,425 posts)'It doesn't take away from the fact that he's 100 percent in his voting record,' Solomonese said. 'Anybody willing to step up and sit at the table and plan a path forward was more than welcome.'
In the House, leadership aides say Sanders was generally off on his own, essentially ignored by leadership and largely invisible on the floor. In the Senate, where policy discussions are held weekly during conference lunches, Sanders has consistently pushed for more attention to income inequality. Senators and leadership aides say that's influenced their thinking, and to an extent, their actions.
'On the issues that are his bread and butter issues on the campaign trail, he's certainly altered the conversation, but in terms of the change and the result, I haven't seen a lot of it in three years,' Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who serves with Sanders on the Budget Committee and has also endorsed Clinton, though he also describes himself as a Sanders fan.
That's the same amount of time Kaine has served with Warren. Kaine said the contrast is clear. She's influenced the debate 'dramatically.'
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/bernies-record-220508#ixzz42iZ2szmD
...it takes some creative thinking to imagine he'd have any more success with the campaign he's running against the party now, in office, than he did as an independent keeping the party at arms length.
Garrett78
(10,721 posts)As I've said before, I think the masses have to lay the groundwork for systemic change between election cycles. A daily, grassroots struggle to alter the culture starting at the local level. It's not enough to wait for the next presidential election cycle, glom onto the most progressive candidate and think he or she is going to change the system. I know that's easier said than done, as people have jobs and kids and other responsibilities. But, as Bernard Chazelle wrote years ago, "America has lefties but no Left." Until that changes, the system as is rolls on.
Going to some rallies, posting messages online and voting is easy. The day-to-day struggle at the local level is what's hard but necessary.
Peregrine Took
(7,412 posts)arcane1
(38,613 posts)Imagine that!
mythology
(9,527 posts)Individual members of Congress are often far more popular in their district/state.
DCBob
(24,689 posts)if he miraculously ever becomes President.
djean111
(14,255 posts)Also - yeah, Bernie didn't have anything NEAR the impact of war. That's a plus, in my book. Add in increased H-1B visas, fracking, the TPP - I have to say that today's episodes of "Why you guys should dump Bernie and support Hillary" get a big Thumbs-down.
They will have, as they say, little (no) impact.
DrFunkenstein
(8,745 posts)Who would YOU appoint? Chief lobbyists? A revolving door for top executives?
Do you think it makes ANY difference?
Who would go after the fossil fuel industry aggressively?
Do you think it makes a difference if Clinton nominates a Monsanto executive to oversee the FDA? A Goldman Sachs exec for the Fed chair?
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)What kind of experience does Bernie Sanders have? Let's take a look.
By Zaid Jilani / AlterNet
October 17, 2015
I'm a progressive, but I'm a progressive who likes to get things done, Hillary Clinton said at the first Democratic debate, in response to a question from moderator Anderson Cooper about whether she defines herself as a moderate or a progressive.
The implication was that progressive Bernie Sanders is too far to the left to accomplish anythingall of his ideas are pie-in-the-sky. You have to be able to find the bipartisan, warm, purple space as Clinton said earlier this year, to get anything done. Slate's Jamelle Bouie was super-impressed by this rationale, saying Clinton has skilled use of bureaucratic power.
The problem with this narrative is that it is completely false. Not only has Sanders gotten a lot more things done than Clinton did in her own short legislative career, he's actually one of the most effective members of Congress, passing bills, both big and small, that have reshaped American policy on key issues like poverty, the environment and health care.
The Amendment King
Congress is not known to be a progressive institution lately, to say the least. Over the past few decades, the House of Representatives was only controlled by the Democrats from 2007 to 2010, and a flood of corporate money has quieted the once-powerful progressive movement that passed legislation moving the country forward between the New Deal era and the Great Society. Yet, as difficult as it may be to believe, a socialist from Vermont is one of its most accomplished members.
Bernie Sanders was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1990, and many immediately doubted his efficacy. It is virtually impossible for an independent to be effective in the House, said then-Congressman Bill Richardson (D-NM). As an independent you are kind of a homeless waif. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), today an outspoken advocate for Hillary Clinton, said Bernie's holier-than-thou attitudesaying in a very loud voice he is smarter than everyone else and purer than everyone elsereally undercuts his effectiveness.
As if things didn't look bad enough, in 1994 the Republicans swept into power in the House of Representatives, dashing the hopes of many that Congress could do anything progressive whatsoever. But Sanders was not content with tilting at windmills. He didn't want to just take a stand, he wanted to pass legislation that improved the United States of America. He found his vehicle in legislative amendments.
Amendments in the House of Representatives are often seen as secondary vehicles to legislation that individual members sponsor, but they are an important way to move resources and build bipartisan coalitions to change the direction of the law. Despite the fact that the most right-wing Republicans in a generation controlled the House of Representatives between 1994 and 2006, the member who passed the most amendments during that time was not a right-winger like Bob Barr or John Boehner. The amendment king was, instead, Bernie Sanders.
Sanders did something particularly original, which was that he passed amendments that were exclusively progressive, advancing goals such as reducing poverty and helping the environment, and he was able to get bipartisan coalitions of Republicans who wanted to shrink government or hold it accountable and progressives who wanted to use it to empower Americans.
Here are a few examples of the amendments Sanders passed by building unusual but effective coalitions:
Corporate Crime Accountability (February 1995): A Sanders amendment to the Victims Justice Act of 1995 required offenders who are convicted of fraud and other white-collar crimes to give notice to victims and other persons in cases where there are multiple victims eligible to receive restitution.
Saving Money, for Colleges and Taxpayers (April 1998): In an amendment to H.R. 6, the Higher Education Amendments of 1998, Sanders made a change to the law that allowed the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education to make competitive grants available to colleges and universities that cooperated to reduce costs through joint purchases of goods and services.
Holding IRS Accountable, Protecting Pensions (July 2002): Sanders' amendment to the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act of 2003 stopped the IRS from being able to use funds that violate current pension age discrimination laws. Although he faced stiff GOP opposition, his amendment still succeeded along a 308 to 121 vote.
Expanding Free Health Care (November 2001): You wouldn't think Republicans would agree to an expansion of funds for community health centers, which provide some free services. But Sanders was able to win a $100 million increase in funding with an amendment.
Getting Tough On Child Labor (July 2001): A Sanders amendment to the general appropriations bill prohibited the importation of goods made with child labor.
Increasing Funding for Heating for the Poor (September 2004): Sanders won a $22 million increase for the low-income home energy assistance program and related weatherization assistance program.
Fighting Corporate Welfare and Protecting Against Nuclear Disasters (June 2005): A Sanders amendment brought together a bipartisan coalition that outnumbered a bipartisan coalition on the other side to successfully prohibit the Export-Import Bank from providing loans for nuclear projects in China.
Once Sanders made it to the Senate in 2006, his ability to use amendments to advance a progressive agenda was empowered. Here are some of the amendments he passed in the Senate:
Greening the U.S. Government (June 2007): A Sanders amendment made a change to the law so at least 30 percent of the hot water demand in newer federal buildings is provided through solar water heaters.
Protecting Our Troops (October 2007): Sanders used an amendment to win $10 million for operation and maintenance of the Army National Guard, which had been stretched thin and overextended by the war in Iraq.
Restricting the Bailout to Protect U.S. Workers (Feburary 2009): A Sanders amendment required the banking bailout to utilize stricter H-1B hiring standards to ensure bailout funds weren't used to displace American workers.
Helping Veterans' Kids (July 2009): A Sanders amendment required the Comptroller General to put together comprehensive reporting on financial assistance for child care available to parents in the Armed Forces.
Exposing Corruption in the Military-Industrial Complex (November 2012): A Sanders amendment required public availability of the database of senior Department officials seeking employment with defense contractors an important step toward transparency that revealed the corruption of the revolving door in action.
Support for Treating Autism in Military Health Care: Sanders worked with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) to pass an amendment by a vote of 66-29 ensuring that the military's TRICARE system would be able to treat autism.
Using the Power of a Senator
While Sanders was an amendment king who was able to bring bipartisan coalitions together to make serious changes to laws, he also knew how to be a thorn in the side of the establishment until it offered up something in return. Sanders was able to get the first-ever audit of funds given out by the Federal Reserve, which made transparent over $2 trillion of funds handed out by the secretive organization. This was a cause that Republican congressman Ron Paul (TX) had been pursuing for decades, but Sanders was able to get the votes to do it by forging a compromise that required an audit for the bailout period alone.
When the Affordable Care Act was in danger of not having the votes to pass, Sanders used his leverage to win enough funding for free health treatment for 10 million Americans through Community Health Centers. This gutsy moveholding out until the funds were put into the billhas even Republican members of Congress requesting the funds, which have helped millions of Americans who otherwise would not have access.
Another moment came when Sanders, who was then chair of the Veterans committee, worked with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), to overhaul the Veterans Administration. McCain praised Sanders' work on the bill in an interview with National Journal. Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) even went so far as to say the bill would never have passed without Sanders' ability to bring the parties to a deal.
His Theory of Change, From Burlington to the White House
The big question is, can Sanders translate his time as an effective senator into an effective president? After all, a legislative job is different than an executive job.
But Sanders has a theory of change, in order to be an executive who can pass progressive policy even in the face of a recalcitrant Congress. He frequently talks about a political revolution that means vastly increasing voter turnout and participation in political activities so conservative lawmakers and Big Money are unable to overwhelm public opinion. During the Democratic debate, this line had its doubters, from former Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) to a skeptical Anderson Cooper.
Sanders is probably not so unsure of himself. After all, he's done it before. When Sanders was mayor of Burlington, Vermont, one of his big accomplishments was to increase civic life in the city. During the course of his terms, voter turnout doubled. In his eight years as mayor, he rejuvenated a city that was considered by many to be dying, laying out progressive policies that cities around the country later adopted, and he did all this without particularly alienating Republicans. As one former GOP Alderman noted, he implemented ideas from the Republican party that he felt were not particularly harmful to working people, such as more efficient accounting practices.
It's easy for the establishment media and politicians to make the assumption that Bernie Sanders is not an effective lawmaker or executive. He has strong convictions and he stands by them, and we're often told that makes one a gadflysomeone who is out to make a point rather than make an actual change. But with Sanders we have the fusion of strong principles and the ability to forge odd bedfellow coalitions that accomplish historic things, like the audit of the Federal Reserve or the rejuvenation of Burlington that has served as a model for cities around the country. Don't underestimate me, Sanders said at the beginning of the race, words that anyone who knows his political and policy history take to heart.
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/bernie-gets-it-done-sanders-record-pushing-through-major-reforms-will-surprise-you
jillan
(39,451 posts)over Hillary.
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)bigtree
(85,986 posts)Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)doing the same thing the WAPO did before Michigan? I get their emails, Looking forwards to it