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Sanders: Big ideas but little impact on Capitol Hill.
Maybe Elizabeth Warren should have run for president. Excerpts:
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.
“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.
Several top Democrats say the difference is a complete contrast to another progressive, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), whom they say has had a much clearer impact on the financial and inequality discussions in the only three years she's been in the Senate.
“She has been more effective at blocking efforts to weaken the bill. His mindset is that there'll be a revolution,” said Rep. Barney Frank, adding that he also doesn't remember Sanders being involved in any of the affordable housing work he did in the House. “He plants his flag and expects that someday everyone will see he was right.”
Liberal Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Hillary Clinton supporter who describes herself as a big Sanders fan, struggled when asked ahead of last month's debate in Milwaukee if she could point to examples of the Vermont senator’s actually influencing the outcome of legislation, other than the much praised bipartisan Veterans Affairs reform he led as chair of that committee in the Senate.
“Um,” she said, pausing for a full eight seconds while thinking, “I'm sure I could. In terms of the things that he talks the most about, is when he was chair of the Veterans Affairs committee. But he actually compromised on a whole heck of a lot. Back in…It's not coming to my mind right now.”
Frank, the former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, offered an unblinking assessment.
"His legislative record was to state the ideological position he took on the left, but with the exception of a few small things, he never got anything done," said Frank, who has endorsed Clinton. “Senators are not impotent."
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/bernies-record-220508#ixzz42jT9AvnM
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.
“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.
Several top Democrats say the difference is a complete contrast to another progressive, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), whom they say has had a much clearer impact on the financial and inequality discussions in the only three years she's been in the Senate.
“She has been more effective at blocking efforts to weaken the bill. His mindset is that there'll be a revolution,” said Rep. Barney Frank, adding that he also doesn't remember Sanders being involved in any of the affordable housing work he did in the House. “He plants his flag and expects that someday everyone will see he was right.”
Liberal Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Hillary Clinton supporter who describes herself as a big Sanders fan, struggled when asked ahead of last month's debate in Milwaukee if she could point to examples of the Vermont senator’s actually influencing the outcome of legislation, other than the much praised bipartisan Veterans Affairs reform he led as chair of that committee in the Senate.
“Um,” she said, pausing for a full eight seconds while thinking, “I'm sure I could. In terms of the things that he talks the most about, is when he was chair of the Veterans Affairs committee. But he actually compromised on a whole heck of a lot. Back in…It's not coming to my mind right now.”
Frank, the former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, offered an unblinking assessment.
"His legislative record was to state the ideological position he took on the left, but with the exception of a few small things, he never got anything done," said Frank, who has endorsed Clinton. “Senators are not impotent."
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/bernies-record-220508#ixzz42jT9AvnM
18 replies
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He passed more amendments than any other member during his time in the House. It earned him the nickname “The Amendment King.” He did this despite being a “socialist” and Congress being controlled by Republicans from 1994 to 2006, in one of the most partisan right-wing Houses ever.
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2016/02/19/heres-a-long-list-of-bernie-sanders-accomplishments-with-citations/
Bernie's a good egg. Don't let your anger/dislike for some of his supporters (which I totally get), cloud your judgement or respect for a man who has been a wonderful asset for Democratic legislation and causes.
I guess that all Democrats running for a seat should just give up because it will be hard to win seats back...
Hillary Clinton’s Single-Payer Pivot Greased By Millions in Industry Speech Fees
Hillary Clinton’s sudden attack on Bernie Sanders’ single-payer health care plan is a dramatic break with Democratic Party doctrine that the problem with single-payer is that it is politically implausible — not that it is a bad idea.
Single-payer, the Canadian-style system in which the government pays for universal health care, takes the health insurance industry out of the picture, saving huge amounts of money. But the health insurance industry has become so rich and powerful that it would never let it happen.
That was certainly Clinton’s position back in the early 1990s, when she was developing her doomed universal coverage proposal for her husband, Bill.
But in the ensuing years, both Clintons have taken millions of dollars in speaking fees from the health care industry. According to public disclosures, Hillary Clinton alone, from 2013 to 2015, made $2,847,000 from 13 paid speeches to the industry.
Source: Public federal disclosures, Clinton campaign
https://theintercept.com/2016/01/13/hillary-clinton-single-payer/
Hillary Clinton’s sudden attack on Bernie Sanders’ single-payer health care plan is a dramatic break with Democratic Party doctrine that the problem with single-payer is that it is politically implausible — not that it is a bad idea.
Single-payer, the Canadian-style system in which the government pays for universal health care, takes the health insurance industry out of the picture, saving huge amounts of money. But the health insurance industry has become so rich and powerful that it would never let it happen.
That was certainly Clinton’s position back in the early 1990s, when she was developing her doomed universal coverage proposal for her husband, Bill.
But in the ensuing years, both Clintons have taken millions of dollars in speaking fees from the health care industry. According to public disclosures, Hillary Clinton alone, from 2013 to 2015, made $2,847,000 from 13 paid speeches to the industry.
Source: Public federal disclosures, Clinton campaign
https://theintercept.com/2016/01/13/hillary-clinton-single-payer/
Democratic Debate 2015: Hillary Clinton’s ‘Enemies’ In Pharmaceutical and Insurance Industries Have Supported Her Campaigns, Foundation
In 2008, Clinton was the among the three biggest recipients of campaign cash from pharmaceutical-related companies, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. In all, the watchdog group reports that she raised $738,000 from employees of pharmaceutical manufacturers and companies classified as “Pharmaceuticals /Health Products.” The center reports that Clinton also raised more than $1.2 million from the insurance industry -- which includes health insurers.
On top of those campaign contributions, the Clintons and their family foundation have benefited from their ties to the pharmaceutical and insurance industries.
In 2011, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) -- the primary trade association representing drug companies -- paid Bill Clinton $200,000 for a speech, as the organization was lobbying the Hillary Clinton-led State Department. Last year, the Drug Chemical and Associated Technologies Association, a trade group whose members include major pharmaceutical companies, paid her a $250,000 speaking fee.
Meanwhile, the Clinton Foundation has received between $1 million and $5 million worth of donations separately from drug manufacturers Pfizer and Procter & Gamble, and from health insurers Humana and Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina. Some of those companies made donations as recently as this year, according to the foundation’s website.
That largesse was part of a friendship forged after those industries opposed her 1993 health care initiative -- and which continued after she won reelection to the Senate in 2006.
http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/democratic-debate-2015-hillary-clintons-enemies-pharmaceutical-insurance
In 2008, Clinton was the among the three biggest recipients of campaign cash from pharmaceutical-related companies, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. In all, the watchdog group reports that she raised $738,000 from employees of pharmaceutical manufacturers and companies classified as “Pharmaceuticals /Health Products.” The center reports that Clinton also raised more than $1.2 million from the insurance industry -- which includes health insurers.
On top of those campaign contributions, the Clintons and their family foundation have benefited from their ties to the pharmaceutical and insurance industries.
In 2011, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) -- the primary trade association representing drug companies -- paid Bill Clinton $200,000 for a speech, as the organization was lobbying the Hillary Clinton-led State Department. Last year, the Drug Chemical and Associated Technologies Association, a trade group whose members include major pharmaceutical companies, paid her a $250,000 speaking fee.
Meanwhile, the Clinton Foundation has received between $1 million and $5 million worth of donations separately from drug manufacturers Pfizer and Procter & Gamble, and from health insurers Humana and Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina. Some of those companies made donations as recently as this year, according to the foundation’s website.
That largesse was part of a friendship forged after those industries opposed her 1993 health care initiative -- and which continued after she won reelection to the Senate in 2006.
http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/democratic-debate-2015-hillary-clintons-enemies-pharmaceutical-insurance
