Skip to content

Search Results for: Bernie Sanders  – Page 21

Health Care Lobbyists Bankrolled Senate Democrats

September 15, 2017 David Sirota and Lydia O'Neal, www.ibtimes.com , , ,
By David Sirota and Lydia O'Neal for IB Times - As Bernie Sanders worked to finalize his Medicare-for-All Act of 2017, corporate lobbyists representing the traditional opponents of single-payer health care — including the nation’s major private insurers and drug companies — poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into Senate Democrats’ fundraising accounts. Now, many of those lawmakers have refused to sign on to the Medicare bill. Sanders has faced questions about whether or not the bill would garner solid support among Senate Democrats. So far, 16 Senate Democrats have said they will sponsor the legislation — which the insurance industry slammed after he announced it. A new study from campaign finance watchdog group MapLight found that since 2010, Democratic senators who have refused to sponsor the bill have, during their careers, raised twice as much insurance industry cash as those who support the legislation. As Republicans took over the White House earlier this year, significant campaign funding for Democratic senators has continued to come from lobbyists. According to federal campaign finance records reviewed by International Business Times, lobbyists, lobbying firms and one other corporate political action committee collectively delivered nearly $2 million in bundled campaign contributions to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee during the first half of 2017.

Police Infiltrate Anti-Fascist Group: “A$$hole At Protest Was A Cop”

September 12, 2017 Michael Roberts, www.westword.com , , ,
By Michael Roberts for Westword - This week, attorney David Lane expects to file a motion to dismiss charges against members of the Colorado Springs Socialists, a student protest group, over a March demonstration in Colorado Springs on the grounds of "outrageous conduct" by local law enforcement. The reason? Lane argues that undercover officers were improperly embedded among the nonviolent protesters, whose largest offense at the rally appears to have been jaywalking. Continue to read Lane's explanation of the case, which was first reported by the Colorado Springs Independent. "This is a bunch of Colorado College students who call themselves a socialist organization, which doesn't carry with it the connotations it used to, given that Bernie Sanders also carries with him the socialist moniker," Lane says. "They were having a protest about injustice, and when the march moved from point A to point B, the cops told them to get out of the streets. They didn't move out of the streets immediately, and they ended up assembling at a municipal building plaza — and when they were ordered to disperse, they said, 'No.'" How did the cops react to this response? Lane knows, since their exchanges were captured on body camera footage his firm has obtained.

Senate Debates Billions For Insurers While Public Demands Medicare For All

September 9, 2017 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.healthoverprofit.org , ,
By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese for Health Over Profit for Everyone - Senators are back from their long summer recess, and they started off with health care back at the top of the agenda. The Senate HELP committee held its first of four hearings on September 6, and Senator Bernie Sanders is preparing to introduce a Medicare for All bill on September 13. The two efforts are a clear example of the underlying dilemma that we have faced in the United States for the past 100 years: Is health care a commodity or a public good? It can’t be both. The failed efforts to repeal and replace the ACA took up a lot of time and energy this year and left the country in no better position to deal with the ongoing healthcare crisis. Now, time is really short because private health insurers are announcing their rates for 2018, and they are, not surprisingly, screaming for more money because they have to (*gasp*) pay for health care. A group of us attended the first Senate HELP committee hearing to convey the message that the people are ready to undertake the serious work of creating a National Improved Medicare for All. Typically, before and sometimes during a hearing, attendees are allowed to hold signs as long as they are not disruptive.

Fork In The National Road: A New Progressive Supermajority Party Is Forming

August 24, 2017 Gail McGowan Mellor, www.huffingtonpost.com , ,
By Gail McGowan Mellor for The Huffington Post - The time is ripe. The Democratic and Republican parties, private political clubs, are not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution and do not represent the people who elect them, yet have a stranglehold on our electoral system. People are fed up. Hemorrhaging voters, the Dems and Reps are each down to around a fourth of the voters, already minority parties. Progressives — those who support minimum wage, social justice, strong environmental protection, 21st century infrastructure and universal healthcare and oppose corruption, invasive wars and corporate welfare — are meanwhile 66%, two-thirds of voters, the U.S. supermajority. We as a people therefore stand at a fork in the national road. The country’s Progressive supermajority could sweep every local, state and federal election if it united. Should we come together in the old Democratic Party or form a new one? The Democratic Party is in many states hollow below the federal level. Senator Bernie Sanders and a contingent of young Progressives have therefore been trying for a year to fill those levels with clean candidates, with some success but only to be repeatedly kneecapped by the party’s corrupt, deeply entrenched Neoliberal leadership.

Barbara Lee And Tulsi Gabbard Side With War Party On Sanctions

August 11, 2017 Danny Haiphong, www.blackagendareport.com , , ,
By Danny Haiphong for Black Agenda Report - The House recently voted to enforce sanctions against Russia, Iran, and the DPRK. Congress included an unprecedented provision in the bill to restrict the President from amending the sanctions without approval from Congress. Despite vocal opposition, the Trump Administration was forced to sign the bill in the face of near unanimous support. All three in Congress who voted against the sanctions were Republicans. Bernie Sanders and Rand Paul were the only Senators to vote down the bill. Also missing from the opposition’s short list was Democratic Party representatives Barbara Lee and Tulsi Gabbard. Lee and Gabbard's absence from Washington's minuscule opposition to sanctions is significant because both representatives have a record of using their vote to curtail US war designs. Lee was the only elected official to vote against the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. She opposed the invasion of Iraq two years later. One of the few Black Congressional Caucus members with a consistent track record against foreign intervention, Lee also opposed President Barack Obama's violation of the War Powers Act when he led the NATO invasion of Libya in 2011.
«12345678910»
Sign Up To Our Daily Digest

Independent media outlets are being suppressed and dropped by corporations like Google, Facebook and Twitter. Sign up for our daily email digest before it’s too late so you don’t miss the latest movement news.