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WickedsDesire -> More Democrats embrace universal coverage (7/6/2017 7:57:24 AM)
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More Democrats embrace universal coverage � and the GOP goes on the attack
Randy Bryce, an ironworker and labor organizer challenging Speaker Paul D. Ryan for his Wisconsin House seat, was having a good week. His campaign, kicked off by an emotional video, raised nearly $500,000 in less than 30 days.
This week, Bryce beamed into CNN to keep up the momentum — and ran straight into a question about whether he, like a growing number of Democrats, supports European-style universal health care.
“You want to raise $32 trillion in taxes?” asked CNN’s John Berman.
“There’s a lot of people not paying their fair share in taxes,” Bryce said. “There’s corporations getting away with a lot.”
“That would be quite a tax hike,” said CNN’s Poppy Harlow. “That’s an astonishing number, $32 trillion over a decade.”
Democrats, who are largely using the week-long recess to rally opposition to the Republicans’ deeply unpopular attempt to repeal parts of the Affordable Care Act, are now facing a political challenge of their own: increasing pressure from their liberal base to embrace universal, government-funded health-care coverage. Oh is that a "liberal democrat"
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), perhaps the country’s most prominent proponent of universal coverage, is waiting for an opening — likely after the GOP’s repeal push succeeds or fails — to introduce a new bill. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), both seen as potential 2020 presidential candidates, each said last week that the party needed to get behind “Medicare for all.”
Republicans have noticed — and have begun to attack. Facing a widespread voter backlash over the House and Senate repeal bills, they’re trying to make universal coverage a political anchor for Democrats by asking if they can seriously defend trillions of dollars in new taxes and spending.
On Wednesday, the GOP’s Senate campaign committee launched Web ads against the 10 Senate Democrats up for reelection in Trump-won states, warning of “government health care” if they win. The same day, the National Republican Congressional Committee gleefully highlighted the CNN interview with Bryce. White House press secretary Sean Spicer has also chimed in.
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