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Showing Original Post only (View all)Im all for single payer if you can write a bill that makes sense, but this bill is an embarrassment [View all]
Oh jesus fucking christ bernie. I take back my praise of Booker, Warren, Harris et al who endorsed this new medicare for all "bill". Bernie just released the specifics and it's incredibly disappointing.
Im all for single payer if you can write a bill that makes sense, but this bill is an embarrassment. It doesn't list a funding mechanism.
No specifics on how to pay for it. Whose taxes go up? By how much? This is the same fatal flaw that killed Californias bill. The same problem that killed Vermonts system. Not even going to address it? After we spent months criticizing republicans for supporting phantom bills with no specifics in their repeal efforts? I thought we were better than this.
Its legislative malpractice, and its political malpractice. Now the GOP can frame the funding structure however they want, they can fill the void with their narratives. Already were seeing reports on how it would raise taxes by trillions each year. And now all of our presidential candidates are tied to that framework, on a bill that hasnt even been properly written yet. All for what? Even if somehow this all succeeds and we get to the stage where the bill must be finalized (with actual specifics), itll just fall apart. Its the same problem the right had by getting commitments to vague notions of repeal with no specifics, youll never know that you have the votes on anything specific when it comes down to actually legislating.
At worst this severely harms our chances in 2020.
At best we win in 2020 but then spend all our capitol trying to get this done only to fall apart when we realize no one actually agreed on how to fund universal health care.
We had a policy wonk and the left flipped their shit. Now we've become the Bernie party, the party of vague ideas but no idea on how to legislate. We now have two stupid parties in american politics.
According to Bernie (in the WaPo) Americans dont mind paying more taxes....
All the repubs hsve to do in 2018 and 2020 to win= connect the Dem party to Bernie and then show people how much their taxes would go up.
Bernie just handed trump his victory in 2020.