I don’t get it. I expected a lot more from Senator Bernie Sanders.
But tonight Bernie Sanders just caved in to pressure from Obama, Rahm Emanual and Reid to withdraw a formal consideration of his own single-payer healthcare amendment, after Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) had initiated a procedural manuever to force the measure to be read out loud on the Senate floor.
The amendment would have extended Medicare coverage to all who wanted it.
Senate aides estimated that the “bill reading” would have taken eight to 10 hours, which would have sidelined the healthcare debate on the bad “Obama-Emanual-Baucus-Lieberman” bill as Democratic leaders are attempting to pass it (a junk bill) by Christmas.
But why didn’t Sanders call their bluff and go ahead with the vote anyway? By pulling his own amendment off the table all by himself, this just further creates the unnecessary illusion that Medicare expansion is an unworthy subject to even discuss or consider.
Even though the Sanders amendment would never get close to 60 votes, the act of allowing the bill to go to formal debate and consideration would have provided a badly needed educational tool for the public, and it would have put each and every U.S. Senator formally on notice, and on the record as to the key question of whether they want to really solve the Health Care crisis, or whether they just want to keep the public held hostage to a corrupt Insurance Monopoly that steals their money.
I wanted to see that vote!
So did you!