Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, said on “CBS Mornings” that a guaranteed vote on Democrats’ health care priorities won’t be enough to reopen the government, and he expressed alarm over the “broken” and “dysfunctional” health care system.
Along with the health insurance premiums that are set to rise without an extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits, Sanders cited the toll taken on lower-income Americans by Medicaid restrictions in President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” that became law earlier this year, arguing it will result in thousands of deaths.
Sanders said the offer from Senate Majority Leader John Thune to hold a vote on the tax credits is “no good” because even if it were to pass the Senate, the president could veto the legislation, or the House could simply choose not to take it up.
“You know what’s going on right now in the House? The Speaker of the House, Mr. Johnson, has given his people a five-week vacation. They’re not even in Washington, D.C.,” Sanders said. “Before I vote on a bill that will, right now, allow 50,000 people to die unnecessarily, yeah, I want it absolutely clear that that will not happen, period.”
Sanders argued that what Senate Republicans are doing by refusing to negotiate until the government is reopened is “unprecedented.” He said because the GOP needs support from a number of Democrats to move forward on legislation to fund the government, “they need to negotiate.”
“You know how much negotiations they’ve done? Zero,” Sanders said. “Our way or the highway.”
