Pelosi's designated heir, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, was the last person to co-sponsor Pramila Jayapal's Medicare for All legislation (H.R. 1384). He was number 118 on the list of co-sponsors. That's over half the Democrats in the House for a bill that was introduced on February 27, 2019. Pelosi quickly farmed it out to a bunch of committees, some of which are chaired by hostile and corrupt anti-healthcare conservatives, namely the first two on the list:
• Energy and Commerce- Frank Pallone• Ways and Means- Richard Neal• Education and Labor- Bobby Scott• Rules- Jim McGovern• Oversight- Carolyn Maloney• Armed Services- Adam Smith
Pelosi has made it clear to the chairs that she wants the bill slow-walked (to death). Yesterday, all hell broken loose when it came to light that AOC was talking out loud about this again.She e-mailed her supporters that "The Democratic Party is not a 'left' party. It is a 'center' party. Years of corporate control and compromise with Republicans have brought us down the path where a majority of Democrats think that corporations and capitalism at large can solve poverty and systemic injustice in this country. That sentiment is wrong. And while the Democratic Party itself may not be 'left', there are many progressive leaders in Congress who use the principles of justice to guide us. Electing more people like that is exactly how we shift away from corporate apologism and towards a real democracy... This fundamental reality is clear for all: Our system is not working for working people. As the wealth of the top 0.1% skyrockets, the minimum wage has remained the same since 2009. In NYC, there are three empty apartment units for every one person experiencing homelessness. Families are expected to do more with less, while our media and politicians push this notion that we can’t critique billionaires. But of course that’s false, because billionaires didn’t make billions of dollars, but rather, they took billions from the people who made their products or ran their company."Chris Armitage is an admirer of AOC and the super-progressive Democrat competing with lockstep Trump puppet Cathy McMorris Rodgers for the eastern Washington state congressional district (WA-05). Last night, Chris told me that "We are fighting for our future, not for self enrichment. If that puts us 'to the left' so be it. In 1958, union membership peaked in the U.S. and that was the same year the bottom 90% of workers held the highest concentration of wealth in U.S. history. That's our fight, while the establishment works to send us back to the 19th century, complete with child labor and robber barons." If you'd like to see Chris working with AOC in the House next year, you can contribute to both of their campaigns here.This morning, Central Valley progressive congressional candidate Kim Williams told us that she wholeheartedly agrees "with AOC’s sentiments. The system is not working, and our problems are structural. The 200 most politically active corporations in America spent $5.8 billion over the last five years in lobbying and campaign contributions. They write our policies and then our representatives tap dance around reasons why nothing improves at club meetings back home. They own our media and the ads that play before our news casts. They make the investments in field staff and shape who makes it to the polls and who stays home. They don’t just own our politicians, they own the process, and they own the messaging that tells us what we can or can’t change."
