Rep. Keith Ellison Defends Bernie Sanders Single-Payer Bill Rollout

09/27/2017 11:03 pm ET


Excerpts:

"We create the time, by pushing the issue. The issue becomes ripe because we push it,” Ellison said. “If we sat around waiting for the most opportune moment then we wouldn’t have been able to gain the support we acquired.” Rather than undermine efforts to fight Obamacare repeal, Sanders’ single-payer push had merely expanded the bounds of the debate, shoving a once fringe cause into the mainstream, according to Ellison. “Bernie is changing the national conversation,” Ellison said.

As evidence of Sanders’ success, Ellison pointed to support for the idea among one-third of the Senate Democratic Caucus and more than half of the House Democratic Caucus. As recently as Tuesday, Annette Taddeo, a Florida Democrat who backs single payer, won a GOP-controlled state Senate seat, he noted. “There was a time in our nation’s history when you couldn’t even get in the door to discuss it,” Ellison said. “Now it is a well-researched, often-discussed policy proposal. It’s an idea whose time has come.”

Members of Sanders’ staff have been keen to point out that Sanders has used his own campaign funds traversing the country to hold rallies in defense of Obamacare.

“Bernie is answering to a higher call,” he concluded. “He is motivated by the noblest ideals of our country.”

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