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New Congress' history-making members got a Day 1 visit from Medicare for All activists
New Congress’ history-making members got a Day 1 visit from Medicare for All activists
"We did not elect the first historic group of women to Congress in our country's history for them to just sit back and watch. We elected them to lead."
Amanda Michelle Gomez
Jan 3, 2019, 4:26 pm
“Please count us as allies,” said a staffer for Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) to grassroots activists who were wearing Medicare for All t-shirts and were gathered in the congresswoman’s newly-minted office Thursday.
Pressley’s staff were among many of the House of Representatives’ freshmen class that warmly welcomed dozens of advocates who visited the offices Thursday. It didn’t matter that they were early for open house; Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) office wasn’t even set up yet, with no internet or business cards to hand out.
Last year, these same activists visited Capitol Hill to demand that lawmakers do not repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA); many were escorted out by law enforcement. Now, staffers want to have a conversation with activists about health policy.
“Something really magical is going to happen in this Congress,” said Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) president Jennifer Epps-Addison.
“The women who were elected, they were activists and organizers in their own right. They come first with a dedication to service for the people and our issues and what we want to see at the forefront of the conversation — and as politicians second.”
“The women who were elected, they were activists and organizers in their own right. They come first with a dedication to service for the people and our issues and what we want to see at the forefront of the conversation — and as politicians second.”
The new members — Reps. Pressley, Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Ilhan Omar (D-MN), to name a few — also ran on Medicare for All. But what’s more, activists stressed, is that each representative embodies an organic social solidarity because of their shared identities with activists — be it activism, gender, or race. For this reason, CPD activists said, these members should be at the forefront of the health care movement to make sure marginalized communities aren’t left out, as was the case with past progressive reforms. (See Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal.)
more...
https://thinkprogress.org/activists-urge-history-making-members-of-congress-to-lead-the-fight-for-medicare-for-all-f3e9e73e2fb5/
3 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
We need to keep the pressure on the new reps and old ones too. Last night on Rachel Maddow she mentioned the Indivisible activists who are already doing "Part 2" of the Indivisible Guide. They got bad reps to quit, got new reps elected and have been at all the local offices since we won the midterms making sure that the agenda they campaigned and won on is enacted. RESISTANCE WORKS! 
