Chris Murphys stealthy single-payer pitch
Source: Politico
The rising Democratic star wants to build his party a bridge to Bernie Sanders’ health care plan.
By ELANA SCHOR 09/07/2017 06:01 PM EDT Updated 09/08/2017 08:29 AM EDT
While Bernie Sanders readies a single-payer health care bill that the GOP is itching to attack, one of his Democratic colleagues is proposing a step toward that goal that could give cover to the party’s vulnerable incumbents.
Sen. Chris Murphy, a potential presidential contender, is working on legislation expected this fall that would let every individual and business buy into Medicare as part of Obamacare’s exchanges. As Sanders and other potential challengers to President Donald Trump flock to “Medicare for all,” embracing a top liberal priority before 2020, Murphy is taking a conspicuously more pragmatic approach designed to get Democrats closer to that lofty but potentially unobtainable goal.
In the process, it could give vulnerable Democrats loath to attach themselves to Sanders a more politically palatable alternative that still satisfies the party’s base.
The first-term senator is also raising his national profile by wading into the hot-button single-payer debate — though the Connecticut Democrat has tamped down talk that he might take on Trump in 2020. It’s not about competing with Sanders, Murphy says, but rather offering a complementary path toward the creation of a single-payer system.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/07/murphy-democrats-rising-star-healthcare-bernie-sanders-242455
THIS is how to go about getting things done in the Senate. Not all or nothing, but step by step, and don't piss off people along the way.
Chris Murphy is about as down to earth and practical as any politician I've ever met. Just a good ol' neighborhood guy trying to do good things for his constituency and Americans.
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“I think we need to be in the business of communicating big, easy-to-understand ideas to people in a way that we didn’t in 2016,” he added. “Donald Trump had very dangerous ideas, but they were easy to get your head wrapped around. Hillary Clinton had very good ideas, but they were so obtuse that few understood them.”
