GOP Officials Publicly Denounce Bernie Sanders' Obamacare Expansion, Quietly Request Funding
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/07/06/gop-senators-support-sanders-obamacare-expansion/
The conventional wisdom on Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is that hes a charming if impractical dreamer, a pie-in-the-sky socialist whos good at inspiring young people and aging hippies, but hopeless at the knife fighting that real-life politics requires.
Despite the inherent limitations of a self-described democratic socialist who eschews the norms of Beltway fundraising, the Democratic presidential candidate from Vermont has won legislative victory after victory on an issue that has been dear to him since his days as Burlingtons mayor.
That issue is the simultaneously benign and revolutionary expansion of federally qualified community health clinics.
Over the years, Sanders has tucked away funding for health centers in appropriation bills signed by George W. Bush, into Barack Obamas stimulus program, and through the earmarking process. But his biggest achievement came in 2010 through the Affordable Care Act. In a series of high-stakes legislative maneuvers, Sanders struck a deal to include $11 billion for health clinics in the law.