Will African-American Voters Help Reform The Democratic Party?

Tuesday night, progressive reformer Morgan Harper lost her congressional primary to a corrupt, middle of the road Democratic incumbent, Joyce Beatty in Columbus, Ohio. The final result was a two-to-one rout-- 43,727 (68.29%) to 20,301 (31.71%). As of the April 8th FEC reporting deadline, Beatty had spent a massive $2,149,875 to Harper's $696,001.

The third district is entirely in Franklin County and was created to concentrate Democratic voters, allowing Republicans to protect the 12th and 15th districts. OH-03, almost the whole city if Columbus, has a PVI of D+19, while OH-12 and OH-15 each has a relatively safe R+7 PVI. The Democratic primary is dominated by African-American voters and they've been electing and reelecting Beatty, despite her utter worthlessness as a Representative, since 2012. A shill for shady financial interests, Beatty has been a darling of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC).

It isn't just the CBC, of course, protecting their incumbents, regardless of how bad the incumbent is or how good the challenger is. After all, Morgan Harper, also an African American woman, has been considered one of the brightest stars running for Congress this cycle. At 36, the former Obama administration official at the CFPB, has no ties to the incompetent and fully corrupt Ohio Democratic Party. She ran a campaign based on Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, Jobs Guarantee, tuition-free public college, universal child care, racial justice, affordable housing and a living wage-- all things that separate old line liberals, like Pelosi, Hoyer and their clique from today's progressives. The Ohio Democratic establishment has all but destroyed the Democratic Party in the state. Many people say it is the worst state party in America with one corrupt idiot following another, each losing more and more of the state to the Republicans. But they would much rather fight progressives-- who they routinely trash-- than Republicans.

There wasn't a crooked Democratic pol in the state who didn't back her, even if, during Rick Neal's campaign against Republican hot-shot Steve Stivers in the next district over, Beatty helped Stivers, making joint appearances with him, pushing "civility." Beatty has been heavily supported by the Columbus Partnership, the corporate powers-that-be in central Ohio, and she was the only Democrat who Victoria's Secret billionaire Les Wexner-- another character in the Jeffrey Epstein saga-- donated to since she was elected. Wexner and his wife have hosted fundraisers for Beatty at their home and contributed large sums of money to her. Their L Brands PAC is one of Beatty's largest donors along with Nationwide Insurance, JP Morgan Chase and other banks, American Bankers Assoc. etc.

Beatty is probably best known for having been a steadfast ally of payday lenders-- which Morgan has fought so hard to to rein in. (Beatty's husband was a payday lenders lobbyist-- a step up from his father who just flat out ran numbers.) While minority leader in the state legislature, Beatty held up a bill that would have regulated payday lenders. Her net worth an estimated $6 million. The district, though, ranks among the poorest congressional districts in the country (#378 out of 435)-- 60,000 children living in poverty. She uses her perch on the House Financial Services Committee to protect predatory banksters and further kick her own working class constituents to the curb.

And there was Beatty's picture at the top of a Politico story on Tuesday, Black Caucus seeks to squash liberal insurgents. Reporters Ally Mutnick, Heather Caygle and Sarah Ferris wrote that "Senior black Democrats are mounting an aggressive defense of Rep. Joyce Beatty in Tuesday's delayed Ohio primary, hoping to quash not only her left-wing primary challenger but the liberal insurgents gunning for a number of their colleagues. Leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus have framed the fight as greater than just defeating Beatty’s opponent, Morgan Harper, a well-funded attorney backed by the progressive group Justice Democrats. They are eager to show they can smack down any primary challengers nationwide who conspire against senior members of color who have spent decades fighting to the top."

“What is that all about? Is it attacking us?” Beatty said in an interview. “Well, let me make the message strong and clear: When you attack a hard-working member of the Congressional Black Caucus, we fight back. We are the conscience of the caucus, and we represent people.”

The CBC is stepping up to protect Beatty in an unpredictable race that some Democrats privately fear could be close, with turnout expected to be far lower amid the coronavirus outbreak that has shut down much of Ohio since mid-March.

Rep. Cedric Richmond of Louisiana, a former CBC chairman, is among several top Democrats who has helped marshal support for Beatty from both Washington and Ohio in recent months, frustrated by liberal outsiders with lengthy progressive wish lists seeking to oust party elders.

"Being 'anti' is not enough. This is about results and not just rhetoric,” Richmond said. “And just because you run with a bunch of rhetoric doesn't mean you can get results. There are people here that are effective members of Congress.”

Richmond is a bullshit artist and New Dem, the conservative Democrat tasked early on with roping in anti-progressive Democratic House members for Biden. He's tight with K street and tells lobbyists who's for sale and who's not. Other conservative Democrats backing Beatty included Oralndo's Val Demings (who some are touting, besides the fact that she is a severe sufferer from brainlessness, as a VP contender for Biden), the Queens political machine boss Gregory Meeks, and Brooklyn's Hakeem Jeffries, a contender for the post-Pelosi speakership.

Beatty's primary is the first salvo in the primary battle between the CBC and liberal groups trying to oust longtime incumbents. Besides Beatty, at least four other members of the caucus in New York and Missouri will face credible primary challengers throughout the summer.

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), chairman of the CBC’s political arm, is a longtime critic of the progressive groups’ approach to primaries and hopes Beatty’s victory on Tuesday will be a shot across the bow to other challengers.

“We worked hard,” Meeks said in an interview. “We’ve done it the old-fashioned way. And so, for people who seem to come out of nowhere, who have done nothing, have nothing to show for, to say, ‘We’re just going to challenge you for the sake of challenging you.’ Does that make sense?”

Meeks added that he has retooled the CBC’s political arm this year to better defend incumbents facing primary challenges. That includes hiring a dedicated political director for the PAC who will help boost digital and on-the-ground operations.

Harper, who said she launched her grassroots campaign last July with “no coordination with the Justice Democrats,” pushed back against the suggestion that her sole purpose was to attack a member of Congress. And Harper has pushed back when pundits have called her out for targeting black lawmakers, at one point, retorting on Twitter: "I am also black."

“I think we need to reframe that, in the idea that this is somehow a targeting of an individual,” Harper said in an interview last week. “Our campaign, we are presenting an alternative policy platform to the people of the 3rd District and that is not a personal exercise.”

Back in early March, Glen Ford, editor of the Black Agenda Report looked at why so many African American voters are supporting conservative Democrats over progressives this cycle. Referring to how Biden beat Bernie in conservative South Carolina, he wrote that "Although the craven Black Misleadership Class will no doubt shout hallelujahs that 'hands that picked cotton now pick presidents' and claim Black voters exercised brilliant 'strategic' judgment in making themselves indispensable to the corprate Democratic party establishment, the true motivator of Black Biden supporters is a pervasive and deeply corrosive fear. Not just dread of four more years of Trump, although that is central to Black political behavior, but abject terror at the very thought that the Democratic Party-- 'our' party, in many Black folks’ minds-- might fracture under the challenge of the Sandernistas."

Voluminous data over many years has shown that African Americans are to the left of Hispanics on issues of bread and butter and, especially, war and peace, and far to the left of white Democrats. But, unlike Hispanics, Blacks cannot be depended on to uphold their own historical political consensus in Democratic Party primary elections for fear of weakening the chances of defeating The White Man’s Party. Hyper-conscious of their minority and despised status-- and surrounded by hostile, race-obsessed white Republicans in the southern states-- older Blacks cling to Democratic Party structures as if their lives depend on it. The ascent of Donald Trump has only tightened the duopoly trap, causing Blacks to invest their votes in candidates they perceive as 'good for the party,' as if that is synonymous with Black interests.

...The rot is deep, a product of generations of capital-subordinate Black politics that followed the violent suppression of Black self-determinationist movements and the imposition of a counterinsurgency, mass incarceration regime at the end of the Sixties. Rather than resist the New Jim Crow/Same Old Rich White Man’s Rule, the Black Misleaderhip Class eagerly offered themselves as co-managers of oppression-- for a small cut of the spoils, and the privileges of racial "leadership."

It has always been clear to Black Agenda Report that the post-Sixties betrayals of the Black Misleadership Class necessitated that a future Black liberation movement must be largely an internal Black struggle to uproot the corrupted elements in our polity. False unity has become Black folks’ Achilles Heel, allowing Black charlatans free rein in our communities and reserving most elected positions for servants of Capital. The Democratic Party is a predatory edifice of Black disempowerment, from which our people must either free themselves, or become agents of their own perpetual oppression and accomplices in the degradation of humanity, worldwide.

Black youth see the truth, and will act on it, we are certain.

Andy Levin And AOC Are Working To Tear Down A Barrier For Consumers Interested In Buying An Electric Vehicle

When Trump first got to the White House, he saw infrastructure spending as a perfect way to transfer taxpayer dollars into his own pocket and the pockets of his campaign donors-- until Pelosi and Schumer told him that isn't the way it works. So he colored on his campaign promises of rebuilding American infrastructure. He now sees infrastructure as building his useless wall on the southern border.

Last week, two of Congress' best members, freshmen Andy Levin (D-MI) and AOC (D-NY) introduced the Electric Vehicles (EV) Freedom Act, H.R. 5770. The purpose is to create a comprehensive nationwide network of high-speed electric vehicle chargers along America’s highways within five years. Yesterday, Levin told his constituents that "When it comes to purchasing an electric vehicle, many consumers are worried about the lack of public charging stations, especially along the highway. But the EV Freedom Act will ensure that drivers along the National Highway System will have ready access to charging stations that can power up their EV in the shortest time technology allows. It’s time to bring our highway system into the 21st century."

He wrote that the bill offers the opportunity to eliminate barriers to consumers who ate interesting these cars and paving the way for rapid mass adoption of electric vehicles. "This transformational legislation will not only help reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change, but it will also create thousands of good-paying automotive and infrastructure jobs. Jobs that are created through the EV Freedom Act will adhere to Buy American and prevailing wage requirements to protect the hardworking people behind America’s new EV future. And, it will make sure our poor communities and communities of color are included in both the new green infrastructure and job opportunities."

On introducing the bill, AOC said that "Cars, above all else, have historically represented America's problem with dirty oil. Establishing a nation-wide network of electric vehicles charging stations helps us reduce emissions, creates good paying jobs, and will help transition the U.S. economy to a cleaner future."

Specifically, the EV Freedom Act:

• Establishes a comprehensive, nationwide network of high-speed EV chargers within 5 years;
• Helps secure the automotive and infrastructure jobs of the future and create thousands of good-paying jobs with robust Buy America and prevailing wage requirements to protect the hardworking Americans who will build an EV future;
• Ensures the chargers built along the National Highway System keep up with new technology to achieve a simple goal-- fully power up EVs in the time it takes to fill up gas and diesel tanks;
• Promotes interoperability so drivers don’t have to fear that chargers won’t be compatible with their cars; and
• Prioritizes accessibility by guaranteeing that payment methods are secure, convenient, and equal access, and that all charging stations are ADA compliant.

The EV Freedom Act directs the Secretary of Transportation and the Secretary of Energy to devise a plan to create the network of EV chargers, submit the plan to Congress and create the network of EV chargers within five years.

The EV Freedom Act has the support of a diverse group of labor, environment and climate groups, including:

Blue Green Alliance, League of Conservation Voters, Union of Concerned Scientists, Sierra Club, Earthjustice, Ecology Center, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), Environmental Law & Policy Center (ELPC), Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA), United Steelworkers (USW), United Automobile Workers (UAW) and the Center for Transportation and the Environment (CTE).

The immediate co-sponsors were Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA). Yesterday I spoke with several members who I know are big boosters of electric vehicles, like Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who had written a similar bill when he was in the Maryland state legislature, Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Ro Khanna (D-CA), who all told me they are either going to sign on or are studying it and are likely to sign on. In fact, Tom Suozzi, many of whose Long Island constituents, are commuters, was the first to co-sponsor the bill yesterday... followed by Ro Khanna just moments later.

I also asked some of the top progressive candidates who are likely to be in Congress next year and will be the ones to get this passed, since McConnell is likely to block it from being debated in the Senate in 2020. I recall telephoning Mike Siegel once when he was on a picket line at a car factory supporting local strikers. So I asked him. "This is what the fight against climate change looks like: we must rebuild the American economy, piece by piece, to allow for a sustainable future. Representatives Levin and Ocasio-Cortez speak for all of us, by fighting for the infrastructure we need for electric vehicles. We know America can do this. 100 years ago we provided electricity to rural America. Under FDR we rebuilt our electric grid through the New Deal. Eisenhower built the interstate highway system. And now, as we face climate change and massive wealth inequality, we need a new generation of federal programs that will create good new jobs and protect our planet. I look forward to pushing these types of efforts forward when I join the House in 2021."

Jon Hoadley represents Kalamazoo in the Michigan state legislature and he's likely to be the next member of Congress from the southwest corner of the state. He's very enthusiastic about Levin's and AOC's bill. "The Electric Vehicles Freedom Act is a common sense step in the right direction toward transitioning the U.S. away from fossil fuels and toward a cleaner future. Frankly, it should have been done years ago. By establishing a nation-wide network of electric vehicles charging stations, the EV Freedom Act will help us reduce emissions, create good paying jobs, and provide the much needed infrastructure to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels."

This legislation, if passed and signed, will be amazing news for Indiana's economy. We have two candidates running there, Jim Harper, the newest candidate endorsed by Blue America, is very excited about it. His district in northwest Indiana would benefit immensely. "The EV Freedom Act," he told me yesterday, "would be a boon to the working families of Northwest Indiana. The proposal will not only help us kick our addiction to dirty petroleum, but it will also help create good-paying, union jobs. Green infrastructure and technology are the future for our region, particularly in light of a history of industrial pollution that has fallen disproportionately hard on communities of color."

And Jennifer Christie, who is running in a more swingy district north of Indianapolis, is just as excited as Jim. "I love it!," she said when she read about the bill.  "In October, our campaign released a Climate Agenda calling exactly for this and other measures to decarbonize to zero emissions. Comprehensive Electric Vehicle (EV) infrastructure is essential to solving the transportation component of the climate crisis. What’s more, this will create jobs while we upgrade our highway infrastructure. We also have the opportunity to invest in rural communities and Tribal Nations as we install EV charging networks; There are opportunities to invest in solar projects around charging stations as well as local commerce that will surely develop along the EV grid. In addition to the boost EV infrastructure will give to electric car usage, it will also protect water quality. Gasoline is typically stored in underground storage tanks (USTs). Leaks, spills, and overfills from gasoline service stations are one of the most common sources of ground water pollution according to the EPA. Approximately half of the American population relies on ground water as their drinking source. With an eventual goal of replacing gasoline stations with EV charging stations, imagine the good that we can do for the environment and the economy. I am glad to see this bill introduced. We need more legislative action on climate that directly helps to reduce carbon pollution. Let’s support this bill by calling our current representatives. If I have the opportunity to vote on it, count me as a YES!"

Morgan Harper, the progressive running for the Columbus, Ohio congressional seat, realizes how important this bill will be for central Ohio. She told me this morning that she strongly supports the legislation. "Not only is it critical in our fight against climate change to invest in Electric Vehicle infrastructure, but it provides auto manufacturers, many of whom have a strong presence in Ohio, the clear incentive to invest more, sooner, in their Electric Vehicle programs."

Are You Waiting To Go To The Dentist Until Bernie Starts Implementing Medicare-For-All?

If you’ve been reading DWT with even the slightest regularity, you probably know what a big fan of Medicare I am. I feared it when I was in my late 50s because I had what I thought was perfect private insurance, a platinum plan that AOL-TimeWarner gave to divisional chairmen and presidents. But once I retired and turned 65, I had to move to Medicare-- and just as I was diagnosed with a very rare form of cancer. I soon discovered that Medicare wasn’t worse or just as good as my platinum plan… but much better. Yep, much better. Except for a couple of things-- things conservatives had done to make Medicare worse-- making sure it didn’t cover dentistry and more recently, attaching a horrendous drug plan (Medicare Part D), which is meant to pay back pharmaceutical companies for massive campaign contributions and other bribes to members of Congress. Medicare beats even the best private insurance available except for the things conservatives have ruined in the plan the way it was originally conceived. The Bernie and Pramila Jayapal plans pending before Congress-- which will never be voted on until Moscow Mitch and Pelosi are out of power-- fix all those problems.

In 2012 Greg Kaufmann, reporting for The Nation looked at the disaster that is American dentistry in the form of a Q&A with Bernie, who, as chairman of the subcommittee on primary health and aging, had “began preparing for a hearing on The Dental Crisis in America… While the senator is well known for his advocacy of a single-payer healthcare system, he is also a longtime and passionate advocate for the expansion of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs)-- community health centers in underserved areas that provide primary medical care, dental care, mental health counseling and low-cost prescription drugs on a sliding-fee basis. He fought for these centers as a congressman prior to his election to the Senate in 2006, and he was a major player in ensuring that there was a significant investment in FQHCs in the healthcare reform legislation passed in 2010. But with 47 million people living in areas where it’s still difficult to access dental care, 17 million low-income children not seeing a dentist every year and one-fourth of U.S. adults over age 65 missing all of their teeth, Sanders says there is still a long way to go to address this crisis.” Kaufmann interviewed him a few days before the hearing.

Kaufmann: Dental disease has been called “the silent epidemic” or “the hidden healthcare crisis.” Is that how you would characterize it?

Bernie: Absolutely. We have a real crisis both in terms of access to affordable dental care-- and not only for lower-income Americans but for many in the middle-class as well-- and the consequences of a lack of treatment.

Let’s be clear. There are nearly 50 million Americans living in places where it’s difficult to access dental care, and 130 million Americans do not have dental insurance coverage. As a nation, I think it’s a pretty sad state of affairs when one-fourth of US adults over 65 have lost all of their teeth. What that means for that generation is that they didn’t get proper dental care and their teeth were yanked, rather than being treated. And it’s a sad state of affairs that we have only 45 percent of Americans age 2 and older who saw a dentist in the last twelve months.

If you are one of the people who go to a dentist on a regular basis, who can afford the high cost of dental care, you may not be aware of how serious this crisis is. But the reality is there are tens and tens of millions of Americans who do not have access to a dentist, or who cannot afford dental care even if they have access to it, and this impacts a lot of kids, a lot of seniors, and working people in general.

When we talk about the healthcare crisis in America we’ve got to also be talking about the dental crisis and how to address it.

Kaufmann: Given that so many people are impacted by a lack of access to care, why do you think the issue doesn’t get more attention?

Bernie: I think the American Dental Association has been aggressive in trying to prevent real dental reform. And except in rare cases when people are dying-- there’s some attention then-- but if you’re talking about toothaches being the major cause of student absenteeism, or increasing risk for diabetes, heart disease, poor birth outcomes, it’s just not going to get the same kind of attention. And I also think because low-income people bear the brunt of this crisis-- the needs of low-income people never get a whole lot of attention.

Kaufmann: In preparation for the hearing, you’ve asked people to share their stories about finding quality dental care. What kind of response have you gotten?

Bernie: An unbelievable response. We’ve now received over 1,000 testimonials. Many of them are from the state of Vermont, but many are from other parts of the country too. And it just tells me that people who are suffering with dental disease and problems with access have never had a chance to express themselves so they’re taking advantage of this opportunity to do it. Time and again, we’re hearing from adults who say they’ve been living with rotting teeth, or for years haven’t been able to afford a dentist, or they are struggling to find a dentist who will treat their kids.

Kaufmann: Can you talk more about how the dental crisis is impacting both lower-income people as well as the middle-class?

Bernie: Let’s be honest, dental care in America is extremely expensive, period. If you walk down the street and trip, and knock out a couple teeth, you’re talking thousands of dollars to get those teeth replaced and plenty of people can’t afford that. We have many dentists throughout this country who do not treat Medicaid patients-- only about 20 percent of the nation’s practicing dentists accept people on Medicaid-- and parts of the country where there is no Medicaid available for dental care at all. We’ve got many dentists now who are primarily into cosmetic dentistry, they’ve moved away from basic dentistry. We also have a graying dentist population, with more dentists retiring each year than students graduating from dental schools to replace them. So, we don’t have enough dentists, and we certainly don’t have enough dentists in the communities where the crisis is the greatest and people are in most desperate need of one. Low-income people, racial or ethnic minorities, pregnant women, seniors, people with special needs, people in rural areas-- they all have a much harder time accessing a dentist than other groups of Americans.

Kaufmann: You have made a big push for community health center funding over the years-- certainly during the healthcare reform debate but even long before then in the House. Dental care was an important part of that push. Have you seen any impact from the funding you and your allies were able to steer towards that effort?

Bernie: Absolutely, and here’s the good news: any newly established-- and there are many-- federally qualified community health center must provide dental care. In Vermont, we now have the highest percentage of people in the country per capita who are visiting community health centers-- 18 percent of Vermonters use them for their primary care. We’ve seen a huge expansion of dental clinics in the state—beautiful state-of-the-art clinics in a number of the community health centers. And wherever these clinics arise there are waiting lines to get in there, and the reason for that is that the community health centers are there to treat people whether they are on Medicaid or any other program and have no health insurance. So the need is extraordinary and people are coming in big time. We still have a long way to go in Vermont but we’ve made some real progress, and I suspect that’s happening around the country as we expand the number of community health centers. There are now over 3.5 million people who receive dental services at 1,100 community health centers across the country. But I want to emphasize, we still have a very, very long way to go.

Kaufmann: At Wednesday’s hearing, what aspects of the crisis will you be exploring?

Bernie: We want to hear first of all about the crisis of access. We know that, for example, there are hundreds of thousands of visits to emergency rooms in the US every year to deal with preventable dental conditions. We also want to hear about the ideas out there in terms of how we can expand the dental workforce-- and not just in terms of dentists but an expansion of workers who may not have a dental degree but do have training in dental care. In Minnesota, they are called “dental therapists,” and it’s similar to a nurse practitioner in the medical field. The Kellogg Foundation estimated that 25 to 30 percent of routine dental services could be performed by a dental therapist. There are also fifty countries around the world that use these kinds of dental care providers, including Great Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand-- so why can’t we do it here? We also have to make sure that we continue to expand the dental clinics within the community health centers. Also, one of the areas I personally think has extraordinary potential and is very cost-effective is literally having a dental office in schools. We’ve done that now in three locations in Vermont and in every instance it is working very, very well-- and we know it’s important. The US Surgeon General’s Report in 2000 noted that students miss 50 million-- 50 million!-- hours of school in a year due to dental problems.

Kaufmann: Any new legislation to expand dental access will face significant opposition from Republicans and conservative Democrats based on cost. Can you talk a little bit more about this issue of cost-effectiveness?

Bernie: Look, if you have somebody who doesn’t have health insurance, who doesn’t have a doctor or dentist, and in order to deal with their cold or flu or dental problem, they go to an emergency room-- in general, that visit will cost ten times more than walking into a community health center. Expect to hear testimony about the exorbitant costs states are incurring that could be avoided if people had basic, preventive care.

So when you build a community health center or a dental clinic you are getting people away from the emergency room and you are saving substantial sums of money. You are also saving money with regular cleanings and care by not having to do more expensive dental procedures down the road. And again, dental disease and poor teeth can lead to other very significant health problems-- digestive problems, diabetes, heart disease, infections-- people have died as a result of brain infections related to dental decay.

But it’s not just a question of money, it’s a question of pain, it’s a question of time missed at work or school. So I think you can make a strong case that an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure.

Kaufmann: You’ve long been passionate about this issue and you’ve kept pushing it over many years. Where does that passion comes from?

Bernie: In 1969, two days after my son was born, I moved up to an area of Vermont in the northeast part of the state, which is called the Northeast Kingdom-- it’s the most rural part of the state and the poorest part of the state. And I will never forget this young boy, 10 or 11 years old-- here’s a kid whose teeth were rotting in his mouth, I’d not seen anything like that ever. It just blew me away and I found out how severe the problem is. I’ve never forgotten that.

Two years ago or so I was visiting a brand new dental clinic in Hardwick, Vermont, about two miles away from where that kid had lived. An older guy brought in his granddaughter who was in high school. The granddaughter was going to this dental clinic for her routine cleaning, her teeth were in beautiful shape. The old man had no teeth in his mouth at all. He said he’d have teeth if there had been a clinic. But we still have such a long way to go.

If you walk down the street today, and you see somebody who has two front teeth missing, you know that that person is poor. And the truth is that when that person goes in to apply for a job it will be far more difficult to get that job. It’s a badge of poverty and it impacts people’s ability to get ahead.

Kaufmann: Do you anticipate offering legislation coming off of this hearing?

Bernie: Yes. It will include many of the ideas we’ve talked about and that we’ll discuss at the hearing. It deals with the absolute need to make sure that we have access for all Americans to decent quality dental care. Raising Medicaid reimbursement rates to dental care may be part of the solution but ultimately we have to make sure that there are providers who are prepared to treat lower-income and working class people who today cannot afford care. It’s a question of getting dentists and healthcare professionals into areas where they will treat people who need treatment.

Liam O’Mara, a Riverside County history professor and progressive activist is running to represent the Southern California congressional district held by untreated  sex-fiend and corrupt Trumpist Ken Calvert. Calvert doesn’t believe in supporting public health in any way so, is an opponent of not just Medicare-for-All, not for plain ole Medicare as well. O’Mara brings an entirely different perspective to the debate. "I know a great many people without dental or vision insurance, which means far higher costs when things inevitably go wrong,” he told us yesterday. "In fact, I am among them, as one of the many academics who slip between the cracks of good coverage because of the way the field has pushed us into part-time contractors. I know people in my circle who've not seen a dentist in a decade or more. Is it any surprise that billboards for tooth implants are proliferating along freeways in poorer areas? The lack of coverage pushes people into expensive catastrophic care, despite regular check-ups being far cheaper and more healthful. Dentistry is one of countless areas where we could save money if we just made insurance available to everyone. Bernie's plan does that, and we need to elect enough progressives to see it become law."

Heidi Sloan, is a progressive Democrat competing with anti-healthcare Trumpist Roger Williams for a gerrymandered seat in central Texas (TX-25)."Medicare For All," Heidi, who sent us this tweet (above) from a few days back, told us, "is about providing care to all people and to our whole bodies. That means vision, reproductive health, mental health, and dental. Our teeth are not somehow separate from the rest of our bodies, and it is absurd that the insurance industry has convinced us to think of our dental health as something different from our health in general-- as though receiving care for these bones were a treat instead of a necessary component of well-being. When I chew food, I don't think I'm experiencing a luxury. If you've ever had wisdom teeth come in, you know that alleviating that pain should not be regarded as a nice bonus that you get if you can afford it. In demanding Medicare For All, we are demanding the working class have real healthcare for our bodies, and we're not buying that our teeth are somehow exempt from that demand anymore."

Morgan Harper is running for a seat in Columbus, Ohio held by a do-nothing Democratic backbencher, Joyce Beatty. Morgan will never be accused of being a do-nothing-- and passing Medicare-for-All is one of the planks in her progressive platform. "The dentistry crisis in this country," she said, "is largely overshadowed by the broader healthcare crisis; it cannot be ignored. Millions of Americans do not have easy access to quality dental care, millions more are uninsured, and for those who are fortunate to have dental insurance, the quality of that coverage often does little to offset the costs of needed procedures. We must do better." 

While Trump Fiddles, Our Crucial Task Is Saving Mankind-- And Planet Earth-- Before It's Too Late

What's the absolutely single most important thing Bernie can achieve if he's elected president in 2020? Yeah, I know they're all import but pick just one.

 Medicare-for-All?

• Create a Medicare for All, single-payer, national health insurance program to provide everyone in America with comprehensive health care coverage, free at the point of service.
• No networks, no premiums, no deductibles, no copays, no surprise bills.
• Medicare coverage will be expanded and improved to include: include dental, hearing, vision, and home- and community-based long-term care, in-patient and out-patient services, mental health and substance abuse treatment, reproductive and maternity care, prescription drugs, and more.
• Stop the pharmaceutical industry from ripping off the American people by making sure that no one in America pays over $200 a year for the medicine they need by capping what Americans pay for prescription drugs under Medicare for All.

Revitalize democracy itself?

• Restore the Voting Rights Act and overturn Citizens United.
• End racist voter suppression and partisan gerrymandering.
• Make Election Day a national holiday, secure automatic voter registration, and guarantee the right to vote for every American over 18, including those Americans currently incarcerated and those disenfranchised by a felony conviction.
• Abolish super PACs and replace corporate funding with publicly funded elections that amplify small-doner donations.

Statehood for Washington, DC and for Puerto Rico?

College For All?

• Guarantee tuition and debt-free public colleges, universities, HBCUs, Minority Serving Institutions and trade-schools to all.
• Cancel all student loan debt for the some 45 million Americans who owe about $1.6 trillion and place a cap on student loan interest rates going forward at 1.88 percent.
• Invest $1.3 billion every year in private, non-profit historically black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions
• End equity gaps in higher education attainment. And ensure students are able to cover non-tuition costs of attending school by: expanding Pell Grants to cover non-tuition and fee costs, tripling funding for the Work-Study Program, and more.

Fair taxation?

• Establish an annual tax on the extreme wealth of the top 0.1 percent of U.S. households.
• Only apply to net worth of over $32 million and anyone who has a net worth of less than $32 million, would not see their taxes go up at all under this plan.
• Will raise an estimated $4.35 trillion over the next decade and cut the wealth of billionaires in half over 15 years, which would substantially break up the concentration of wealth and power of this small privileged class.
• Ensure that the wealthy are not able to evade the tax by implementing strong enforcement policies.

Racial Justice?

• In order to transform this country into a nation that affirms the value of its people of color, we will address the five central types of violence waged against black, brown and indigenous Americans: physical, political, legal, economic and environmental.
• Whether it is a broken criminal justice system, or massive disparities in the availability of financial services, or health disparities, or environmental disparities, or educational disparities, our job is to-- and we will-- create a nation in which all people are treated equally. That is what we must do, and that is what we will do.

Jobs Guarantee?

• Enact a federal jobs guarantee, to ensure that everyone is guaranteed a stable job that pays a living wage.
• Create 20 million jobs as part of the Green New Deal, rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure and creating a 100% sustainable energy system.
• Create millions of healthcare jobs to support our seniors and people with disabilities in their homes and communities.
• Create new jobs in early childhood education.

All those things and the rest of Bernie's platform are absolutely crucial. But saving the planet may be the most important of all. And Bernie is a major backer of a Green New Deal. In short:

• Transform our energy system to 100 percent renewable energy and create 20 million jobs needed to solve the climate crisis.
• Ensure a just transition for communities and workers, including fossil fuel workers.
• Ensure justice for frontline communities, especially under-resourced groups, communities of color, Native Americans, people with disabilities, children and the elderly.
• Save American families money with investments in weatherization, public transportation, modern infrastructure and high-speed broadband.
• Commit to reducing emissions throughout the world, including providing $200 billion to the Green Climate Fund, rejoining the Paris Agreement, and reasserting the United States’ leadership in the global fight against climate change.
• Invest in conservation and public lands to heal our soils, forests, and prairie lands.
• End the greed of the fossil fuel industry and hold them accountable.

A bit more detail from the platform:

Climate change is a global emergency. The Amazon rainforest is burning, Greenland’s ice shelf is melting, and the Arctic is on fire. People across the country and the world are already experiencing the deadly consequences of our climate crisis, as extreme weather events like heat waves, wildfires, droughts, floods, and hurricanes upend entire communities, ecosystems, economies, and ways of life, as well as endanger millions of lives. Communities of color, working class people, and the global poor have borne and will bear this burden disproportionately.

The scientific community is telling us in no uncertain terms that we have less than 11 years left to transform our energy system away from fossil fuels to energy efficiency and sustainable energy, if we are going to leave this planet healthy and habitable for ourselves, our children, grandchildren, and future generations. As rising temperatures and extreme weather create health emergencies, drive land loss and displacement, destroy jobs, and threaten livelihoods, we must guarantee health care, housing, and a good-paying job to every American, especially to those who have been historically excluded from economic prosperity.

The scope of the challenge ahead of us shares similarities with the crisis faced by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1940s. Battling a world war on two fronts-- both in the East and the West-- the United States came together, and within three short years restructured the entire economy in order to win the war and defeat fascism. As president, Bernie Sanders will boldly embrace the moral imperative of addressing the climate crisis and act immediately to mobilize millions of people across the country in support of the Green New Deal. From the Oval Office to the streets, Bernie will generate the political will necessary for a wholesale transformation of our society, with support for frontline and vulnerable communities and massive investments in sustainable energy, energy efficiency, and a transformation of our transportation system.

We need a president who has the courage, the vision, and the record to face down the greed of fossil fuel executives and the billionaire class who stand in the way of climate action. We need a president who welcomes their hatred. Bernie will lead our country to enact the Green New Deal and bring the world together to defeat the existential threat of climate change.

Bernie knows he doesn't have the support in the House-- let alone in the Senate-- to pass all of his proposals. He's counting on long-term citizen mobilization. In the Climate Crisis world he already has the Sunrise Movement. And today the Sunrise Movement added four more congressional candidates to its list of nominees. Remember, the first was Audrey Denney (CA). Then came Jessica Cisneros (TX). And now... these four:

You know what the four have in common, aside from the reasons Sunrise has endorsed them? Well, yes they are all Blue America candidates-- and you can contribute to their campaigns by clicking on the ActBlue thermometer on the right. But they are also all candidates the DCCC is furiously working to sabotage. The endorsements this week were for people in the early March primaries (Illinois, Texas and Ohio). "The endorsements,' they wrote, "span a range of political newcomers running on the Green New Deal, including Robert Emmons Jr. (IL-01) and Marie Newman (IL-03) of Chicago, IL, Morgan Harper (OH-03) of Columbus, OH, and Mike Siegel (TX-10), whose district spans between Austin and Houston, TX. With the exception of Siegel-- who is running to oust a Republican representative in a purple district-- the candidates plan to unseat Democratic incumbents in blue districts. Though this announcement signifies the first bracket of Congressional endorsements, it comes after the separate endorsements of primary challenger, Democrat Jessica Cisneros of Texas’ 28th district, and Republican challenger, Democrat Audrey Denney of California’s 1st district."

“The scientists are telling us that 2020 is our last opportunity to elect climate leaders that can immediately enact bold, transformational action over the course of the next decade to save our planet. Meanwhile, establishment politicians of both parties are complacent. So I think that’s why we’re seeing this wave of candidates joining the urgent calls from young people in launching campaigns across the country boldly championing the Green New Deal. These candidates, such as the four we’re endorsing today, come from communities tired of political corruption and neglect, and vigilantly attuned to the linked climate and economic crises we are facing as a nation,” remarked Evan Weber, Political Director of Sunrise Movement. “These insurgent campaigns are a clear indicator of the appetite for an entire new way of doing things, and a restructuring of our society under a populist agenda that guarantees things like living wage jobs, affordable and safe housing, universal clean air and water, and Medicare for All-- all policies which we see bundled into the Green New Deal framework.”

Siegel, a civil rights lawyer and former public school teacher, and Newman, business leader and progressive advocate, enter the race with some campaign experience, having run competitive races in 2018 against Democrat Dan Lipinkski and Republican Mike McCaul. The two now see the 2020 elections as a critical political moment to break through the field by championing popular platforms like the Green New Deal.

“In 2018, we built a broad coalition of unions, environmentalists, and progressives across urban and rural communities, in a district that has been red for a long time,” Mike Siegel, TX-10 explained. “We nearly beat McCaul. In 2020, energy from groups like Sunrise Movement and inspiring agendas like the Green New Deal are going to take us over the finish line.”

“I am proud to have the support of the Sunrise Movement and I am dedicated to joining them in the mission of advocating for and innovating and organizing toward 100% clean and renewable energy by 2030. Solving the climate crisis and expanding our economy are not mutually exclusive pursuits,” Marie Newman, IL-03 remarked. “We have the opportunity, particularly in districts like mine that are major transportation hubs, but across the entire country, to embrace new and innovative technologies, to build a green economy, to create good paying union jobs, and to save our planet from a climate crisis. Lipinski and his dwindling circle of fossil-fuel funded Democrats are a threat to the Democratic Party truly being a party of the people.”

Harper, a 36 community advocate and former staffer at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Emmons Jr., a 27 year old community organizer, launched into politics after coming of age amidst the rise of the climate crisis, polarized racial tensions, and economic inequality. They began to realize their own political potential after witnessing the uprising of political newcomers, such as Green New Deal champion Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The two are running against establishment Democrats Joyce Beatty, 69 and Bobby Rush, 73 who both oppose the Green New Deal and have received hundreds of thousands of dollars from utilities and fossil fuel interests.

“The Green New Deal is the solution that the 1st District of Illinois needs to combat the climate crisis, reinvigorate our local economy, and curb the cycle of violence that plagues our communities,” Robert Emmons Jr., IL-01 said. “The Sunrise Movement understands that jobs, healthcare, clean water, clean air, and clean soil are essential to gun violence prevention and I am beyond grateful for their support.”

“Every day that Congress fails to address climate change with the same magnitude and urgency as the climate crisis we face, is a failure of leadership. Plain and simple,” said Morgan Harper, OH-03. “The Sunrise Movement has led with the forcefulness to deal with our climate crisis and it’s an honor to have their endorsement. We believe that our future exists without fossil fuels and with a green new deal to transform our economy for a more sustainable future.”

And what about Bernie? They haven't endorsed in the presidential race yet, but they did rate the candidates on a 200 point scale:

183 points

165 points

75 points

When Ro Khanna Speaks, It Matters-- We Need More Members Of Congress Like Him, Not Pointless Backbenchers

Ro Khanna's grandfather was arrested during the Indian independence movement and wound up sharing a British prison cell with Mahatma Gandhi. No doubt, that's from whom Khanna got the moxie to stand up yesterday in front of Congress and make this absolutely incredible speech opposing the NDAA-- which would be better named "the endless War and Corruption bill." I implore you to listen to what Khanna had to say. It's less than 2 minutes but it has enough in it to be worth an hour to every single American. In fact, please spread it around to your friends and relatives.

In the end, this miserable bill-- pushed by both Pelosi and McCarthy, an example of the pathetic leadership on both sides of the aisle-- passed 377-48. Only 41 Democrats voted NO, including Ro Khanna (CA), AOC (NY), Barbara Lee (CA), Rashida Tlaib (MI), Ilhan Omar (MN), Jamie Raskin (MD), Ayanna Pressely (MA), Pramila Jayapal (WA), Raul Grijalva (AZ), Andy Levin (MI), Joe Neguse (CO), Judy Chu (CA), Jan Schakowsky (IL), Steve Cohen (TN), Tulsi (HI), Bonnie Watson-Coleman (NJ), Jerry Nadler (NY), Chuy Garcia (IL)... So where were all the freshmen the DCCC elected last year? Voting with the GOP, of course. (By the way, there would have been 42 Democrats but Ted Lieu was recuperating in the hospital and unable to cast a vote.)

Hopefully, Austin progressive Mike Siegel will be #43 next time the NDAA comes up for a vote. Endless war and corruption is like a middle name for his GOP opponent, Michael McCaul. Right after McCaul's vote, Mike told us that "I stand with Rep. Khanna and the members of Congress who are willing to take a stand and oppose a blank check for military spending. We are facing a climate crisis, but these same people who support the defense budget ask 'how will we pay' for a Green New Deal. We are in a health care crisis and rural hospitals are closing, but we ask 'how will we pay' for Medicare for All. This vote shows how disingenuous the 'PayGo' tactic can be. Here in TX-10, Rep. McCaul will support cuts to basic nutritional assistance for starving Americans, in service of fiscal austerity, but he can’t be bothered to oppose a $120B increase in military spending. 'The Blob' is a third rail in DC politics, decades after Eisenhower’s admonition about the military industrial complex. We need a progressive movement to stand up to this warmongering, that not only sabotages international diplomacy, but also comes at the cost of a real safety net at home."

Columbus Ohio progressive candidate Morgan Harper is running against a corrupt establishment Democrat, Joyce Beatty, who backed the horrific Pentagon Budget. Afterwards, Morgan sent me a short note: "Why I would have voted ‘no’ on the defense bill that just passed in the House: This bill effectively gives permission for the U.S. to continue its endless wars. It also does nothing to curb the continued abuse of power by the Office of the President to engage in war without congressional approval. Democrats are touting the success of the compromise bill by citing such achievements as extended paid parental leave. To achieve this ‘win’ they accepted the creation of a ‘space force,’ which is nothing more than political fodder for the President’s base. However, this is just another example of Democrats simply not understanding strategy and being out-negotiated, as the President’s circle already wanted extended parental leave. Finally, there is no mention of how this will be paid for. Not only is this in clear opposition to Republicans’ pretend platform of ‘fiscal responsibility’, but also if we’re in the mood to pass spending bills without accounting for how they will be paid for, let’s start by addressing issues of actual importance like housing the homeless. This bill is nothing more than business as usual for Republicans and further evidence that many elected Democrats are no better."

  Arizona progressive Eva Putzova is an admirer of Ro Khanna's politics and see's the Defense Budget the same way he does. Right after the House backed the bill-- including her Blue Dog opponent, Tom O'Halleran-- she told us "The vote by the House of Representatives to approve a new defense budget of $738 billion dollars is a disgrace. It is now $120 billion dollars more than President Obama's last defense budget. This money could have been used to fund free public college for all Americans and many other civilian priorities. The budget also continues funding U.S military aid to the brutal Saudi war in Yemen and failed to impose limitations on Trump's ability to go to war with Iran. And it gives Trump his 'Space Force' which increase the likelihood of armed conflict with Russia and China in space! When I am elected to congress I will not vote for more war spending and profits for arms contractors like my opponent does, but will prioritize spending on universal healthcare, free public college, renewable energy, universal childcare, affordable housing, expanded public access to the internet, and other crucial, popular priorities."

Liam O'Mara, the progressive Democrat running for the Riverside County seat occupied by corrupt Republican Ken Calvert, told us that "This vote shows once again that Republicans and Democrats alike will continue to waste taxpayer dollars on endless wars, in large part as a hand-out to defence contractors, and irrespective of the cost in lives and the destruction of our world. A vote for Calvert is a vote to funnel more cash from the wallets of hard-working Americans, and into the coffers of Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, etc. But it is also a vote to shift corrupt lobbyist cash from the defence industry into the hands of those same grasping Representatives. This is why there exists a bipartisan consensus on permanent war, and why we need a new progressive majority to end it."

Another California progressive Democrat, Kim Williams, a former U.S. diplomat, is running for the Central Valley seat occupied by hard core Blue Dog Jim Costa, a backer of the military industrial complex President Eisenhower warned the country about. Williams has other ideas. "While we are spending more than 60% of discretionary spending on war, roughly 3,000 Americans will die each year from a lack of healthcare, and half a million people will file bankruptcy because of medical debt. Nearly two decades of unending war has distracted the U.S. Government from other serious national security threats and diverted resources from domestic investments in education, healthcare and efforts to fight climate change-- all of which are essential to the health, safety, and well-being of everyone in the country. This is unsustainable and clearly not in our best interests."

Milwaukie, Oregon mayor Mark Gamba is running for a congressional seat held by one of the worst and most corrupt of all the Blue Dogs, Kurt Schrader, a cheerleader for the Republican agenda. "We are already spending more than the next 10 largest militaries in the world combined," said Gamba, "and yet, we are told it's crazy talk to consider providing secondary education for our population, or housing the homeless, or stopping climate chaos while lifting people out of poverty, because 'it will cost too much!!' We could completely accomplish the first two with the 120 billion difference between Obama's last military budget and this one, and we could take a hell of whack at solving climate chaos. I agree that our soldiers deserve a raise and I agree that our federal workers should have paid parental leave (although why that's attached to this bill is a completely different rant), but a Space Force? At what point do we stop funding endless wars and start paying for the real needs of Americans? I would have voted against the bill after the White House stripped out the bi partisan amendments that would end some of those endless wars."

Will County, Illinois progressive Rachel Ventura issued this statement right after the vote:

You have to wonder where the common sense was during the NDAA vote. It is unfathomable to me that Bill Foster voted “yes” for Donald Trump’s proposed space force that was included in the $738 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) legislation. I would have stood with the courageous Democrats who voted “no” on Donald Trump's space army and urged other members to stay focused on the real threat of climate change.



I can't believe that we are blowing billions of dollars on this hypothetical cartoon-like space war, and doing little to address the real crisis. The greatest threat to humanity right now is the climate crisis, and all of those lawmakers, including my opponent, are still funding perpetual war and now even an imaginary war.



Finally, it is sad that Democrats have lost their backbones and are bending to the whims of a man who is clearly unfit to lead this nation. They are undermining their own efforts at impeachment and legitimizing Donald Trump. It is embarrassing.

Sleaze Ball Lobbyists Work With Corporate Conservatives From Both Parties To Kill Medicare-For-All

You may have read some of the coverage about how anti-Medicare lobbyists are writing OpEds for conservatives willing to undercut Medicare-for-All messaging. Obviously, the willingness of the legislators to run the anti-healthcare OpEds under their own names comes with gratitude and pay-offs (bribes in the form of campaign contributions and, in some cases, worse).

Yesterday progressive congressional candidate Morgan Harper called my attention to a specific case in Ohio, where right-wing state Senator Stephen Huffman of Miami County gave a lobbyist-penned OpEd to the Sidney Daily News denouncing Medicare-for-All (and government involvement in healthcare). The OpEd was written by shady lobbyist Kathleen DeLand who was paid by the even shadier Partnership for America’s Health Care Future.

Miami County, north of Dayton, is a red hellhole. The county gave Trump a landslide 70.6% to 24.9% victory over Hillary in 2016. Last year, in the midst of a national anti-red wave, the politically backward county only gave Sherrod Brown 35.3% of it's vote. And gubernatorial candidate Richard Cordray fared even worse-- 27.0%. The county performance for garden variety Republican Congressman Warren Davidson was R+46. FDR won the county once and LBJ beat Goldwater; other than that it's been a GOP bastion within the lifetimes of everyone alive today. Every single member of the county board of commissioners is a Republican, as is every elected judge. All of their elected state and national representatives are Republicans. So... it's amazing that the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future felt they had to spend money to push its anti-Medicare-for-All messaging even in this blood-red an area. By the way, the thermometer below leads to a contribution page for candidates who are campaigning for Medicare-for-All. By all means, avail yourself of it and contribute to these men and women who will make the difference in passing what I like to call "original Medicare before conservatives cut it to pieces."

Luke Darby, writing Monday for GQ explained why. "Single-payer health care is increasingly popular among American voters. Poll numbers fluctuate depending on how the question is asked, but findings consistently show majority support for a single-payer program like Medicare for All. One 2018 poll showed support was as high as an astonishing 70 percent."

Eva Putzova is the former Bernie delegate running for Congress in an Arizona district held by Blue Dog and "ex"-Republican Tom O'Halleran, a fake-Dem who normally votes with the GOP. Needless to say, he does not support Medicare-for-All. Eva does. "The revelation that the for-profit healthcare industry is ghost writing anti Medicare-For-All op-eds for politicians to publish in the newspapers under their names is despicable but not surprising. A majority of the public supports Medicare-For-All and that terrifies the health insurance industry, pharmaceutical industry and lobbyists who profit from our wasteful, expensive, and often cruel system. They know that their profits will vanish when all Americans are covered by a universal, single-payer system without co-pays, deductibles, or out of pocket payments. My opponent takes money from the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries and his anti Medicare for All position reflects those industries point of view, whether he writes an op-ed penned by someone in those industries or not."

The Partnership for America’s Health Care Future and their fat-cat lobbyists have been chipping away at that number. Darby reported that a Kaiser Family Foundation survey from the very end of November found that Medicare for All had just the slimmest of majority support, at 51 percent and that while Bernie and Elizabeth have been pushing single-payer health-care plans, the anti-working class candidates like Status Quo Joe and Mayo Pete have come out strongly against any policies that would undermine private health insurance companies. Fat cat Democratic strategists and insiders find it convenient-- and profitable-- to tell media they think strong social programs that benefit the working class, like universal health care, will hurt the party in the long run. Last month, Pelosi said she's "not a big fan of Medicare for all," and has kept Pramila Jayapal's Medicare-for-All bill-- which has 118 co-sponsors-- bottled up in the House Commerce and Energy Committee, where the grotesquely corrupt chairman, Frank Pallone (NJ) has indicated Medicare-for-All will pass over his dead body.

State-level lawmakers are also jumping into the debate. Democratic and Republican legislators have been publishing op-eds suggesting either very mild adjustments to U.S. health care, or attacking single-payer outright. And, it turns out, some of them are relying on feedback from the heath-care industry.

The Washington Post obtained private e-mails of multiple lawmakers, showing that they ran their op-eds by health-care industry lobbyists before publishing them. Montana representative Kathy Kelker and state senator Jen Gross, both Democrats, included language from John MacDonald, a lobbyist who reached out on behalf of Partnership for America’s Health Care Future, an industry group founded in 2018 and funded by hospitals, private insurers, drug companies and other private health-care firms. Among other edits, MacDonald apparently deleted a table from one of the op-eds showing that Americans spend more per capita on health care than France, Germany, Norway, and Switzerland.

Kelker and Gross both told The Post that they weren't aware that MacDonald was a lobbyist, and that they've received some push back from their constituents over the op-eds. But after Kelker's op-ed ran, she emailed MacDonald, writing, "At church, I received many favorable comments--mostly from Republicans!"

An aide to Ohio state senator Steve Huffman, a Republican, also confirmed that Huffman's recent op-ed attacking Medicare for All was written with help from Ohio-based lobbyist Kathleen DeLand. DeLand would neither confirm nor deny to The Post that she also worked for Partnership for America’s Health Care Future, but her e-mails to Huffman's staff included the group's acronym in the subject line: "PAHCF op-ed - OH - Huffman[3]. docx." The Partnership linked to these op-eds in e-mails to reporters, citing them as evidence that "voices throughout the nation" oppose Medicare for All.

In a story from November, Politico detailed the rise of the Partnership from a coalition of groups representing the insurance and pharmaceutical industries to a multi-million dollar juggernaut aiming to oppose any major expansion of government-financed health care in D.C. and across the country. The organization promotes the talking points that a single-payer heath-care system would empower "bureaucrats" to force Americans into a "one-size-fits-all" plan, taking away their "choice" and "control." According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 156 million Americans, or 49 percent of the country's population, rely on employer-provided insurance, so how much "control" they have over their health care is debatable.

As The Post's Jeff Stein noted Monday evening, "The revelation comes amid a fierce debate among Democrats nationwide about the best way to address health-care concerns. Health care remains a top issue for many voters, and industry groups and moderate [Stein, like most Beltway reporters, refers to conservatives as "moderates," a term preferred by conservatives because its more comforting and palliative to voters] politicians have warned that the ideas pursued by Warren and Sanders could be viewed as too extreme and lead Democrats to lose in the 2020 election. But the ideas are also very popular among many Americans, and the health-care industry has taken notice."

The emails offer a glimpse into the industry mobilization against both single-payer and a “public option," a government-run insurer that would compete with private plans. A change could redirect trillions of dollars in spending, with insurers, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies all directly affected.

The Partnership for America’s Health Care Future has spent more than $1 million on television advertisements since August warning against Medicare-for-all and other changes to the health-care system, according to Advertising Analytics, a firm that tracks TV spending. The Partnership has recently expanded its operations to the state level, and has heavily targeted voters in early primary states and battleground states, according to Politico.

...Single-payer supporters say the lobbyists’ role in crafting the op-eds bolsters their argument that their opponents are parroting talking points from industry groups that profit off the current health-care system.

“These secret emails blow open what I saw firsthand and revealed as a health insurance whistleblower: These companies and their lobbyists will stoop to whatever it takes, no matter how grotesque, to deny people the lifesaving coverage they need," said Wendell Potter, a former health insurance executive who is now president of Business for Medicare for All. “This is just the latest reason we need to reform this broken system where greedy corporations determine who can get medical treatment in America.”

The emails raise troubling ethical implications about the undisclosed involvement of private interests in lawmakers’ public statements, said Larry Noble, who served as general counsel for the Campaign Legal Center and the Federal Election Commission.

“It’s disturbing,” Noble said. “I think there’s a certain ethical obligation to be upfront about who wrote the editorial.”

Riverside County, California progressive congressional candidate Liam O'Mara told us last night that two things bother him in this debate, as they do in so many issues in U.S. politics. "The first is the naked corruption that squeaks through, with corporate and special-interest lobbyists handing not just OpEds, but actual legislation, over to self-serving shills who then pass it on as their own in exchange for money. Public service is supposed to be about helping everyone-- about ordinary Americans-- not about doing the bidding of an aristocracy. And it certainly should not be a way to enrich oneself, as so many of these people do. The other issue that stands out to me is rhetorical. Medicare for All is not extreme, it is the default position throughout the developed world. It is cheaper, more efficient, and gives the consumer far more freedom and control over their own care. Yet the right dominates the conversation and uses cold, hard cash to buy the air-time and spread their message. This media influence allows people with clearly conservative views, and sometimes farther right from that, to claim the label of "moderate" solely on account of their servile approach to corporate power. How do we fight a slick messaging machine that does not care about facts, only about profit? This to me is the real problem we face. The power of moneyed élites over our political system has created what Sheldon Wolin famously called an inverted totalitarianism. If we are to get a government back that will serve the interests of citizens, we need to take big money out of politics completely. So long as corporations can buy our representatives, we will continue to fall behind the rich world, losing our health, our freedoms, and our democracy in the process."

Brianna Wu, the progressive taking on New Dem Stephen Lynch in the Boston area, is an enthusiastic Medicare-for-All backer. "Of course," she said, "lobbyists for the insurance industry are fighting against Medicare For All!  They make their money on the status quo. They are not interested in what's best for the American people. I'm running as a Medicare For All candidate. My opponent, Rep. Stephen Lynch, does not support Medicare For All. Why? Because he is part of the status quo, and he relies on the insurance industry for his campaign contributions. It really is as simple as that. Stephen Lynch claims to support unions and was a union member himself. And yet, union leaders are increasingly supporting Medicare For All because they understand that health care increasingly consumes contract negotiations for their members. The premiums, deductibles, and copays that union members still pay for their health insurance often negatively impacts any wage increases they may receive through collective bargaining. I support the Massachusetts AFL-CIO which recently passed a unanimous resolution to endorse a presidential candidate only if that candidate supports Medicare For All. Unions have built and supported working families in this country for decades, and they continue to do so. Medicare For All will benefit all Americans, union and non-union alike. Leave it to unions to lead the way, yet again. When I get to Congress, working families will know I am unequivocally with them."

This is a topic near and dear to the heart of Will County board member and congressional candidate Rachel Ventura. "With the astronomical amount of money that insurance companies and Big Pharma are dumping into democratic campaigns," she wrote last night, "it is easy to understand why corporate Democrats are now using Republican talking points on healthcare. I guess the new Republican and corporate Democrats' healthcare plan is like Alan Grayson said, 'Don’t Get Sick! And if you do get sick, die quickly.'

I recently co-hosted a healthcare townhall meeting with fellow congressional challenger, Robert Emmons Jr. We heard testimony from a union member who was paying more than 28% of his income in healthcare costs. A single-payer program could be funded by replacing all private insurance expenses, co-pays and deductible costs with an estimated 9% payroll tax. Currently Americans already pay 2.9% in Medicare taxes and a smaller amount to Medicaid, depending on the state one lives in but can’t take advantage of Medicare until age 65. Thus, we are looking at replacing 28% of one’s paycheck with a 9% payroll tax. We did the math for this union member and he would have saved more than $19,000 a year by moving to a single-payer Medicare for All program.

We also heard a really tragic situation from a woman who shared the story of her 38-year old cousin. He had insurance coverage, but the company refused to cover a simple laparoscopic procedure to repair his hernia, determining it was not medically necessary. After being told several times that his procedure would not be covered by his insurance, he went home from work one day when he started to bleed. He attempted to stop the bleeding on his own with towels and sheets. He was found deceased two days later; he had bled to death.

Why do corporate Democrats like Bill Foster and some of the presidential candidates want to leave insurance companies in charge of making healthcare decisions? Healthcare decisions should be left to patients and their doctors, not people who make a profit by denying care.

The simple answer is that their corporate donors in the for-profit healthcare industry are more important than their constituents who need healthcare.

My opponent has taken more than $600,000 from Big Pharma, insurance companies and the for-profit healthcare industry. I don’t know how much money presidential candidates are taking from the industry, but I do believe that their smears on Medicare for All are more than simple ideological difference. I think they are bought and paid for or feel threatened by groups like The Partnership for America’s Health Care Future.