Washington Democrat Representative Pramila Jayapal urged lawmakers to take votes on “Medicare for All” bill following the party’s triumph in the midterms.
“We are going to be pushing for it to get a hearing….to have this debate on the floor,” Jayapal said.
Jayapal stated that it won’t be sufficient if Democrats just claim they cosponsor the “Medicare for All”, adding that “when we have that majority we need to make sure that we put it to use.”
Still, Dems have not shown much interest to take votes on the caucus and the legislation has not been signed by top leaders.
Organizers from liberal groups, led by National Nurses United, said on the call that they are going to be organizing grassroots support, including phone calls especially targeting the the 13 House Democrats on the key committees of Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce who they said have not signed onto the Medicare for All bill yet.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the idea’s leading champion, also joined the call and called for “massive grassroots support” to push for Medicare for all.
Jayapal spoke to The Hill saying that she and other “Medicare for All” members caucus are working on a revised version of the legislation, known as H.R. 676, which she hopes to come to agreement on “over the next month” to be ready for introduction in the next session of Congress.
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