Pelosi declines to endorse Sanders single-payer bill
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) declined to back Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) forthcoming “Medicare for all” legislation Tuesday, saying she’s instead focused on protecting ObamaCare.
“Right now, I’m protecting the Affordable Care Act,” Pelosi told reporters Tuesday, according to the Los Angeles Times.
{mosads}”None of these other things, whether it’s Bernie’s [bill], can really prevail unless we have the Affordable Care Act protected.”
Sanders will introduce his bill Wednesday alongside several Senate Democratic co-sponsors, including Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Cory Booker (N.J.).
Pelosi has made similar comments in the past, saying she supports the idea in concept, but the comfort level with the broader base of the American people is not yet there.
Pelosi also said Tuesday she doesn’t think support for a single-payer health-care system is a litmus test for Democrats.
“I don’t think it’s a litmus test,” she said.
“I think to support the idea that it captures is that we want to have as many people as possible, everybody, covered, and I think that’s something that we all embrace.”
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