Nancy Pelosi brushes off Green New Deal and 'Medicare-for-all'
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) recently brushed off two key proposals from the progressive wing of her party: Medicare-for-All and the Green New Deal.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI), on Wedneday, introduced the “Medicare for All Act of 2019." It offers more benefits and a faster transition to government-run health care than the Medicare for All bill introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
But during an interview with Rolling Stone, on Wednesday, Pelosi was stumped on the large price tag of Medicare for All.
"Thirty trillion dollars," she said. "Now, how do you pay for that?”
Both the Mercatus Center, a libertarian think tank, and the Urban Institute, a left-leaning think tank, have analyzed Bernie Sanders' Medicare for All bill and came up with the same number over a decade -- $32 trillion.
Reason magazine editor at large Matt Welch pointed out the U.S. is already in a precarious financial situation.
“The place that we’re starting at is with a $22 trillion debt, and that is a terrible, terrifying place to be,” he told FOX Business’ Kennedy on Thursday.
Medicare for All is just one component of the Green New Deal introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA). Pelosi told Rolling Stone that their climate change strategy “goes beyond what our charge is," because it includes things like universal health care and guaranteed jobs.
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While Pelosi wrangles the progressive wing of her party, she is also trying to get moderate democrats to stop voting with the GOP. She reportedly told her caucus on Thursday morning that they will have to face tough votes sometimes, according to Politico.
“This is not a day at the beach," she purportedly said. "This is the Congress of the United States."