Sanders calls Trump a liar before Dem drive
Senator says Americans want Medicare for All
WASHINGTON – Sen. Bernie Sanders hit back at President Donald Trump, who taunted him for what he called a failed “socialist” agenda. Sanders said the president and his Republican allies want to shred Medicare and Social Security to provide tax cuts for the privileged few.
The Vermont independent, who ran for president as a Democrat in 2016, said Trump is a “pathological liar” who makes false statements about something different every day, including health care. In an op-ed for USA TODAY, Trump said Sanders’ proposal for a “Medicare for All,” government-run health care system would “end Medicare as we know it and take away benefits that seniors have paid for their entire lives.” GOP candidates are trying to link their Democratic opponents to the proposal in attack ads.
“This is a president who, in his budget, proposed cuts of $1 trillion in Medicaid over a 10-year period – these are 10-year numbers – $500 billion in Medicare and $72 billion in the Social Security trust fund, OK?” Sanders said in an interview with USA TODAY. “And this is a president who, by sabotaging the Affordable Care Act, has driven premiums up in many parts of the country. So when he talks about my bill – Medicare for All – people, I think, should be highly dubious about what he says.”
Sanders, a self-described Democratic socialist, said his bill would expand benefits for seniors by including dental and vision care and hearing aids. In citing one estimated $32.6 trillion price tag for the proposal over 10 years, Trump ignored that it would do away with premiums and out-of-pocket expenses for families, Sanders said. Politifact factcheckers wrote that Americans in the aggregate would pay a lot more to the government to fund health care but less overall than they pay now.
“The reason that he is lying and Republicans are focusing on this issue is that the American people are more and more favorably disposed to Medicare for All,” Sanders said, citing a Reuters/Ipsos poll released in August that showed 70 percent of Americans support a Medicare for All policy.
Sanders spoke before a nine-state campaign swing for Democrats, beginning Friday in Bloomington, Indiana, for Democratic congressional candidate Liz Watson, who challenged GOP Rep. Trey Hollingsworth.
Some Democrats in swing districts and states are distancing themselves from Sanders’ proposal amid GOP attempts to smear them with it. Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., released an ad saying “socialists” will turn health care over to the government “over my dead body.” Although the “radical left” wants to eliminate Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Donnelly said, he supports it, along with Trump’s border wall.
Sanders said he won’t campaign with Donnelly, who will “say what he wants to say.” He hopes Donnelly wins because Senate Democrats will need him to gain a majority.
Republicans arguing against a single-payer health care system will welcome Sanders to competitive states and districts, said Cam Savage, a Republican strategist. “I’m sure a Democratic congressional candidate in Bloomington would welcome him to rally college students, but Joe Donnelly wouldn’t be near that rally for anything,” Savage said.
Sanders said Republicans will “lie about anything,” regardless of whether he campaigns or not. He said the candidates who invited him seem to think he can help them.
“If I am able to create some political excitement in the states that I go to along with these candidates, and we can drive up the voter turnout, I think that will be very positive,” he said.