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Public Citizen Supports Sanders' Medicare for All Act of 2019
Statements of Public Citizen Experts
WASHINGTON
Note: Today U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.,) along with 14 co-sponsors, reintroduced the Medicare for All Act of 2019 in the U.S. Senate. Similar legislation was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in February by U.S. Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.).
"We have a health care system that is cruel, arbitrary, wildly expensive, unfair and structured to deny care to those who need it - all to advance the profits of the health insurance industry, Big Pharma and the for-profit hospitals. This legislation takes the part of our health care system that works best - Medicare - and improves and expands it to cover all Americans. It proves that we can prioritize compassion and public health on the one hand, and economic efficiency on the other - so long as we don't capitulate to the power of the insurance and health care corporations. Americans support Medicare for All in increasing numbers, and the day is not far off when it will be the law of the land."
- Robert Weissman, president
"Too many people are facing bankruptcy, are forced to resort to GoFundMe donations to pay medical bills or have lost loved ones because they couldn't receive vital medical treatment due to the cost. The American people know it's time for guaranteed, government-funded health care for all and are demanding that their elected leaders, local and federal, take a stand and support this important bill."
- Melinda St. Louis, campaign director, Medicare for All
"Medicare for All is the cure for what ails our fragmented and excessively expensive health care system, and this crucial reform cannot come quickly enough. We are currently spending far more than any other country on health care, more than $10,000 per person and nearly 18 percent of our GDP, while having among the worst health care outcomes of similarly wealthy countries. Nearly all other comparably wealthy countries spend significantly less on health care while achieving higher life expectancy and lower infant mortality rates, and covering their entire populations. The time has come for the U.S. health care system to focus on patient wellbeing instead of corporate profits."
- Eagan Kemp, health care policy advocate, Public Citizen's Congress Watch division
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.
The Missouri Republican introduced a bill to protect SNAP benefits during the government shutdown after supporting a budget package that contains the largest food aid cuts in US history.
"The Republicans, evidently, don't care whether they have either," Warren added.
Hawley's statement on the new legislation did not mention his support for President Donald Trump's signature budget package, which included the largest SNAP cuts in US history, affecting millions across the nation—including many children.
The looming SNAP benefit cuts due to the government shutdown are set to compound the impacts of food aid cuts from the Trump-GOP budget law. The Trump administration is currently pressuring states to swiftly implement the law's draconian SNAP changes, including more expansive work requirements.
Hawley's new bill, titled the Keep SNAP Funded Act, marks the second time this year that the Missouri Republican has come to the defense of a program that he has helped attack. Just two weeks after helping pass the Trump-GOP budget package, which contains around $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts over the next decade, Hawley unveiled legislation aimed at repealing some of those cuts.
The bill went nowhere in the Republican-controlled Senate.
It's unclear whether Hawley's SNAP legislation will suffer the same fate. The Republican senator said if GOP leaders don't agree to bring it up for a vote, he intends to try to pass it via unanimous consent.
Dozens of states have said they have begun sending out notices informing SNAP recipients that they won't receive benefits next month if the shutdown continues, and food pantries across the nation are preparing for a surge in demand.
Legislation like Hawley's isn't necessary to ensure that SNAP recipients continue receiving at least partial benefits as the shutdown drags on, experts at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) stressed earlier this week.
"Nearly two-thirds of the funds needed for a full month of benefits are available in SNAP's contingency fund and must be used when regular funding for SNAP runs short," wrote CBPP's Dottie Rosenbaum and Katie Bergh. "The administration must release those funds immediately as SNAP law requires, to ensure that families can put food on the table next month."
As of this writing, the Trump administration has made no indication it plans to release those funds.
In addition to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, said the senator, "you've got a lot of great young people right now in the Progressive Caucus in the House... And that gives me a lot of optimism about our political future."
Despite the Trump administration's increasing assaults on immigrant communities, the political left, and the rule of law, US Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday said he is optimistic "about our political future" when he looks at progressive leaders including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
In excerpts of the latest episode of "The Axios Show" by the news outlet Axios, which is set to be released in full on Friday, Sanders (I-Vt.) weighed in on the recent news that Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is considering a presidential run in 2028.
When host Alex Thompson asked him whether Ocasio-Cortez would be a "formidable" candidate, Sanders replied, "I think she would."
He added that a number of other Democratic elected officials would also be good candidates, and said the congresswoman's future political moves are "her decision to make." Ocasio-Cortez has also been named as a potential challenger to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in 2026.
Sanders spoke about Ocasio-Cortez's ability to connect with voters she meets in person.
"I've been out on the streets with her, people come up, and how she responds to people is so incredibly genuine and open," he said. "It's just something that's a gift that she has. It's a quality that she has, she's a great speaker out there."
While progressive electoral successes like Ocasio-Cortez's have often been dismissed by centrist Democrats and Republicans who claim left-wing candidates don't have appeal outside of deep-blue urban areas like New York City, the congresswoman—who's often called by her nickname, AOC—has received warm receptions in conservative, rural parts of the country, including when speaking to crowds of thousands with Sanders on his Fighting Oligarchy Tour this year.
"She comes from the working class, she was a kid who was cleaning houses with her mother," he said. "She knows what it's like not to have any money and she’s going out, fighting for working families all over this country."
"I do want to say, it's not just Alexandria," he said. "You've got a lot of great young people right now in the Progressive Caucus in the House...I mean literally dozens... And that gives me a lot of optimism about our political future."
Sanders also spoke about Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner, who is running a campaign focused on lifting up the working class in the primary against multiple candidates, including Gov. Janet Mills, as the party aims to unseat Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).
Platner has been the subject of controversy in recent days over deleted Reddit posts he wrote in the past and a tattoo that resembled a Nazi symbol—one that he got while serving in the military and that didn't prevent him from being approved to reenlist. He announced Wednesday that he had gotten the tattoo covered with another image, before continuing his campaign with a town hall where he spoke to hundreds of Maine voters.
When Thompson asked Sanders about Platner's controversies, he answered that he is "not overly impressed by a squad of media running around saying, 'What do you think about the tattoo on Graham Platner's chest?'"
"Between you and me, there might be one or two more important issues," he said before speaking about the progressive oyster farmer's impressive campaign rallies and the "dark period" he went through in the past.
"He went through some very difficult experiences in the military," said Sanders. "Seeing his friends killed... He went to the VA and by the way, he says they rebuilt his life. He went into a dark period in his life. I suspect that Graham Platner is not the only American to have gone through a dark period."
📺 EXCLUSIVE: On the latest episode of The Axios Show, @SenSanders defends Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner, saying there might be "one or two more important issues" than the Marine veteran's tattoos.
"The guy that I saw up on the stage in Portland, Maine, rather a brilliant guy," said the senator. "Really a strong fighter for the working class, very articulate, very smart and what he said is, 'Yeah, I went through a dark period and said stupid things. I am not the person that I was back then.'"
"And I think as a nation," he added, "especially given the fact that we have a president who was convicted of 34 felonies, maybe we have to do a little bit of forgiveness."
New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani forcefully defended his call for a $30 minimum wage during the final debate of the race Wednesday night, warning that under the status quo, the expensive metropolis is at growing risk of becoming "a museum of where working-class people used to be able to live."
The inability of many New Yorkers to make a livable wage in the city, Mamdani said, "is pushing them to live in Jersey City, to live in Pennsylvania, to live in Connecticut, because they can't afford to live in New York City."
Under Mamdani's proposal, which would have to be approved by lawmakers, New York City's wage floor would rise incrementally before reaching $30 an hour by 2030. The minimum wage would then be tied to either cost-of-living increases or worker productivity jumps.
The candidates traded a lot of barbs but this is the one issue that will actually help working class New Yorkers. Instead of attacking Mamdani for wanting New Yorkers to earn a wage they can afford to live on, the other candidates should have to explain why they don’t agree. pic.twitter.com/RpR1NpqKYY — One Fair Wage (@onefairwage) October 23, 2025
Mamdani's campaign has noted that the city is effectively subsidizing low-wage employers by failing to establish a livable minimum wage, forcing New York City residents to rely on public benefits to get by.
Mamdani's opponents in the mayoral race, disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa, voiced opposition to Mamdani's plan, with Sliwa calling it a "fantasy" and Cuomo rejecting the proposed $30 minimum as "too high" and "another tax on corporations."
But in arguing against a $30 wage floor, Cuomo appeared to undercut the narrative that Mamdani's proposal is unrealistic, pointing out that critics said New York state was "crazy" to raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour in 2018, when Cuomo was governor.
Polling released earlier this month found that 72% of likely New York City voters support incrementally raising the minimum wage to $30 an hour. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) estimates that if a $30 minimum wage is not enacted, more than a third of New York City workers will earn less than $30 an hour in 2030.
"Discussions of a $30 minimum wage in New York City are not superfluous—they reflect the very real needs of working people throughout the city,' EPI's Sebastian Martinez Hickey wrote in August.
Cuomo supports raising New York City's minimum wage to $20 an hour by 2027—which aligns with the first phase of Mamdani's proposal.
Saru Jayaraman, president of the advocacy organization One Fair Wage and director of the UC Berkeley FoodLabor Research Center, applauded Mamdani for standing by his proposal during Wednesday's debate.
"Assemblymember Mamdani is showing the kind of courage and clarity working families have been waiting for," said Jayaraman. "His call for a $30 living wage is not a fantasy—it's the most direct and far-reaching solution to the affordability crisis facing millions of New Yorkers."
"The response has been extraordinary," Jayaraman added. "Workers across all five boroughs are organizing, knocking doors, and building the kind of grassroots energy that creates real mandates for change. As the cost of living continues to rise, voters are ready to elect leaders who will deliver a real living wage, which in New York means at least $30 an hour.”
