When Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders ran for president in 2015-2016, he was a nobody. An unknown. A grumpy, wild-haired old man talk about radical ideas like raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, expanding Social Security, creating Medicare for All to make sure everyone in this country has health care no matter their employment status or income, getting big money out of politics, and having an even-handed approach to the Israel-Palestine issue. He wasn’t even formally a member of the Democratic Party but an independent, an outsider, seeking the presidential nomination of one of the two parties he spent decades spurning.
Four years later and the Democratic Party has largely embraced most of what Sanders espoused in 2016 even though he lost the presidential primary to Hillary Clinton by a little over 3.5 million votes. He lost the race but won a lot of the arguments.
Unlike almost every other politician on the American political landscape, Bernie Sanders is a pragmatic visionary who isn’t afraid to talk about big, bold ideas and at the same time fight like hell for the smallest of gains for working and middle-class people. Despite being an outsider to both the Democratic and Republican parties that control both houses of Congress, the socialist Senator was so effective at creating bipartisan coalitions of Democrats and Republicans that Rolling Stone journalist Matt Taibbi dubbed him the “amendment king” of the House of Representatives noting:
“Since the Republicans took over Congress in 1995, no other lawmaker – not Tom DeLay, not Nancy Pelosi – has passed more roll-call amendments (amendments that actually went to a vote on the floor) than Bernie Sanders. He accomplishes this on the one hand by being relentlessly active, and on the other by using his status as an Independent to form left-right coalitions.”
The following is a list of every substantive bill and amendment Sanders sponsored from the floor of Congress that became law (substantive meaning legislation renaming post offices is not included). Many of the roll-call amendments he passed with majority approval — like limiting the federal government’s ability to spy on people’s library records — were removed from bills when the House and Senate negotiated over the final legislative text and did not become law.
Because the list is derived from Congress’ official database of floor actions, it does not include achievements like the historic vote invoking the War Powers Act to stop the U.S. from aiding Saudi Arabia’s murderous bombing campaign in Yemen (defeated only by President Trump’s veto). It does not include his insertion of funding for veterans health care into an Iraq war spending bill because that occurred off of the House floor while the bill was in conference. It does not include his tireless and largely forgotten advocacy for veterans who became ill after fighting in the first Gulf War which impressed Texas Instruments billionaire gadfly Ross Perot so much that he awarded Sanders a sword, Excalibur:
This list also does the list include what is perhaps his most significant achievement — providing health care to an additional 10 million mostly low-income Americans by getting Senate majority leader Harry Reid to add $11 billion in funding for community health centers that provide care regardless of a person’s ability to pay to the 2010 Affordable Care Act. In exchange, Sanders agreed to rally liberal Democrats who considered voting against the bill once conservative Democrats killed the public option.
Those who mistakenly believe that a President Sanders would be powerless in the face of a hostile Republican Congress should bear in mind that he managed to pass these bills and amendments in spite of Republican control of both the House (1995-2006) and the presidency (2001-2008). Furthermore, it was Republicans in the House and Senate who compromised with him (not the other way around) on major veterans legislation in 2014. His original bill expanding services for veterans and fixing the scandal-ridden Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) cost $17.3 billion. The price tag of the final compromise bill? $16.3 billion.
Bernie Sanders is a progressive who likes to get things done because he knows how to drive a hard bargain for veterans, working families, students, the elderly, the poor, the sick, and the middle class.
102nd Congress — 1991-1992
- Expands the boundaries of the Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont to include the Taconic Mountain Range. H.R.1353 (Taconic Mountains Protection Act of 1991) enacted as S.483 (Taconic Mountains Protection Act of 1991)
- Authorize grants or contracts to operate population-based, statewide cancer registries in order to collect certain data for each form of in-situ and invasive cancer except basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma of the skin. Authorizes grants for planning the registries. Mandates a study on factors contributing to elevated rates of breast cancer mortality in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and the District of Columbia. Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services, directly or through grants and contracts, or both, to provide technical assistance to the States in the establishment and operation of statewide registries. H.R.4206 (Cancer Registries Amendment Act) enacted as S. 3312 (Cancer Registries Amendment Act).
103rd Congress — 1993-1994
- None.
104th Congress — 1995-1996
- Require offenders who are convicted of fraud and other white collar crime to give appropriate notice to victims and other persons in cases where there are multiple victims eligible to receive restitution. H.Amdt. 98 to H.R. 665 (Victims of Justice Act of 1995)
- The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs should emphasize minimizing the burden on small businesses with 50 or fewer employees. H.Amdt. 210 to H.R. 830 (Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995)
- Increase funding for the Court of Veterans Appeals by $1.4 million and reduce funding for Housing and Urban Development salaries and expenses by $1.4 million. H.Amdt. 1203 to H.R. 3666 Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1997
- Congress consents to the Vermont-New Hampshire Interstate Public Water Supply Compact to erect and maintain joint public water supply facilities. H.J.Res.129 enacted as S.J.Res.38 (A joint resolution granting the consent of Congress to the Vermont-New Hampshire Interstate Public Water Supply Compact)
105th Congress — 1997-1998
- Congress declares that Ngawang Choephel and other prisoners of conscience in Tibet, as well as in China, should be released immediately, and that the U.S. government should seek access for internationally recognized human rights groups to monitor human rights in Tibet. H.Amdt.174 to H.R.1757 (Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998)
- Increase funding for the Meals on Wheels program by $5 million and reduce funding for the Food and Drug Administration by $5.5 million. H.Amdt.267 to H.R.2160 (Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1998)
- Amendment increases funding for the National Guard Starbase program by $2 million. Funding for the increase would be offset by reducing funds comensurately from the NATO Joint Stars program. H.Amdt.289 to H.R.2266 (Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 1998)
- Prohibit funds for the U.S. Customs Office from being used to allow the importation into the U.S. any material mined, produced, or manufactured by forced or indentured child labor. H.Amdt.368 to H.R.2378 (Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act, 1998)
- Increase funding for the office of the U.S. Trade Representative by $1 million and reduce funding for general administrative expenses within the Department of Commerce commensurately. H.Amdt.388 to H.R.2267 (Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1998)
- Encourage lower higher education costs by giving the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education — which administers a competitive grant program for higher education institutions — a broader mission and allow it to make competitive grants available to institutions that cooperate and reduce costs through the joint purchase of goods and services. H.Amdt.569 to H.R.6 (Higher Education Amendments of 1998)
- Reduce the intelligence budget for fiscal year 1999 by 5% with an exemption for the CIA Retirement and Disability Fund. H.Amdt.614 to H.R.3694 (Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999)
- Require the Comptroller General to report to Congress regarding the efficacy and benefits of uniformly limiting any commissions, fees, markups, or other costs incurred by customers in the acquisition of financial products. H.Amdt.626 to H.R.10 (Financial Services Act of 1998)
- Increase funding for nutrition programs for senior citizens by $10 million. H.Amdt.706 to H.R.4101 (Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999)
- Prohibit funding to be used to enter into or renew a contract with any company owned, or partially owned, by the People’s Republic of China or the People’s Liberation Army of the People’s Republic of China. H.Amdt.708 to H.R.4103 (Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 1999)
- $2 million appropriated to the National Archives and Records Administration for the National Personnel Records Center for modernization of its records management system. H.Amdt.724 to H.R.4104 (Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act, 1999) enacted as H.R. 2490 (Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act, 2000)
106th Congress — 1999-2000
- Reduce the appropriation for the Agricultural Research Service by $13 million and to increase the appropriation for the commodity assistance program by $10 million. H.Amdt.127 to H.R.1906 (Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2000)
- Provide $1 million for a national pilot program to promote agritourism. H.Amdt.136 to H.R.1906 (Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2000)
- Increase Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILT) funding by $20 million; provides $30 million for deficit reduction; and reduces fossil energy research and development funding by $50 million. H.Amdt.258 to H.R.2466 (Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2000) enacted as H.R.3194 (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2000)
- Increase funding for the Weatherization Assistance Program by $13 million and reduces Strategic Petroleum Reserve funding accordingly. H.Amdt.270 to H.R.2466 (Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2000) enacted as H.R.3194 ( Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2000)
- At the end of the bill (before the short title), insert the following new section: \ RURAL VETERANS HEALTH CARE SERVICES \ SEC. . The house supports efforts to implement improvements in health care services for veterans in rural areas. H.Amdt.442 to H.R.2684 (Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2000)
- Prohibit the use of National Institutes of Health funding to grant an exclusive or partially exclusive license pursuant to chapter 18 of title 35, USC, except in accordance with section 209 of such title (relating to the availability to the public of an invention and its benefits on reasonable terms). H.Amdt.791 to H.R.4577 (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2001)
- Increase funding for weatherization assistance and energy conservation programs by $45 million and reduce fossil fuel energy research and development programs accordingly. H.Amdt.818 to H.R.4578 (Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001)
107th Congress — 2001-2002
- Prohibit the importation of goods on which the United States Customs Service has issued a detention order on the basis that such goods were made by forced or indentured child labor. H.Amdt.238 to H.R.2590 (Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act, 2002)
- Prohibit use of funds in the bill giving an exclusive or partially exclusive licenses to pharmaceutical companies pursuant to chapter 18, U.S.C., relating to the availability to the public of an invention and its benefits on reasonable terms. H.Amdt.376 to H.R.3061 (Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2002)
- Provide $100 million for federally qualified community health centers. H.Amdt.404 to H.R.3338 (Department of Defense and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Recovery from and Response to Terrorist Attacks on the United States Act, 2002)
108th Congress — 2003-2004
- Increase funding for weatherization assistance grants by $15 million with offsets from other energy conservation activities. H.Amdt.255 to H.R.2691 (Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2004)
- Prohibit the use of funds in the bill to implement any policy prohibiting the Directors of the Veterans Integrated Service Networks from conducting outreach or marketing to enroll new veterans within their respective networks. H.Amdt.336 to H.R.2861 (Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2004) enacted as H.R.2673 (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2004)
109th Congress — 2005-2006
- None.
110th Congress — 2007-2008
- Provide $242 million for the weatherization assistance program. S.Amdt.737 to H.R.1591 (U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007)
- Establish an energy efficiency and renewable energy worker training program. S.Amdt.1515 to H.R.6 (Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007)
- Require that not less than 30% of the hot water demand for certain new or substantially modified Federal buildings be met through the installation and use of solar hot water heaters. S.Amdt.1525 to H.R.6 (Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007)
- Increase specially adapted housing benefits for disabled veterans. S.Amdt.4384 to H.R.3221 (Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008)
111th Congress — 2009-2010
- Require the Comptroller General of the United States to report to Congress on financial assistance for child care available to deployed members of the reserve components of the Armed Forces. S.Amdt.1658 to S.1390 (National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010)
- Increase funds for the school community garden pilot program by $2.5 million, with an offset. S.Amdt.2271 to H.R.2997 (Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010)
- Make available $20 million for veteran outreach and reintegration services under the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program from the from Overseas Contingency Operations budget. S.Amdt.2601 to H.R.3326 (Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010)
- Require the non-partisan Government Accountability Office to conduct an independent audit of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System that does not interfere with monetary policy, to let the American people know the names of the recipients of over $2 trillion in taxpayer assistance from the Federal Reserve System, and for other purposes. S.Amdt.3738 to S.3217 (Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010)
- Require recipients of TARP funding to meet strict H-1B worker hiring standard to ensure non-displacement of U.S. workers. S.Amdt.306 to H.R.1 (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009)
- Require the Comptroller General of the United States to report to Congress on financial assistance for child care available to deployed members of the reserve components of the Armed Forces. S.Amdt.1658 to S.1390 (National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010)
- Require the Administrator of the General Services to make publicly available the contractor integrity performance database established under the Clean Contracting Act of 2008. S.Amdt.4280 to H.R.4899 (Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2010)
112th Congress — 2011-2012
- None.
113th Congress — 2013-2014
- VA reform bill expands health care facilities, allows veterans to go outside the VA system to private health care providers when wait times are too long or if a veteran lives more than 40 miles away from a VA facility, and makes it easier to fire VA officials. S.2450 (Veterans’ Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act of 2014) enacted as H.R.3230 (Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014)
- Directs the Secretary of the VA to increase, as of December 1, 2013, the rates of veterans’ disability compensation, additional compensation for dependents, the clothing allowance for certain disabled veterans, and dependency and indemnity compensation for surviving spouses and children. Requires each such increase to be the same percentage as the increase in benefits provided under title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act, on the same effective date. S.893 (Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2013)
- Modify the authority of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs or Secretary of the Army over interring the remains and honoring the memory of a person in a national cemetery. S.Amdt.2146 to S.1471 (Alicia Dawn Koehl Respect for National Cemeteries Act)
114th Congress — 2015-2016
- Improves the bill by deleting language and replacing it with alternative text. S.Amdt.5090 to S.1878 (Advancing Hope Act of 2016)
- Provides for the rehabilitation of certain dams. S.Amdt.5063 to S.2848 (Water Resources Development Act of 2016) which was passed into law as S.612 (WIIN Act)
115th Congress — 2017-2018
- Sets aside funds for the Regional Test Centers for Solar Technologies of the Department of Energy. S.Amdt.5090 to S.Amdt.2910
to H.R.5895 (Energy and Water, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act, 2019). - Authorizes the provision of support for Beyond Yellow Ribbon programs. S.Amdt.1023 to S.Amdt.1003 to H.R.2810 (National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018)
116th Congress — 2018-2019
- None.
People's War 
You really should make it clear that when you say “sponsored” you mean “co-ponsored” ie-written and introduced by someone else.
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Not sure what you mean. All the legislation listed here was sponsored, not co-sponsored, by Bernie Sanders.
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Are you sure, this links provided in you article name Bill McCollum (R-FL) as sponsor to H.R.665, Eernest J. Istook Jr. (R-OK) for H.R.2599, James T. Walsh (R-NY) for H.R.2684… Those are just random ones checked. Maybe follow your own links?
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My error, I see those are amendment to existing legislation. Reader-error 😦
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Understandable. This kind of in-depth legislative research fried my brain after about 30 minutes. 😉
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I went over what Bernie accomplished.. 91-92 he must have cosponsored 500 or more bills. I quit looking in that time span because after the 1st 250 items with Bernie sponsoring only 5 bills himself, none passed, I skipped to the current stuff. Considering the volume of bills, amendments produced, Bernie isn’t a standout. What I wonder is why he has so few endorsements from fellow congressmen considering the amount of bills he cosponsored with EVERYBODY. Most never passed but still.
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Submitting bills is something any Senator can do numerous ones of…it’s only the ones that manage to get support and get to the floor for votes, then made into law, that count. Bernie had only one bill made into law…for a cost of living for Veterans. AND 2 to name post offices. His butt wasn’t glued to that Senate/House chair….what did he actually do out in the trenches to advocate for women and children health and education issues. Hillary has multiple documented things she’s done for them. What has he done out in the trenches for minorities and civil rights issues other than to march in a few marches 40 years ago?? What has he done LATELY…before he’s gone on the campaign trail to claim he’s so concerned?? NOTHING…..What has he actually gotten done to ease the income inequality that’s actually made a difference, except to shout about it?? Bernie is a talker…and Hillary Clinton has been one to do something about it. THAT is why I’m voting for Hillary!!!
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^Linda Woods Alexander: “what did he actually do out in the trenches to advocate for women and children health and education issues.”
As mayor of Burlington, “Sanders jump-started the city’s participatory energies in other ways as well. Early on he established a Youth Office, an Arts Council, and a Women’s Council, whose first major initiative was an ordinance requiring 10 percent of all city-funded construction jobs to be filled by women.”
What else he did for kids as mayor: “Run by a mix of volunteers and public servants, the Mayor’s Youth Office set about implementing new programs: launching a Burlington public access TV show run by kids; opening a sliding-fee scale daycare that’s still running; helping the elderly with snow shoveling; and starting a newspaper run by teenagers that published stories on issues ranging from teen suicide to the school budget.”
Sanders was such a good advocate for women and children Gloria Steinem dubbed him an “honorary woman” in 1996:
Linda Woods Alexander: “What has he done out in the trenches for minorities and civil rights issues other than to march in a few marches 40 years ago?? “
While the Clintons were shilling for the establishment candidate Dukakis in 1988, Sanders was the only white politician who endorsed Barack Obama’s predecessor, Jesse Jackson:
Jackson actually carried Vermont thanks in no small part to Bernie’s efforts.
Since then, Sanders maintained a 97% NAACP voting record while in Congress among other things.
Apparently that isn’t good enough for you so you’ll vote for a pro-war, pro-corporate candidate who has a record of stabbing women and kids in the back as soon as its politically expedient for her to do so.
Oh, and Clinton called (Black) kids/teenagers superpredators with no empathy who have to be brought to heel (like dogs):
Good luck with that.
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This is one of the most important posts I have seen on Bernie. Please keep it updated. We’ll need it in the general… =D
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There are only three bills that he wrote, was the primary sponsor of, and introduced, that actually made it into law. Two of those were renaming post offices. These 3 bills were spread over 25 years in office. Co-Sponsoring a bill is nice, but it doesn’t require much, nor does it show much skill.
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This list does not include legislation he co-sponsored, so you can lay off the red herring here.
The fact of the matter is that he got more done in the Senate in his first 8 years than Clinton did in her 8 years there. https://pplswar.wordpress.com/2015/10/21/fact-bernie-sanders-got-more-done-in-the-senate-than-hillary-clinton/
The fact that he became the amendment king of the House while remaining independent of both parties shows that he has a lot of legislative skill.
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“Amendment King” as if that is even a “thing”. Well sir, the Washington Post disagrees with you about which was the more effective legislator” and what you neglected to mention is that Sanders refused to believe the criticisms about the VA for a very long time. He had to be pushed, hard, into taking up the problem. Furthermore, you fail to consider the fact that the bill was in response to a scandal that occurred on his watch. And even more importantly, Sanders did not write that bill, Jeff Miller of FL did. Sanders took credit for it, and he did have some input, but, as usual, the amount of input he had was exaggerated.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/05/the-veterans-scandal-on-bernie-sanders-s-watch.html
I would like to think that, at this point, you might have come to see that you were foolish for ever believing that Bernie Sanders was going to be Presidential nominee of a party that he wasn’t even a member of (except for a few months). But I expect it is more likely that you have a million conspiracy theories about why Sanders lost and none of them have any relation to the fact that the majority of Democrats did not want him.
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Congressional hearings don’t fix the V.A. The V.A. is part of the executive not the legislative branch of government and so the scandal is Obama’s fault, not Sanders’.
This is civics 101.
Now, as for your claim about the V.A. bill, you claim Sanders didn’t write the bill just took the credit, but the very you article you linked says Sanders had to make concessions on some aspects of the bill. Obviously Sanders helped write it if he was making legislative concessions.
Again, civics 101.
And I’ve posted months ago about why Sanders lost which had nothing to do with conspiracy theories. Try doing a little research before running your ignorant mouth, eh?
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Thank the Gods that Bernie doesn’t quit……never gives up on us poor individuals who give up sooooooo easily.
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Bernie and his past amendments are nice, but if you CARE about Terrorists, ISIS, Middle East conflict between Israel and all the other countries, Russia and China, or Women’s issues if you have wife and daughters, if you care about other matters then breaking up banks, and thinking you are going to make CEO’s start giving income equality to employees, you are barking up the wrong tree……Most of these things are NOT Priorities in today’s age.
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And Sanders has the best positions on Russia, China, Israel, and ISIS as well. See:
http://feelthebern.org/bernie-sanders-on-foreign-policy-and-national-security/bernie-sanders-on-foreign-policy/
https://pplswar.wordpress.com/2015/09/17/understanding-bernie-sanders-foreign-policy-approach/
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I care about terrorists which is why I have a problem with HRC adding to the proliferation of weapons to 20 countries with abysmal human rights records. During her Sec. of State tenure 143% of such deals increased as compared to same time frame in Bush Admin., she received donations to Clinton Foundation before, during and after her tenure. She has 150 FBI agents now investigating her email issue and maybe more importantly the Foundation. Israel was alarmed by her activity on weapons deals and said it would make the region more unstable. She received monetary incentive to broker these deals, I don’t see how it can be looked at any other way, its called “pay as you play” criminal charges she may be facing. Will charges stick? If not it will be due to a technicality. Is it my imagination, or does the majority now seem to agree that the Iraq war grew the number of terrorists we have today exponentially. You must know how she and Sanders voted on that one. I have kids too and believe in setting the bar high. We had 100 free tuition community colleges here in CA, its not like its never been done. I’m think I’m teaching my kids about the importance of voting, not about living in fear. I’m think I’m teaching my kids about valuing integrity by voting for the more honest candidate. The two dem candidates are equal in my opinion on many Women’s issues, though many say Clinton has made some compromises that hurt low income women. Sander’s income equality platform is really the foundation for equality for all women not shaming women into a vote based on gender, some of us have moved on from that stance.
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Good Work! I’m taking notes, trying to spread the word.
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How can I get a printable copy of this information. I want to be able to carry it around and show people who don’t know.
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Does this work? https://pplswar.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/printableleg.pdf
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Make sure you double check this stuff – not all of it is accurate.
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What’s not accurate?
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I see lots of items here regarding his support of the poor and deserving (and that is commendable), but little regarding trade, jobs, security of our nation. I like Bernie a lot, but we need more than just giving to the needy. Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!!!!
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Sanders’ job-creating bills and amendments were consistently killed by Congress.
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and would be as President, I am afraid…..
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^Which is why election Sanders is only the first step, not the last step. https://pplswar.wordpress.com/2015/10/30/partisan-gridlock-or-political-revolution-the-consequences-of-choosing-clinton-over-sanders/
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PW great read. Thanks for all the leg work on this I will definitely be sharing.
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How can the case be made that Bernie has a good plan and likelihood, going foward, of getting things done and accomplishing his proposals? That seems to be the key issue stopping Hillary supporters from considering to support Bernie.
The main argument from Hillary supporters seems to be that Bernie will have a much harder time getting things done and has an unrealistic plan. Hillary seems to emphasize negotiating with Republicans and taking executive action when they fail to negotiate, while Bernie emphasizes driving up public political involvement and building an ongoing grassroots movement to pressure and change Congress after the elections are over.
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“How can the case be made that Bernie has a good plan and likelihood, going foward, of getting things done and accomplishing his proposals?”
I’ve made that case here: https://pplswar.wordpress.com/2015/10/30/partisan-gridlock-or-political-revolution-the-consequences-of-choosing-clinton-over-sanders/
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It’s a question of who is more qualified. It’s all well and good to dream. The fact of the matter is – unless Bernie plans on coming into offiice with a magic wand, this stuff isn’t going to happen. His healthcare proposal is based on voodoo math. A 5% sustained growth rate has never happened in recent history. Remember Jeb!’s plan – based on a 4% growth rate? It was dismissed as a pipe dream. And while Gerald Friedman thinks it realistic, the majority of economists, including left-wing economists, consider it completely unrealistic. We’d also be looking at the largest increase in taxes on the middle class in US history. Americans simply won’t buy it.
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^Sorry but Keynesianism works. Jeb’s plan was a joke because lining the pockets of the 1% with more tax cuts wouldn’t spur much additional investment or consumption. Giving middle America higher wages, lowering their health care costs, and eliminating/reducing enormous student debt would undoubtedly lead to greater consumption by the masses. We had growth rates like that in the post-WW2 era thanks to high wages (due to union power), the G.I. bill, and a whole range of subsidies that encouraged home ownership and the growth of the middle class. Bottom-up growth a la the 1950s that a Sanders administration would engender is the only way to get 5% growth.
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TL;DR version
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Yes, that sounds about right. Overall I prefer Bernie’s plan to Hillary’s, as it moves the body politic in the direction it needs to go in, if we are to preserve and expand the voter’s voice. Unfortunately, Hillary is not planning to change the system, as she believes it works (for her). We NEED a change; that is why many voted for Obama. Bernie has the advantage over Obama in that he already knows how hard it is to get bipartisan cooperation. Look again at that list!
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Lora Jasan: “Unfortunately, Hillary is not planning to change the system.”
This is the crux of what should concern every one of us — and why Bernie, as the “revolutionary” candidate is what America needs. It is good to have the evidence (THANK YOU for your superb research and analysis, PW) that Bernie works well and has succeeded within the system, but who can we most trust to at least TRY to lead Congress and the public toward legislation that changes “the game”?
Bernie is focused on the right issues: Medicare for all (fuck healthcare “reform”!). Free (or at least heavily subsidized) higher education. (You want better government, start with a better [educated] electorate.) Public safety and welfare. (E.g., environmental protection; judicious use of our military and covert operations; curtailing our profligate military-industrial-Congressional complex; appropriately regulating corporations and Wall Street so our jobs, income, and savings are secure while not conducting class warfare or a war on capitalism; federal control and promotion of equal rights and protection — no matter what backwater state you live in). OMG, is America ready for this? We gotta at least TRY. And Bernie’s the only one leading the charge.
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PW: Thank you for putting this online! Sharing!!
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You’re very welcome. 🙂 Glad you find it useful.
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I like Bernie!
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Reblogged this on Marc Gilbert-Widmann.
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I’m not sure who you are but I just want to say excellent work! One question:
You say the list is of substantive bills and amendments Sanders sponsored from the floor of Congress that became law, and in the next sentence say, “Many of the roll-call amendments he passed with majority approval — like limiting the federal government’s ability to spy on people’s library records — were removed from bills when the House and Senate negotiated over the final legislative text and did not become law.”
Are the roll-call amendments something different than the type of amendments in the list? I’m just a little confused about which amendments became law and which ones were removed from bills and did not become law.
Thanks!
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No, the amendments are all roll-call amendments. Sorry for the confusing terminology.
It’s also possible for legislators to insert amendments during negotiations between the House and Senate to reconcile different versions of the same bill but finding the paper record of that (over the internet rather than in person at the Library of Congress) is impossible. I know for a fact that Sanders has gotten amendments through during the reconciliation stage to boost funding for the Vermont VA because his office writes press releases announcing these moves but Congress.gov does not at this time have accessible records on that so I couldn’t really include them here. The other thing that prevented me from cataloging those amendments is the fact that Sanders’ House.gov website was taken down after he became a Senator starting in January 2007 so those amendment press releases from 1991-2006 no longer exist on the internet, unfortunately.
What this means is that a truly comprehensive list of his list of accomplishments is much greater than what this list was able to capture. For example, after doing some research I discovered he was one of the big proponents in Congress of getting Gulf War syndrome recognized as a legit illness which the Pentagon and VA resisted for many, many years:
After many years of hearings and pushes by Sanders to fund studies of Gulf War veterans, Gulf War syndrome was recognized as a legit illness and vets finally started getting treatment for it. Obviously it would be wrong to give him all the credit for that since he worked with others throughout the process but he does deserve at least some of the credit.
A VA staffer wrote a post about what it’s like to work for Sanders and he noted that much of what he does to help people is done far away from news cameras when basically nobody is really looking:
https://www.quora.com/What-is-it-like-to-work-with-Bernie-Sanders/answer/Carter-Moore
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Wow our government works in bizarre ways! Thank for the clarification though! You’ve done some excellent work on here. I will be referencing some of your posts whenever I need some sources to support my pro-Bernie arguments. Keep it up!
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All told, Mr. Sanders introduced 353 bills during 16 years in the House and nine years in the Senate, giving him a success rate of just less than 1 percent. By comparison, Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat who like Mr. Sanders has amassed a quarter-century in Congress, has had eight bills signed into law out of 376 introduced.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, whom Mr. Sanders is challenging for the Democratic nomination, spent eight years in the Senate. She introduced 409 bills on which she was the lead sponsor, and three became law: renaming a post office, naming a highway and establishing a national historic site in Troy, New York, to recognize female labor leader Kate Mullany. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/oct/27/bernie-sanders-record-in-congress-shows-little-soc/?page=all
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Of course this right-wing publication skipped over Sanders’ Senate record (where he got more done than Clinton in his first 8 years than she did in hers) and what does Jack Reed have anything to do with anything? He’s not running for president and he’s not a progressive, so who knows whether what he got done was good or bad.
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Your troll slap-downs are top notch! They stand no chance here 🙂
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Reblogged this on 2016 US Elections and commented:
Rolling Stone journalist Matt Taibbi dubbed Sanders the “amendment king” of the House of Representatives noting:
“Since the Republicans took over Congress in 1995, no other lawmaker – not Tom DeLay, not Nancy Pelosi – has passed more roll-call amendments (amendments that actually went to a vote on the floor) than Bernie Sanders. He accomplishes this on the one hand by being relentlessly active, and on the other by using his status as an Independent to form left-right coalitions.”
The following is a list of every substantive bill and amendment Sanders sponsored from the floor of Congress that became law (substantive meaning legislation renaming post offices is not included). Many of the roll-call amendments he passed with majority approval — like limiting the federal government’s ability to spy on people’s library records — were removed from bills when the House and Senate negotiated over the final legislative text and did not become law.
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Someone asked why with some many bills not many passed. The way I see it is Bernie Sanders bills are aimed at helping people and a lot of the times it will not beneficial to the corporations or other congress men who have those corporations in their pockets. Greed is the # 1 rule in congress and Bernie is trying to go against it
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Wonderful article, very detailed and informative. I plan on using a lot of what you’ve said here in my own efforts to help elect Bernie to the Oval Office.
That said, I’ve found many instances of people supporting Mrs. Clinton making excuses for things like her record of flipflopping. “Oh, she just changed her mind.” But they say that the one time I’m aware of where Bernie changed his mind due to evidence that contradicted his previous position, that is, on gun control and the NRA, those Hillary supporters say that he flipflopped.
That would be hilarious if it wasn’t so serious. Bernie “flipflopped” but Hillary just “changed her mind. Cognitive dissonance, anyone?
I’ve also run into people who just don’t care about the facts or the record. I know several people who say they won’t vote for Bernie because “he’s a socialist”, completely disregarding the fact that many of the agencies and programs we have here that help We the People are the very definition of socialism, that it, paid for and operated by the government for the benefit of the people.
One guy actually said he won’t support Sanders because “he’s a communist”. When I suggested that he review the differences between democratic socialism and communism, he insisted that there are no difference.
And to top it off, one woman actually told me that she won’t even look at the actual evidence supporting Sanders, that “he’s a liar” and “the evidence lies”.
How do you deal with such people?
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I block/ignore the lunatics. Helps keep me sane. 🙂
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First step in dealing with such people is to do exactly what it sounds like you did — politely try talk some sense into them. If that doesn’t work, then as PW said, simply ignore such fools. Trying to talk sense into some people is like trying to talk sense into a wall.
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Bernie Sanders has had hundreds of sponsored bills, and co-sponsored but the link refuses to to allow it to load or advance fully. I wonder why that is? Hmmmm. Probably for the same reason that Establishment no longer allows anyone to comment on their sites now unless they pay to subscribe–at least not known Bernie Supporters.
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A YUGE list of bill Bernie Sanders wrote, or co-sponsored. BUT, it would not
allow me to go back to when he started…it kept folding. And he vote on bills and to introduce a new bill or two while Campaigning for President, also Are there too many to bring them all up? On the other hand … Hillary abstained from voting on bills 2/3 of the time she was Senator, and only co-sponsered a couple of bills.
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/browse?sponsor=400357
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What about that legislation from 1993 where he suggests if Congress passes NAFTA making Americans compete with the slave wages of Mexico then congress should lead by example and reduce theuro pay to match those of Mexicos government
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Sadly it was never voted on. More here: https://pplswar.wordpress.com/2015/08/14/when-bernie-sanders-trolled-congress-over-nafta/
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Thank you Bernie. You’re the greatest!
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No, Muhhamad Ali was the greatest! 😀
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Bernie’s gift is as an organizer. We may never know how he lobbied for bills that were passed. I do know he revolutionized candidate funding to bring. ligitimacy & hope to politics. I know that he motivated & revolutionized people, some who had utterly lost faith in the governmental process. Some who had never voted before in their lives, others who ran for office. I know that he changed the narratives & platforms. But many of those who have adopted Benie’s narrative, are not progressive & will quickly shift back right. Bernie is doing & saying the same things he said & did when he was young. So you who like to disparage what was done earlier in life when there were few agitators & it ws much more dangerous, all I can say is, you don’t know the gifts that Bernie has brought to this nation. They can’t be numbered from bills with a name on them. I wonder what motivates people who like to bring Bernie down. By the way, without the 2016 Election Fraud he would have been elected the candidate. Whether the Dems would have allowed him to run as the candidate is another issue. But HRC had to resort to fraud to beat him.
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“[Vermont] Newspapers commended Sanders for [his] efforts when the rate increases were blocked by the state’s utility regulators.” – CNN https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/14/politics/kfile-bernie-nationalization/index.html
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