United States Senate
December 16, 2009

The reading of the Sanders single payer amendment continues in its third hour…

Senate President: The Senator from Vermont.

Sen. Bernie Sanders: I withdraw my amendment.

Voice off camera (believed to be Sen. Tom Coburn): Regular order, Mr. President.

Senate President: The Senator has that right. The amendment is withdrawn.

Sen. Sanders: Mr. President. Pursuant to the thirty minutes…

Senate President: Under the previous order, the Senator from Vermont is recognized for thirty minutes.

Sen. Sanders: Mr. President, let me begin, not by talking about my amendment, but by talking about Republican action right here on the floor of the Senate. Everybody in this country understands that our nation faces a significant number of major crises, whether it’s the disintegration of our health care system, the fact that seventeen percent of our people are unemployed or underemployed, one out of four of our children are living on food stamps, we’ve got two wars, we’ve got global warming, we have a twelve trillion dollar national debt, and the best the Republicans can do is try to bring the United States government to a halt by forcing a reading of a seven hundred page amendment. That is an outrage! People can have honest disagreements, but in this moment of crisis it is wrong to bring the United States government to a halt.

Now, Mr. President, I am very disturbed that I am unable to bring the amendment that I wanted to bring to the floor of the Senate dealing with a Medicare for all single payer program…

… I was more than aware and very proud that this amendment would have been the first time in American history that a Medicare for all single payer bill was brought before a floor of Congress.

C-SPAN video of Sen. Sanders remarks (36 minutes):
http://www.c-span.org/Watch/watch.aspx?MediaId=HP-A-27367

Yesterday’s Quote of the Day message left off as the reading of the the Sanders amendment to the Senate health reform bill continued. It was suggested that this abuse of process and lack of civility on the part of Sen. Coburn and the Republican leadership be used as a teaching moment. That moment is here. The video of this Senate floor speech by Sen. Sanders should be shared with others who believe that everyone in our nation should have the health care that they need without having to face financial hardship.