To hear Sanders aides describe the previously unreported meeting with Reid about Obamacare, Sanders had a condition for his support. “His legislative record was to state the ideological position he took on the left, but with the exception of a few small things, he never got anything done,” said Frank, who has endorsed Clinton. In his 16 years in the House, he was generally dismissed as being off on his own and irrelevant to the Democratic conference he caucused with and its leadership, people involved at the time say, but in the smaller, more collaborative Senate, he’s been much more of a factor.įrank, former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, offered an unblinking assessment. The Vermont senator’s approach seemed to capture the essence of his Capitol Hill style: more influential than his detractors often give him credit for, more of an inside player than his supporters tend to admit or than he likes to project, though often less consequential in others’ retelling of events than in his own version. Sanders assured him he wasn’t going to be one of the problem senators. While sitting down with then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who was meeting with members of his conference one on one during the difficult days in 2009, Sanders told the then-Senate majority leader not to worry: He was going to vote for Obamacare, though he would continue speaking publicly as if he wouldn’t so he could continue to rail against the absence of a public option.Īt the time, Ted Kennedy was dying and Reid was nervously locking down votes. On the progressive causes that are his core, an episode during the Affordable Care Act debate provides insight into his approach to lawmaking, say those who have worked with him. Back in … it’s not coming to my mind right now.” But he actually compromised on a whole heck of a lot. In terms of the things that he talks the most about, is when he was chair of the Veterans Affairs committee. “Um,” she said, pausing for a full eight seconds while thinking, “I’m sure I could. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), a Hillary Clinton supporter who describes herself as a big Sanders fan, struggled when asked ahead of last month’s debate in Milwaukee if she could point to examples of the Vermont senator’s actually influencing the outcome of legislation, other than the much praised bipartisan Veterans Affairs reform he led as chairman of that committee in the Senate. “He plants his flag and expects that someday everyone will see he was right.” mind-set is that there’ll be a revolution,” said Frank, adding that he doesn’t remember Sanders being involved in any of the affordable housing work he did in the House. “She has been more effective at blocking efforts to weaken the bill. Barney Frank said Warren’s done much more to protect the landmark Dodd-Frank financial regulation law in the years since its passage. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who has had a much clearer impact on the financial and inequality discussions in just the three years she’s been in the Senate.Īs for taking on Wall Street, one of the issues Sanders is most identified with on the campaign trail, former Democratic Rep. Several top Democrats say the difference is a complete contrast to another progressive, Sen. Rarely has that thinking translated into actual legislation or left a significant imprint on it, according to Democratic lawmakers and staffers who have worked with him. “I have been criticized a lot for thinking big, for believing we can do great things as a nation,” Sanders said. He was on the committee that wrote Obamacare, he said, and he introduced what he called “the most comprehensive climate change legislation in the history of the Senate.”
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