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The ‘Squad’ Should Force a Vote On Medicare For All.

If Pelosi wants their vote for Speaker, they need to play their hand.

Lauren Elizabeth
4 min readDec 12, 2020
J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Unsurprisingly, with the election behind us Nancy Pelosi is once again hoping to be Speaker of the House. As the new year approaches and the left begins to determine how they will use their power in congress, many among the base have been arguing that AOC and the ‘Squad’ should play their hand in the wake of an election that left them with more progressives in their corner, and a slimmer Democratic majority. Recently, the argument has been intensifying that the progressive caucus should withhold their votes for Pelosi for Speakership unless she brings Medicare for All to the floor for a vote.

In response to calls for these actions online, AOC said:

“The Dem votes aren’t there yet, and with a razor-thin margin the Dem NOs are > margin. So you issue threats, hold your vote, and lose. Then what? If you want to know who’s opposed look @ cosponsor list”

Kyle Kulinski, political commentator and founder of Justice Democrats — which happens to be the platform that got AOC and the rest of the ‘Squad’ elected — had perhaps the best response, writing:

“If medicare for all is gonna lose in the current political climate you either go down laying down…

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Lauren Elizabeth
Lauren Elizabeth

Written by Lauren Elizabeth

Lauren is a writer & leftist with analysis on topics related to politics & policy. She can be reached at LaurenMartinchek@gmail.com or Twitter @xlauren_mx

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