That is what is being said by some both here and in the MSM about Bernie Sanders legislative accomplishments. It is complete horsehockey, and that is putting it lightly. One look into Bernie Sanders’ legislative accomplishments and it is clear that he did much more than name post offices or pass non-controversial legislation.
Congress is not known to be a progressive institution lately, to say the least. Over the past few decades, the House of Representatives was only controlled by the Democrats from 2007 to 2010, and a flood of corporate money has quieted the once-powerful progressive movement that passed legislation moving the country forward between the New Deal era and the Great Society. Yet, as difficult as it may be to believe, a socialist from Vermont is one of its most accomplished members.
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Amendments in the House of Representatives are often seen as secondary vehicles to legislation that individual members sponsor, but they are an important way to move resources and build bipartisan coalitions to change the direction of the law. Despite the fact that the most right-wing Republicans in a generation controlled the House of Representatives between 1994 and 2006, the member who passed the most amendments during that time was not a right-winger like Bob Barr or John Boehner. The amendment king was, instead, Bernie Sanders.
So, while Bernie Sanders certainly wasn’t passing stand alone legislation, he was heavily involved in the amendment process on many bills to make them better and more suitable for the American public. The very fact that Bernie Sanders was known in the House as the “Amendment King”, imo, speaks to his efficacy as a legislator. He did much more than name a few post offices, that is for damn sure. In fact, the alternet article goes in detail about the amendments Bernie Sanders helped pass and their net positive effects on bills that eventually became law. Here are a few examples:
Corporate Crime Accountability (February 1995): A Sanders amendment to the Victims Justice Act of 1995 required “offenders who are convicted of fraud and other white-collar crimes to give notice to victims and other persons in cases where there are multiple victims eligible to receive restitution.”
Saving Money, for Colleges and Taxpayers (April 1998): In an amendment to H.R. 6, the Higher Education Amendments of 1998, Sanders made a change to the law that allowed the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education to make competitive grants available to colleges and universities that cooperated to reduce costs through joint purchases of goods and services.
Holding IRS Accountable, Protecting Pensions (July 2002): Sanders' amendment to the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act of 2003 stopped the IRS from being able to use funds that “violate current pension age discrimination laws.” Although he faced stiff GOP opposition, his amendment still succeeded along a 308 to 121 vote.
Expanding Free Health Care (November 2001): You wouldn't think Republicans would agree to an expansion of funds for community health centers, which provide some free services. But Sanders was able to win a $100 million increase in funding with an amendment.
There are many more examples of amendments to legislation that Bernie was instrumental in passing covering a wide variety of topics including criminal justice, poverty and inequality, health, climate change and green energy, and exposing corruption at the highest echelons of government.
Yes, not many bills at all have become law that Bernie has introduced, that is for sure. To me, that is mostly a reflection of where congress itself stands: at a standstill, at least in the modern era. Getting any legislation through congress has become an uphill battle, a near Herculean task for just about any lawmaker, not to mention an independent from Vermont with “socialist” (read old school Democrat) leanings.
On the other hand, his Amendments also count as legislative accomplishments, and should not be disregarded as “naming post offices”. They have done real good for real people. Just take a cruise through the alternet article and you will find a lot of legislative wins for Bernie, and the American people.
It seems to me that Bernie Sanders isn’t some hippy dippy loon who can’t get anything done, he is a pragmatic person — a socialist in the most conservative deliberative body in the world, and can get things done with people he doesn’t necessarily 100% agree with. I think that caricature of Bernie as some wide eyed socialist who can’t work with anyone to get anything done is complete bullshit of the highest order. The man has worked with a wide array of legislators to get many of these important amendments to bills passed.
In an era where partisan deadlock has paralyzed our Congress, proof of getting ANYTHING done is amazing. The fact that he has passed so many amendments that have helped so many people and done so much good should prove his chops as a legislator, even if he doesn’t have much in the way of introducing legislation as a whole and getting it passed. With so much gridlock in congress, legislators must find other ways to get good things done. Bernie did that. And I think he deserves much more credit than he gets on that front.
Just my two cents.