Nancy Pelosi has made an effort to distance herself from Bernie Sanders' recent position calling for dramatic increases in taxes. The House Minority Leader has remained adamant that she has not chosen sides in the race for the Democratic nomination. However, several public statements lately against raising taxes and Medicare for all have put her at odds with much of Sanders' campaign platform.
The prominent politician said during a press briefing to launch the Democratic Party issues for the year, "We're not running on any platform of raising taxes." Further, when speaking about Sanders' Medicare for all proposal, Pelosi said, "It's no use having a conversation about something that's not going to happen."
Sanders is campaigning with plans like free public universities paid for by federal taxes, and the expansion of Medicaid to all. Pelosi's statement about the Democratic Party not running a platform based off of raised taxes and her comments that Medicare for all would not happen put her position on the issues at odds with Sanders's platform, in spite of her personally supporting a single payer health system plan in the past.
Congresswoman Pelosi did, however, take time to praise the Senator is a somewhat backhanded manner. "The fact is that Bernie Sanders is enlarging the universe of people who are paying attention to the election and we hope that he will bring them to the polls in November to support the Democratic nominee," she said.
Bernie Sanders has performed considerably well considering the insurmountable odds he faces in his competition against Hillary Clinton. The Vermont Senator's campaign has made campaign finance records, all while refusing the money of large donors, corporations, or "Super PACS" (political action committees with no limit on funding for political advocacy). Further, the Senator has won important endorsements including professor and political pundit Dr. Cornel West, U.S. Congressman Keith Ellison, singer David Crosby, singer Neil Young, actor Mark Ruffalo, prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald, and the ice cream company Ben & Jerry's.
Although the challenges are great and time is running out, some are beginning to believe that the Sanders campaign poses a credible threat to Hillary Clinton, and that he may end up winning the Democratic nomination for president.
