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\n

Bernie Sanders<\/a> probably isn\u2019t going to be president. But he might be about to get one last chance to define his legacy in Washington.<\/p>\n

The Vermont independent is poised to lead the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee if Democrats can flip the Senate next month \u2014 giving the 85-year-old leftist icon a powerful perch he could use to promote his political movement and shape a 2028 presidential contest in which he has indicated he\u2019s unlikely to be a candidate.<\/p>\n

He will also have to balance his colleagues\u2019 strong desire to hold President Donald Trump\u2019s administration to account, particularly the Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. But he is making clear he plans to use his power to highlight systemic issues that go beyond the workings of any one agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I have anything to say about it \u2026 the agenda of the Democratic Party is going to be extremely bold. It is going to take on high costs,\u201d Sanders said when asked about how he plans to use his prospective gavel. \u201cThe super PACs are not going to run the agenda anymore. We\u2019re going to do what the American people want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanders\u2019 term runs through 2030, and with Trump in the White House for at least two more years, it\u2019s unlikely many of his sweeping legislative dreams will be fulfilled anytime soon. But he has long been comfortable using his power in the Senate to push Democrats \u2014 with whom he caucuses \u2014 further to the left.<\/p>\n

During Joe Biden\u2019s presidency, Sanders led the Budget Committee as Democrats pursued major party-line domestic policy bills. As part of a $1.9 trillion Covid relief package he helped shepherd, he tried unsuccessfully to include a $15 minimum wage hike<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He pushed the party to go bigger in what ultimately became the Inflation Reduction Act by backing a $6 trillion plan that would have beefed up the social safety net by adding, among other things, vision, hearing and dental coverage<\/a> to Medicare. That vision was curtailed significantly as Biden and Democratic leaders struggled to secure the needed votes.<\/p>\n

All the while, Sanders called hearing after hearing on big national issues that touched only indirectly on the federal budget \u2014 including climate change<\/a>, income inequality<\/a> and Amazon\u2019s labor practices<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He also promoted<\/a> a \u201cMedicare for All\u201d universal health plan. And now, with the possibility of gaining direct oversight of health matters, Sanders is signaling he intends to make it a signature push.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current system is broken, dysfunctional, and wildly expensive,\u201d he told reporters last month. He followed up this month with a social media post<\/a> warning Democrats that if they win back power there can be \u201cno more failed establishment status quo policies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the Democratic Party thinks that they can just tinker around the edges once they take control of Congress, guess again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Senate Democratic Caucus and the party writ large have moved closer toward Sanders since his earlier tussles under the Biden administration. The moderates who forced Sanders and fellow progressives to scale back their ambitions have departed, and several of the Senate\u2019s 2028 White House hopefuls are from the left.<\/p>\n

Sen. Chris Van Hollen<\/a> (D-Md.), who is flirting with a 2028 presidential bid and has been floated by some progressives as a future Senate leader, said \u201cMedicare for All\u201d is something a Democrat-controlled Senate should pursue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is people are facing huge increases in premiums and copays. \u2026 So we need a Medicare-for-All-type solution,\u201d Van Hollen said. \u201cThis is the kind of debate we need to have.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to health care \u2014 the oversight of which HELP shares with the Finance Committee \u2014 Sanders would have a big role to play in labor matters. He has said he would try to raise the minimum wage, advance legislation that would expand employees’ ability to unionize<\/a> and also protect workers from artificial-intelligence-driven job loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I have anything to say about it, we\u2019ve got to slow it down big time, \u201c Sanders said of AI. \u201cThe American people want us to pause.\u201d<\/p>\n

On education, Sanders has called to make four-year public college tuition-free and to raise teacher pay. But many Democrats are also eager to delve into Trump\u2019s ongoing effort to downsize and ultimately eliminate the Education Department.<\/p>\n

Sanders\u2019 office produced an often-cited report<\/a> showing that the department\u2019s civil rights enforcement has plummeted. But some of the high-profile actions to rein in the Trump administration\u2019s efforts to dismantle the department have been taken by other panel members.<\/p>\n

Sen. Tim Kaine<\/a> (D-Va.) struck a deal with outgoing the committee chair, Sen. Bill Cassidy<\/a> (R-La.), to vote on legislation<\/a> to block the offloading of certain key programs to other federal agencies. And it was Kaine who publicly prodded Cassidy<\/a> to call a hearing with Education Secretary Linda McMahon.<\/p>\n

During Sanders\u2019 first round with the HELP gavel, in 2023 and 2024, his legislative plans were stymied by a GOP-controlled House. But he put a spotlight on rising health care costs by bringing in health care company CEOs to testify. He and Cassidy, then the top Republican on the panel, also led an effort to hold the CEO of a large hospital network that had declared bankruptcy in contempt of Congress<\/a> after declining to testify.<\/p>\n

Cassidy is leaving the Senate at the end of the year, and it\u2019s not yet clear who will be his replacement as HELP\u2019s top Republican. Sen. Rand Paul<\/a> of Kentucky is next in line, but he could choose to continue leading the GOP on the Senate\u2019s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs panel instead, in which case the job could fall to Sen. Lisa Murkowski<\/a> of Alaska.<\/p>\n

Murkowski has raised pointed concerns with Kennedy\u2019s leadership at HHS, which could generate some promising bipartisan oversight opportunities. Sanders could also find overlap with some committee Republicans who are AI-skeptical, like Sen. Josh Hawley<\/a> of Missouri.<\/p>\n

But Sanders\u2019 supporters of the left see his potential ascension to HELP chair as an opportunity to push a progressive vision that could frame the future of American politics \u2014 not to pare down ambitions and cooperate with Republicans.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s worked his entire life \u2026 on getting everybody health care as a human right and winning everybody a living wage,\u201d Rep. Greg Casar<\/a> (D-Texas) said in an interview, adding that Sanders is \u201cgoing to make a huge difference next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joseph Geevarghese \u2014 the executive director of Our Revolution, which Sanders founded but is now an independent organization \u2014 added that a Chair Sanders \u201cwould put the affordability crisis at the center of what an opposition party should be doing\u201d while using Trump administration oversight \u201cto extract concessions and secure concrete gains for working families.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn that sense, he could become the party\u2019s de facto leader,\u201d Geevarghese added, \u201chelping define Democrats as a party prepared to fight for working people while taking on Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mackenzie Wilkes and Riley Rogerson contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bernie Sanders probably isn\u2019t going to be president. But he might be about to get one last chance to define his legacy in Washington. The Vermont independent is poised to lead the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee if Democrats can flip the Senate next month \u2014 giving the 85-year-old leftist icon a powerful […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27623\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}