By Chris Woodward
A non-partisan public policy "think tank" is prepared for the upcoming hearing on a key issue for Democrats to be an "unreasonable" one.
The House Rules Committee will hold a hearing tomorrow on the Medicare for All Act. According to Washington Examiner's Kimberly Leonard, the bill is also expected to be heard by the House Budget Committee on a date to be determined.
"They have to feel like they're making progress on that," says Merrill Matthews, Ph.D. of the Institute for Policy Innovation. "Medicare for All, I think, is going to be one of the key issues for Democrats going forward into the 2020 presidential campaign, [and] I suspect it'll be part of the Democratic Party platform."
More than 100 members of the House support the measure, which also enjoys the backing of Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont). While that may sound like a lot of muscle, the amount of sponsors has fallen from previous years, and some Democrats are more open to the idea of expanding ObamaCare.
Dr. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) is at least one Republican on the House Rules Committee who has a medical background.
"He'll be a good, reasonable voice in probably what's going to be an unreasonable hearing," thinks Matthews. "The press will be fawning all over themselves over this, [and] I don't think you'll see the press asking hard questions -- one -- because they don't know the questions to ask, and -- two -- they want to see something like this move forward."