Sanders Vows to Challenge Health Care Side Deals Benefiting Individual States

BURLINGTON, Vt., July 21 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement Friday after the Senate parliamentarian determined that the "Buffalo Bailout," a provision of the Republican health care bill specifically targeting New York state, is in violation of Senate reconciliation rules:

"Today, the Senate parliamentarian made a determination that at least a dozen provisions in the disastrous Trump-McConnell “health care” bill are in violation of Senate rules and cannot be included in this bill without 60 votes. One of these provisions is the “Buffalo Bailout” that was inserted into this bill in order to secure the vote of a tiny-handful of Republican representatives from upstate New York. This is a very important ruling. What this ruling means is that side deals which benefit individual states will most likely be ruled in violation of Senate rules. As the ranking member of the Budget Committee, I will challenge any one of these state-specific provisions. We need legislation which improves the lives of people in all 50 states, not legislation which is geared to obtaining the vote of this or that Republican senator."