Sanders ally to join Senate leadership team

[Donkees]

Sen. Jeff Merkley — the only Democratic senator to back Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I-Vt.) presidential bid — will join Senate leadership next year.

The Oregon lawmaker announced on Monday that he will join incoming Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer's (N.Y.) expanded leadership team as Democrats' chief deputy whip.

“I am honored to join the leadership team and help carry the fight for good living wage jobs, a secure retirement, and opportunity for all Americans,” Merkley said in a statement.

He added that "now, more than ever, billionaires and special interests are looking to stack the deck in their favor at the expense of the rest of us. We have big battles in front of us, and I’m ready to fight for our vision of a ‘We the People’ nation."


Schumer rolled out a larger leadership team last month, putting Sanders in charge of outreach. Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) were also added, ensuring the leadership team includes voices from the caucus's various factions as Democrats try to move forward from disappointing 2016 election results.

Merkley will also join the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expanding the panel's progressive wing.

The move will also put the Oregon senator at the heart of the upcoming fight on Rex Tillerson, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the State Department, as well as a looming showdown over allegations that Russia meddled in the U.S. election to help Trump.

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/311078-sanders-ally-to-join-senate-leadership-team

[NCTraveler]

1. 1) He is a Democrat.

2) There has been a constant theme from the beginning that if one voted for Clinton then they cannot be a Sander ally. The primaries are over. It's nothing more than continued rhetoric of division.

[Donkees]

2. "One of the best public servants out there."

NCTraveler (20,901 posts)

No Clinton Fatigue From Sanders!!! He Is Firing On All Cylinders!!!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1280216830

NCTraveler (20,901 posts)
2. Lots to like about Sanders. nt.

NCTraveler (20,901 posts)
4. One of the best public servants out there.

Very solid human being as well.

[NCTraveler]

6. I have had a bit of a change on that as his ego has taken control.

Your reply really has nothing to do with my original comment.

[tecelote]

3. "The primaries are over. It's nothing more than continued rhetoric of division."

Thank you.

We're stronger together and we have a huge fight ahead which may be simply to keep the advances we have made intact but hopefully will also be to forge ahead.

[mdbl]

4. So, how do we shame these repug morons away from their continued destruction

of social policy? Nothing seems to be working for the last 35 years.

[tecelote]

7. Agreed.

Most of America agrees with most of the views Democrats hold. For some reason, the messaging screws it all up.

[BeardofJGarfield]

5. In terms of keeping progress intact

I think some social advances, like the acceptance of LGBTQ people, are here to stay. Most people either support it or just don't care that much. It depends on Trump's SCOTUS picks of course (what, 4 of them most likely? ugh), but I think most Republicans have simply moved on from that fight due to political expediency. The fate of Gov. McCrory will stand as a warning to them all, I believe. The US appears to be on an anti-abortion tack, and with GOP control of most statehouses I expect that the country will keep drifting right on that, but we'll see.

Trump isn't going to throw out the ACC, no matter how much Paul Ryan bitches. Too many people use it and rely on it, and the political fallout would be tremendous. Same with Medicare, Social Security, etc. I have no doubt they'll tweak the programs, rearrange some aspects of them, and rename them "The Trumpfordable Care Act, Trumpicare, Trumpial Security," etc., and declare that the previously failed programs are now bigly yuge successes, touched by the hand of Donald himself, and very special. The sad part about that is that most people will eat that shit up with a spoon.

My biggest concern is the government itself. Trump's appointees are literally chosen BECAUSE they hate the agencies they're going to be in charge of. They'll gut them, that's for sure. The ripple effects of that might not be clearly apparent to many people immediately, but the damage will be done.

The military is going to go hard right. I saw a poll last year -- after Obama's terms, the military was still about 70% Republican/self-identified conservative, and only 10% Democrat, with another 14% (IIRC) self-identified as liberal. Again, that was after Obama was president for 7 years and thousands of rightwingers had already had plenty of time to filter themselves out of the services. I know people who were telling their kids not to serve in "Obama's military," young guys who were holding off before joining to see how the election went, etc.. Trump is going to increase the size of the military and all those people are going to be pouring in to recruiting offices across the country. The military has always been a rightwing institution, and that is only going to become more firm under Trump. This might be paranoid, but I started noticing that recruiting commercials that you see during football games and whatnot seemed to get more aggressive, more focused on the "blow shit up" aspect of military service, earlier this year. I noticed the change over the summer. The commercials had been more "politically correct," if you will, during Obama's first term, with the focus being on showing troops delivering aid, showing how the military could help your civilian career, that sort of thing. The sudden change to "'Murica, blow shit UP!" makes me wonder if military higher-ups were made aware by their Soviet counterparts that Trump was going to be getting some help.

[TonyPDX]

8. Jeff is an ardent fighter-- just what we need!