A RESOLUTION expressing the Seattle City Council’s support for a single-payer healthcare system (“Medicare for All”), supporting United States Senate Bill 1804, and requesting the support of Washington’s U.S. Senators.
Reports for Introduction and Adoption Resolution 31774a resolution expressing the City of Seattle support for single payer health care system supporting United States Senate Bill 1804 and requesting the support of Washington U.S. senators. And I understand that there is an amendment to Resolution 31774. And I think opening. Would you would you like to make opening remarks before we consider amendments? Okay. Councilmember Swan. Thank you, President Gonzalez, and I appreciate you moving the item to the top of the agenda so that activists can go back to work or school or their other desk that they need to go to. So this is another, as we already know, Donald Trump, the right wing and the Republicans have tried again and again to dismantle what little health coverage we have. These are barbaric attacks that they are attempting, but the only way to defeat these attacks permanently is to not stay on the defense, but to play offense. And the best antidote to Trump's attempts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act is to pass a nationwide single payer Medicare for All legislation. And as I mentioned before, this issue has garnered so much momentum, primarily tangs to ordinary working people, young people, people of all ethnicities and all sexual orientation who have fought, who have started fighting for this. And this issue gained momentum and got energized around Bernie Sanders this campaign last year. And now it has gained so much energy that when he put this forward in the Senate, he already had 16 senators supporting him. But two senators haven't yet. Many haven't, but two of them are in Washington State. Marian Cantwell. And I think this is one of the most important parts of our resolution. It is outrageous that Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, while repeatedly paying lip service to the agenda of working people, have still failed to co-sponsor Medicare for All. This resolution. Stage the city's position in favor of Medicare for All and asks Senators Cantwell and Murray to support Sanders's legislation. Single payer is overwhelmingly popular among regular people and consistently being supported in polls by over 60% of those polled. But popular is not enough. Establishment politicians always lean towards the profits of big business. In this case, the profits of insurance and big pharmaceutical corporations. And that is why activists on the ground have to bring pressure to bear. I specifically wanted to thank all the activists in the state of Washington especially, and also the nurses, unions and socialists and other activists in the state of California who really put forward a strong fight for single payer healthcare in that state. We know that even with the Affordable Care Act, 28 million people are uninsured and millions more remain uninsured. What would it actually take to win single payer health care? First of all, it is important that we carry out actions like today where entire cities take a very clear position in favor of single payer health care. But that won't be enough. We will have to build on what we went today in order to continue to build serious momentum statewide. We have a lesson from a country right now. You know, our neighbor, Canada, we don't talk enough about Canada. In Canada, universal health care supporters, socialists and strong fighting labor movement. One single payer health care by setting up their own independent party, which was then called the CCF, which later came to be known as the NDP, which won elections in just one province, Saskatchewan, after activists won their own seats in government. They established single payer health care in the province of Saskatchewan, and they used that position to really popularize a health care system that works. Health care system that is affordable and is humane. This health care became so popular nationwide in Canada that establishment parties at the center became terrified that if they did not pay heed to this movement, then their parties would lose elections at the central government level. And that is why it was in response to the strong momentum that Canada's Conservative Party passed their single payer system. And that is why sisters and brothers, eventually Washington, D.C., fails to support single payer. Washington State's elected officials have a duty to do it locally, but at the same time, we have to be clear that that won't happen without the power of mass movement of regular people, like many of us who are here today. I wanted to thank all the activists who came here, took time out of their day to speak about the need for single payer healthcare, specifically to thank Dr. David Springer, who who's a pediatrician and who spoke on behalf of the Puget Sound. Advocates for Demand Action, Bizarro and Health Care for All Coalition and activists from Whole Washington like Joshua Davenport, Physicians for a National Health Plan, Socialist, Alternative, and many others who are helping to build a movement. I urge the Council to vote yes on this resolution without any watered down amendments. And last but not least. And last but not least, I wanted to say I agree with Emerson, an activist from socialist students who said that homelessness, the housing crisis, lack of health care, these are not isolated problems, but they are all together symptomatic of an inhumane and dysfunctional system. And therefore, I wanted to conclude by saying that I agree with all the activists. We need a stop to the sweeps of homeless people. We need affordable housing to house the homeless. Thank you council members want. I understand that Councilmember Bagshaw has an amendment to resolution 3177. Wait, wait, wait. Wait. This is. Thank you. This is actually good news. After I am totally supporting councilmembers who want. I appreciate all of you here. I have been working with rank chop in our legislature about looking at something in the state of Washington, Ala. What the State of California has done in response to our Office of Inter-Government Relations today. One recommendation that they made was to expand it beyond just the Senate to be able to say to convey the support to the Seattle congressional delegation. And then in Section four, to say that we urge the Seattle the entire Seattle congressional delegation to co-sponsor Senate 1804 and to support other future legislative efforts to improve access for health care for all. So the goal is to move forward with more than just one option. So that is my amendment and recommendation that is coming from our Office of Inter-Government Relations. So I guess now. I have to use the words. Okay. So I moved to suspend Council Rule 386 relating to presentation of amendments 2 hours before the full council meeting. Second. Okay. All those in favor say aye. I any opposed? Okay. So we have suspended the council rules and now I will have Council Member Bagshaw move her amendment and it will need to be seconded. Good. Well, I move this. I move this amendment as proposed and ask for a second. Second. Okay. Councilmember Magashule's amendment to resolution 31774 has been moved and seconded. Are there any comments? Councilmember O'Brien. Conservative. Could you restate the amendment? I didn't quite follow at all what and where it would go. I, I, i pass this out. I guess it's kind of stuck right here. Sorry. It's in the last page line seven that we convey this to convey this support to the Seattle congressional delegation. So it's more than just our senators. And then Section four, the Seattle City Council. I think it should be, urges the Seattle Congressional delegation to co-sponsor Senate 1804 and in support of their future legislative efforts to improve access for health care for all. Are there any other comments? Members want. Thank you. I do not support this amendment. This amendment just to make sure all members of the public are with us on understanding what the amendment is. The original statement says the Seattle City Council request that Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray support Medicare for all by co-sponsoring Senate 180 for the amendment from Councilmember Bagshaw. As the Seattle City Council urges the Seattle congressional delegation to co-sponsor one or two or four and to support other future legislative efforts to improve access for health care for all. This is not an innocuous amendment, and I don't support it because it does indeed water down the most one of the most important parts of the resolution , which is naming Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell by name. And there's a reason. Why we're naming the. The voters of Senators Murray and Cantwell and their constituents overwhelmingly support single payer health care. Let's not forget that every county in Washington state in the primaries went with great majorities for Bernie Sanders, who was calling for single payer health care for all. And so it is very, very important for their constituents and for all of us in Seattle to know where Senators Murray, Murray and Cantwell stand on this issue. And by simply saying congressional delegation, it means everybody is responsible and nobody's responsible. We want to know where the senators stand on this issue. And I. Our eye is not naive. We know that when we name elected officials by name, it puts public pressure on them. And that is exactly what we need. We want to send a strong message to Cantwell and Murray that they have a choice they can support Senate wanted, you know, for and really push to fight for single payer health care or else movements need to gather steam and run our own candidates against corporate Democrats who will not fight for that. And then the simple question to Cantwell and Murray is that if they are supposedly carrying out efforts for hope for some future bill, then why don't they start by supporting this 1/1? Councilmember O'Brien. Councilmember Councilmember Bagshaw, would you be open to revising the language? I appreciate the ability to expand it to the congressional delegation and other legislation. I also would like to specifically name our two senators and hear where they are on the record. Would you be open to language that left that in but also added yours? I absolutely think that that's where the votes are going. And of course. Yes. So maybe someone else can talk for a second and I'll think of how to do this wordsmithing. Can I just offer some potential language? So on page two, lines ten, three, 11, it does specifically states that Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray have not yet co-sponsored the Senate bill. But I think what Councilmember Silence requests is that that also be included in Section four. So perhaps what we can just say is the Seattle City Council urges the Seattle congressional delegation, including Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, comma, to co-sponsor Senate Bill one eight the reform and to support other future legislative efforts to improve access for health care for all. Thank you. I appreciate your wording. So that we're specifically naming them in Section four. Wood. Can I just make a slight change to I'd say the Seattle City Council urges Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray and the, you know, the whole of the Seattle congressional delegation to co-sponsor. Senate wanted you for. Him to support. I think that's. Exactly what I just said. But you reversed the. Order, and. I'm fine with it. It makes. A difference, and. It's fine. And this is this is not my amendment. So I should not be okaying it. It is Councilmember Banks amendment. So I would. Defer to you, Councilman, of actually in terms of whether you think that's a friendly. Amendment. I think we're moving in this direction. And I would like very much to see this statement made. And I'm going to be I'm going to support it. And I appreciate your suggested amendment. So. Peter, just for the clerk, I. I can I'm happy to repeat the language, if that makes sense, to do that now. Okay. So Section four would read the Seattle City Council Council urges Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray and the entire Seattle congressional delegation to co-sponsor Senate Bill 1804 and to support other future legislative efforts to improve access for health care for all . Sounds good. Okay, so that sounds like we have consensus. I would second that. Okay. So the amendment. To the proposed. Are you withdrawing your original amendment and replacing it with us? I appreciate that. I just want to underscore that the recommendation from our Office of Intergovernmental Relations was to focus on the congressional delegation as a whole. If this language is supported by all of us, I think we're better off being unanimous than not. Well. Okay. So we have an amendment to resolution 31774, which would incorporate the language proposed by Councilmember Bagshaw in version D, one of the amended resolution that she distributed today that would change the language in Section four to read. The Seattle City Council urges Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and the entire Seattle congressional delegation to co-sponsor Senate Bill 1804 and to support other future legislative efforts to improve access for health care for all. And there's been a second, Kate, all those in favor say i. I. Any opposed amendment passes unanimously. You guys just wanted to make this council president pro tem for me extra hard today. We want to keep you as long as we can. Great. 5:00. 5:00. So with that being said, we have a move to Florida for a resolution and seconded for passage of resolution 31774. All those in favor say aye. Any opposed resolution 31774 passes and the chair will sign it. Heather Graham. Ted just brought this. Into the senate and work as. You look at how many pieces. Okay. Uh oh. Okay. We will now have the report of the Park, Seattle Central Libraries and Waterfront Committee. If the clerk will please read the report.