Incoming chair of US Senate panel will seek healthcare overhaul, but unclear on details

WASHINGTON — Oregon Democratic U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden plans to press for “the boldest” healthcare bill possible after he takes over as Finance Committee chairman next year, but he didn’t commit to Medicare for All, a longstanding policy goal for progressives, during a briefing Monday.  

Wyden told reporters in the Capitol that while he supports legislation that would eliminate private health insurance companies and put all Americans on a Medicare-like health program, he needed time to discuss legislation with his colleagues. 

“I'm sure that when I get out and talk to my colleagues, there's going to be differing views on the issue, different opinions,” he said. 

Wyden added he believes the country’s health insurance network is “broken” and a “mess” that’s in need of significant overhaul. But he declined to say exactly when or how the committee would change the system.

“It's a jerry-built kind of creature that defies common sense,” he said. “So what I'm going to do when I talk to the senators is I'm going to push for the boldest, best bill possible. And I think senators are going to do it because I think they recognize that healthcare is far and away the most important issue.”

Separately, Wyden said he was “certainly looking at” a bill from Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders that would require Medicare to cover vision, hearing and dental care. 

Wyden declined to directly answer a question from States Newsroom about whether he can accomplish his policy goals while a rule remains in place that requires at least 60 senators vote to advance bills. The hurdle, known as the legislative filibuster, forces bipartisanship in the upper chamber, but could very well block Democrats from passing many of the changes they called for during the midterm campaign. 

Tariffs and oversight

In addition to healthcare, Wyden said he plans to focus his chairmanship on taxes, trade and oversight.

Wyden said he would like to permanently extend the child tax credit, a change he believes could garner President Donald Trump’s support. 

“Yes, unless the president wants to be against kids,” he said. “Sometimes he's against things that I didn't expect. But we're going to push hard.”

Wyden said he hopes to overturn the tariffs that Trump has placed on Canada by building a coalition large enough to override a veto, which would require broadly bipartisan votes in each chamber of Congress. 

“We're going to push, you know, very hard to build a coalition that can handle a veto because this is Trump,” he said. “Trump's wheelhouse has always been about this for reasons that are so perverse I can't even, you know, kind of spell them out in plain English. But we're going to push this very hard, and I think we're going to have a good shot at a very strong vote and influence when we try to get this to actually change.” 

Wyden said he planned to advocate for a bill he’s proposed that would require billionaires “to pay a tax like everybody else.” 

When it comes to the committee’s oversight and investigative roles, Wyden said he planned to look into the banks that had Jeffrey Epstein as a client. 

“I feel very strongly about this because we've got three Wall Street banks who, if they had done nothing, folks, nothing except follow the law for years on end, we could have stopped Epstein cold," he said. 

On healthcare, Wyden said he planned to investigate “big pharma and big insurance very closely.” 

The committee’s lawyers are also looking into a way to eliminate a deal Trump struck with his own administration to exempt himself from any future IRS audits. 

“We're gonna try and get rid of it. And I've got my lawyers checking it out and I'll have some more to say about it down the road,” he said. “But I mean, the proposition that the president of the United States doesn't get subject to what everybody else gets is preposterous, and I'm going to do everything I can to change it. And we're looking into what the tools and options are.”