AMES, Iowa—Fresh from the second Democratic presidential debate, Hillary Rodham Clinton has suggested that Bernie Sanders would raise middle-class taxes and “scrap” President Barack Obama’s healthcare law, in an escalating critique of the Vermont senator.
Joined by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, at a fall barbecue, the front-runner said Sunday that middle-class families “need a raise, not a tax increase” and she was the lone Democrat in the debate to commit to raising wages “and not your taxes.”
Without mentioning her main rival by name, Clinton said Democrats should work to build on Obama’s health law and not suggest “we scrap it and start all over again.” During the debate, Clinton questioned Sanders’ 2013 health care legislation, saying it would dismantle the law and empower Republican governors like Terry Branstad of Iowa to administer the healthcare system in each state. Sanders envisions a “single-payer” system that would be run by the states under federal rules.
Sanders, in a brief interview following a town hall meeting at Simpson College in Indianola, said he could pay for his agenda without raising taxes on middle-class families. “Our agenda is the most progressive in terms of demanding that Wall Street, large corporations and the wealthy finally start paying their fair share of taxes,” he said.
During the event, he said he had helped write Obama’s healthcare law. “We are the only major country on earth that does not guarantee healthcare to all as a right. We have got to end that embarrassment,” he said.
Even as the field responded somberly to the deadly attacks in Paris, the debate Saturday night marked a feistier phase in the Democratic campaign. Helped by a strong autumn, Clinton has built a small lead in Iowa and is trying to stave off Sanders in the Feb. 1 presidential caucuses.
Sanders put Clinton on the defensive in the debate when he said Wall Street had been the major contributor to her campaigns in order to get support in return.
