Nurses for Bernie Sanders stump in Carson City

Nurses from across the West have descended on Nevada to get out the vote for Sen. Bernie Sanders.

David Welch, a cardiac rehabilitation nurse from Chico, Calif., said backing Sanders for Democratic nomination for the presidency is a natural fit for the nursing profession.

“We’ve been fighting for single-payer health care for 25 years,” Welch said. “We’re thrilled to have a major presidential candidate talking about the things we’ve been talking about.”

Nearly 200 nurses, many of them from California, spent last weekend canvassing voters in Las Vegas. He said nurses also are working the Reno/Carson City area ahead of Saturday’s caucuses and they’ve taken the red National Nurses United bus as far as Elko and Lovelock to stump for their candidate. Emblazoned on the side of the bus is: ”The must trusted profession trusts Bernie.”

The health coverage issue, Welch said, “is our biggest overriding reason for supporting Bernie.”

He said even before Sanders got into the race, the nursing union backed the idea of a financial transactions tax to fund health care. That tax, he said, would be a fraction of a percent tax on stock, bond and derivative transactions. Welch said for the average investor who buys and holds a stock for a long time, it wouldn’t be a problem, that it would hit those traders who are trading hundreds of times a day in some cases.

“It’s a tax that’s very small but can end up raising a lot of money,” he said.

Welch said nurses also back other longtime stands Sanders has taken on issues from the environment to social needs.

He said Sanders is also drawing attention from a fair number of conservatives who like him for “his authenticity and honesty.”

He said those people can take a look back at Sanders’ speeches for his entire career.

“This guy’s been saying the same thing for 30 years,” Welch said. “He doesn’t have to check the polls to know what he believes in. That factor alone has a huge attraction for people.”