This is Deconstructed. I'm Ryan Grimm. On Tuesday evening, New Jersey Congressman Frank

Polone, the chairman of the Powerful Energy and Commerce Committee, found Pramila

Jayapal on the House floor and casually shared with her news of what is arguably the most

consequential development in the legislative history of the push for Medicare for all.

Jayapal represents the Seattle area and is chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

She had scheduled the unveiling of her Medicare for all bill for the following morning, and

had spent the past few months rounding up co-sponsors for it. Momentum is everything

on Capitol Hill, and backers of the bill needed to show a substantial amount of support to

keep it going. When Polone saw her, he told her not just that he would be co-sponsoring

the bill, but that he would be holding a hearing on it this term. That night, news of his

sponsorship ricocheted privately through the world of activists and organizers who spent

years working on the legislation and the wilderness. Jayapal would come to the virtual

podium the next day with 113 co-sponsors. That was six more than she had the last time around,

even though there are many fewer Democrats in the caucus this time. It's still, though,

more than 100 votes short of what you need for a majority to pass it.

We'll talk with Congresswoman Jayapal later in the episode, as well as with Physician

Abdul El-Sahed, co-author of the recent book Medicare for All, A Citizens Guide. First,

though, an update on a few developments on two big questions that come before anything

else, because without answering these, nothing as substantial as Medicare for All has a chance

of making it through Congress. I'm talking about the fight over the filibuster and the

related battle over HR1, the For the People Act, which rewrites election and campaign

finance laws. We did episodes on both of those back in early February. This week, HR1

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