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The Senate and the House of Representatives agree: single-payer health care is the only way to provide real coverage for all. Insurance companies are never going to do the right thing and put people before profits, so the only option is to go around them, and politicians in both houses have voted to create a real health care system. In Vermont, that is. Mary Gerisch of the Vermont Workers Center joined us last month here on GRITtv to explain the grassroots organizing campaign that finally resulted in victory in the state legislature. She noted that two years ago, they were told that it was not politically possible to pass single-payer legislation, but they didn't take no for an answer. The insurance companies will no doubt keep fighting this bill—even one small state single-payer plan could provide a powerful example for the rest of the country. Already, California Democrats are reviving a bill that would create single-payer care in that state—and it's already moved out of the Health Committee. We've spoken before to Wendell Potter, formerly a CIGNA executive, about the way the health insurance industry fought national health care reform, and we know that misinformation, attack ads, and millions of dollars will be flowing Vermont's way as the bill moves through reconciliation and toward the governor's desk. But for now, Vermont—and all of us--should be celebrating the proof that a grassroots campaign can lead to victory for single-payer advocates and progressives in general. We're that much closer to recognizing health care as a human right. And much closer to the big fight which will show really, which side our for-profit insurers are on. Keep an eye on Vermont, people. An alternative model. . . the US has invaded small countries for less. Distributed by Tubemogul.

Republicans in Congress, says House Progressive Caucus Co-Chair Keith Ellison, are treating the budget and potential government shutdowns as an "opportunity to inflict generationally-changing policies" in the guise of paying the bills. We're facing a government shutdown not, Ellison notes, because Democrats won't compromise, but because Republicans like Paul Ryan are interested in forcing a fight over ideological issues. Rep. Ellison spoke with Laura from Washington, D.C. to inaugurate a new segment with House Progressive Caucus members on GRITtv.

"It's dangerous to discount as mere theater what the Republicans do," notes Rebecca Dana of the Daily Beast. ; She points out that a lot will depend on who controls Congress in 2012--symbolic moves to repeal health care reform will be a lot less symbolic if the Senate is under Republican control as well.Rebecca joins guest host John Fugelsang to discuss the ongoing political debates over health care, over Sarah Palin, and over political language itself.In the first week of 2011, the now defunct Tunisian regime made a series of arrests in an effort to silence online activists critical of former president Ben Ali and his supporters.

John Boehner took charge of the House of Representatives with a bang--a really big bang, from a really big gavel. Also a few tears, of course, and a dramatic reading of the Constitution--though Nancy Giles notes that the Republicans might be surprised as to what they find in there, as they tend to treat it more like a game of Mad Libs. Meanwhile, the contest for who's going to lead the Republican National Committee seems to come down to who has bigger guns, and people are discussing excising the N-word -- yes, that one -- from Mark Twain's classic, Huckleberry Finn. Nancy, a contributor to CBS's Sunday Morning, joins us to discuss all this and more. A multibillion-dollar bailout and Wall Street's swift, subsequent reinstatement of gargantuan bonuses have inspired a narrative of parasitic bankers and other elites rigging the game for their own benefit. And this, in turn, has led to wider?and not unreasonable?fears that we are living in not merely a plutonomy, but a plutocracy, in which the rich display outsize political influence, narrowly self-interested motives, and a casual indifference to anyone outside their own rarefied economic bubble. So wrote Chrystia Freeland in a cover story in the new issue of The Atlantic. She joins us in the studio to discuss her piece, the new elite, and a few insights into the mindset of the ultra-ultra-rich. "Occasionally you see pictures and they're standing in some long line or applying for jobs, but they're not thought of," said GRITtv guest Edrie Irvine recently, speaking of unemployed people like her. She's right, and she's not the only one, Laura notes, missing from the discussion.