Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) showed why he was named
to the top Democratic post on the Senate Budget Committee by shredding
the Republican budget proposals/
Video:
Sen. Sanders said:
As I examine the budget brought forth by the
Republicans in the House and here in the Senate, this is how I see their
analysis of the problems facing our country.
At a time of massive wealth and income inequality,
the Republicans apparently believe that the richest people in America
need to be made even richer. It is apparently not good enough that 99
percent of all new income today is going to the top 1 percent. That’s
apparently not enough. It is not good enough that the top one-tenth of
one percent today own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent.
Clearly, in Republican eyes, the wealthy and the powerful need more
help. Not only should they not be asked to pay more in taxes, the
Republicans believe that we should cut tax rates for millionaires and
billionaires.
It is not good enough that corporate America is
enjoying record breaking profits, and that the CEOs of large
corporations earn some 290 times more than what their average employees
make.
“It is apparently not good enough that since 1985
the top one-tenth of 1 percent has seen a more then $8 trillion increase
in its wealth than what they would have had if wealth inequality had
stayed at the same level that it was in 1985. An $8 trillion increase
in the wealth of the top one-tenth of 1 percent! Apparently, that is
not enough.
Meanwhile, as I understand the Republican view of
our country, as manifested in the House and Senate budgets, it appears
that millions of middle class and working families, people who are
working longer hours for lower wages, people who have seen significant
declines in their standard of living over the last 40 years, these
people apparently do not need our help, rather they need to see a major
reduction in federal programs that help make their lives, and the lives
of their kids, a little bit better.
At a time when we have over 45 million Americans
living in poverty – more than almost any time in the modern history of
this country, my Republican colleagues think we should increase that
number by cutting the Earned Income Tax Credit, affordable housing, and
Medicaid. At a time when almost 20 percent of our children live in
poverty, by far the highest childhood poverty rate of any major country
on earth, my Republican colleagues think that maybe we should raise the
childhood poverty rate a bit higher by cutting childcare, Head Start,
the Child Tax Credit and nutrition assistance for hungry kids.
To summarize: the rich get much richer, and
the Republicans think they need more help. The middle class and
working families of this country become poorer, and the Republicans
think we need to cut programs they desperately need. Frankly, those may
be the priorities of some of my Republican colleagues in this room, but
I do not believe that these are the priorities of the American people.
Sen. Sanders was correct. The Republicans are
offering up the ultimate rich get richer budgets. The goal of the
Republican budget is to take money away from poor and middle-class
Americans and give it to the people at the top. Sanders was spot on. No
matter how much wealth the richest Americans accumulate, Congressional
Republicans believe that they deserve more.
The House and Senate Republican budget deserve the
scorn of the American people because they explicitly confirm the
Republican goal of creating an oligarchic society that consists of a few
haves and everyone else being a have not. Bernie Sanders saw the
picture behind the budget. The Republican budgets have become an annual
declaration of economic warfare against the non-rich.
President
Obama and Bernie Sanders have both sounded the alarms bells as it
relates to this budget, and if Republicans want a fight, they’ve got
one.
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