During remarks on the Senate floor Thursday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) spoke about the GOP-led continuing resolution.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Mr. President, as people all over this country understand, we are a nation today that faces
00:10enormous crises.
00:13Sadly, the continuing resolution passed Tuesday in the U.S. House, which will come to this
00:22body very shortly, not only does nothing to address these crises, but in fact, it makes
00:33a bad situation much worse.
00:39Today at a time when we have more income and wealth inequality than we have ever had in
00:45the history of this country, 60% of our people are living paycheck to paycheck.
00:55And what that means, Mr. President, I grew up in a family living paycheck to paycheck.
01:01It means that people are worried about how they're going to afford housing.
01:05What happens if their landlord raises the rent?
01:10People go to the grocery store and they see the high price of food.
01:15And wonder how they're going to feed their kids.
01:19People are looking at the outrageous cost of childcare, but you need childcare if you're
01:23going to go to work.
01:25How can you afford childcare?
01:28Our healthcare system is dysfunctional.
01:32People worry about how they can afford healthcare if they are lucky enough to be able to find
01:38a doctor.
01:40That is the reality of what's going on in our country today.
01:45Rich are getting richer, working people are struggling, and 800,000 Americans are sleeping
01:53out in the streets.
01:56So given that reality, what does this bill do?
01:59The bill written by the right-wing extremists in the House of Representatives without any
02:07bipartisan discussion at all.
02:12What does this bill do?
02:14Well, let me count the ways that it makes the financial struggles of working people
02:22even more difficult than they are today.
02:27And it does all of that, Mr. President, to lay the groundwork for massive tax breaks
02:35for Elon Musk and the billionaire class.
02:40For a start, some 22% of our seniors in this country are trying to survive on $15,000 a
02:50year or less, which to me is really quite incredible.
02:55I don't know how anybody, let alone a senior, survives on $15,000 a year or less.
03:02Half of our seniors are trying to survive on $30,000 a year or less.
03:09So what does the Trump-Musk administration do to address the terrible economic pressures
03:21on seniors all over America?
03:23Well, they've got a brilliant idea.
03:27They illegally fire thousands of workers at the Social Security Administration with plans
03:35to cut that staff in half.
03:40Mr. President, in America today, 30,000 people die each year waiting to receive their Social
03:50Security disability benefits because of a grossly understaffed and under-resourced Social
03:58Security Administration.
04:00My office, and I expect your office, and I expect every other office, gets calls every
04:06day from seniors saying, I'm having a problem with Social Security.
04:11I can't make contact with the Social Security people.
04:15They're not getting back to me.
04:17And that is because today they are understaffed.
04:22If Musk and Trump get their way and the Social Security Administration staff is cut in half,
04:29nobody can deny that that is a death sentence for many thousands of seniors who desperately
04:39need their benefits.
04:41Now, Mr. Musk, who's worth a few hundred billion, may not understand that there are millions
04:47of seniors in this country who have nothing in the bank, worry every day how they're going
04:53to heat their homes or buy the food that they need.
04:57And if they can't get the benefits that they need, some of them will, in fact, die.
05:05And let me be clear, when you have Mr. Musk calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme, despite
05:14the fact that it has paid out every benefit owed to every eligible American for the last
05:2080-plus years, that ain't no Ponzi scheme.
05:24When you have the President of the United States coming before Congress and lying, outrageously
05:29lying, about millions of people who are 150 or 200 years of age receiving Social Security
05:38benefits, a total lie, everybody should understand what's going on.
05:44Trump and Musk are laying the groundwork for dismantling the most successful federal program
05:51in history, Social Security, a program that keeps over 27 million Americans out of poverty.
06:00And by the way, just to set the record straight, over 95 percent, over 99 percent of the more
06:09than 70 million Social Security checks that go out each month are going to people who
06:16earned those benefits.
06:18Over 99 percent, people 150 or 500 years of age are not getting Social Security checks.
06:27But this continuing resolution passed in the House is not just a vicious attack on Social
06:33Security.
06:34It is an attack on the veterans of our nation, the men and women who put their lives on the
06:43line to defend our country.
06:47While we made some progress under the Biden administration in improving veterans' health
06:53care, the truth is that the VA has remained significantly understaffed.
07:01In the fourth quarter of 2024, there were 36,000 vacancies at the VA.
07:09We needed 2,400 more doctors, 6,300 more registered nurses, 3,400 more schedulers, 1,800 more
07:22social workers, and 1,200 more custodians.
07:27So what does the Trump administration and Mr. Musk do to address this very serious workforce
07:37shortage?
07:40Their answer is that they are threatening to dismantle the VA by firing 83,000 employees.
07:49In other words, you've got a shortage today, and their solution to the shortage is to fire
07:5683,000 workers.
07:59Not only does this CR do nothing to stop that, but it cuts more than $20 billion in
08:07funding needed to provide care for veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other
08:14toxic substances next year.
08:17Mr. President, pathetically, our nation, the richest country on earth, has the highest
08:24rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on the planet, and that is often reflected
08:33in the crises facing many public schools today.
08:39Throughout America, children are coming into school hungry, kids are coming into school
08:45with serious mental issues, kids are coming into school from dysfunctional families, families
08:52often dealing with drug abuse.
08:56And what is the Trump-Musk administration doing about that crisis?
09:02Well, their response was interesting.
09:06Just the other day, they fired half of the staff at the Department of Education.
09:12That means that it will be far harder to administer the Title I program that helps 26 million
09:18low-income kids get the education they need and pays the salaries of some 180,000 public
09:27school teachers throughout the country.
09:29So how does a school in a working-class community survive if you don't get the funds to pay
09:37the teachers?
09:39Further, it means that it will be far harder to administer the Individuals with Disabilities
09:46Education Act, the IDEA, that provides vital resources for 7.5 million kids with disabilities.
09:54We have made progress in a bipartisan way over the last number of years to say to families
09:59that if your kid has a disability, that kid can still go to a public school, there will
10:05be services available for that kid.
10:09But when you cut the Department of Education staff here in Washington in half, that is
10:14going to be extremely difficult to do.
10:18And it means that it will be far harder for some 7 million low-income and working-class
10:23students to get the Pell Grants they need to get a higher education.
10:29In fact, just hours after the Department of Education laid off half of its staff, the
10:34website for the free application for federal student aid that working families use to apply
10:40for Pell Grants and other financial institutions crashed.
10:45Fired workers, the website crashed, people who are applying for Pell Grants.
10:50This CR that we will be looking at perhaps tomorrow gives the Trump administration the
10:57green light to make these horrific cuts to education.
11:01And it's not just education.
11:03Mr. President, we have a major health care crisis in our country.
11:10Despite spending twice as much per capita on health care as the people of any other
11:16major country, 85 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured, over 500,000 of our people
11:25go bankrupt because of medically-related debt, over 60,000 people die each year because
11:33they can't afford to get to a doctor on time, and our life expectancy is not only lower
11:41than almost any other major country, it is a system in which working-class and low-income
11:46Americans die seven years younger than wealthier Americans.
11:52So you've got a crisis.
11:54People can't find a doctor.
11:56People are going bankrupt because of health care bills.
12:00And what does this CR do?
12:02Well, at a time when in particular our primary health care system is completely broken, when
12:10we don't have enough doctors or nurses or dentists or mental health counselors, this
12:16proposal cuts community health center funding by 3.2 percent, cuts the National Health Service
12:26Corps by over 5 percent, and cuts funding for teaching health centers, a program which
12:32helps train doctors in rural and underserved areas, by almost 13 percent.
12:38So in the midst of a horrific primary health care crisis in Vermont and all over rural
12:45America, this proposal will make it that much harder for people to get the health care
12:51that they desperately need.
12:53But it's not just health care.
12:55Everybody in this country from Vermont to Los Angeles understands we have a major housing
13:01crisis.
13:03And it's not just all of the homelessness we are seeing.
13:07Over 20 million of our people incredibly spend more than 50 percent of their limited income
13:13on housing.
13:15How in God's name do you pay for anything else?
13:18How do you buy food?
13:19How do you take care of health care if you're spending 50 percent or more for your housing?
13:24So how does this CR address the housing crisis?
13:29Well, it does it by cutting rental assistance for low-income families in America by 700
13:36million, which could lead to more than 32,000 families in our country being evicted from
13:43their homes.
13:44That is a heck of a solution to the housing crisis.
13:48You make it much worse.
13:50But it's not just housing.
13:53I know that the president might disagree.
13:55He thinks that climate change is a hoax.
13:58The whole scientific community understands that it is an existential threat.
14:04They understand that the last 10 years have been the warmest ever recorded, and extreme
14:09weather disturbances and natural disasters have been taking place all over the world,
14:15from California to India, across Europe to North Carolina.
14:20So what does the CR do about the existential threat of climate change?
14:27It does not even specify funding levels within the Environmental Protection Agency.
14:34In other words, the administration could simply eliminate funding for climate change and environmental
14:40justice, and that would be consistent with this CR.
14:45And on top of all of this, the administration is already indicating that they will simply
14:51ignore the provisions of the spending bill they don't like.
14:55This week, it was reported that Vice President J.D. Vance said to the Senate Republican Caucus,
15:00quote, I want everyone to vote yes.
15:03The president of the Section 2 will ensure allocations from Congress are not spent on
15:09things that harm the taxpayer.
15:12There's so much grift in Washington.
15:14Let's move this CR, get to reconciliation, and for Congress to pass appropriations, end
15:18of quote.
15:19In other words, what Vance is saying is, don't worry about what's actually in the bill.
15:26The Trump administration doesn't like it.
15:29They won't do it.
15:31And let's be clear.
15:35The House CR that was passed in an extremely partisan vote, I think they won by three or
15:42four votes, one Democrat out of 200 and whatever, 15 voted for it.
15:48The House CR and the Trump administration are doing everything they can to lay the groundwork
15:56for more tax breaks for billionaires paid for by massive cuts to Medicaid, nutrition
16:04assistance, housing, and education.
16:07So you're looking at a one-two punch, a very bad CR, and then a reconciliation bill coming
16:14down, which will be the final kick in the teeth for the American people.
16:20This legislation that the Republicans are working on, the reconciliation bill, would
16:26cut taxes for billionaires in the top 1% by over $1.1 trillion over the next decade.
16:38According to a recent study of all of Trump's so-called America First policies are enacted,
16:44the bottom 95% of Americans will see their taxes go up, while the richest 5% will see
16:51their taxes go down, way down.
16:56I should also mention that that reconciliation bill, which Republicans are working on right
17:00now, would also cut Medicaid by $880 billion.
17:07Tax breaks for billionaires, throwing low-income kids off of healthcare, decimating nursing
17:16homes all over America because nursing homes receive two-thirds of their funding from Medicaid,
17:26making it harder for community health centers to survive, who provide healthcare to 32 million
17:33Americans because 43% of their revenue comes from Medicaid.
17:39Cut Medicaid by $880 billion.
17:44You will significantly deteriorate the quality of healthcare all over America at a time when
17:53the system is already broken.
17:57Further, the reconciliation bill proposes to cut at least $230 billion from nutrition.
18:05Today, nearly one out of five kids in America rely on federal nutrition programs to keep
18:15them from going hungry.
18:18And I find it rather remarkable that the richest person on earth, somebody worth hundreds of
18:26billions of dollars, that he and his other oligarch friends are working night and day
18:33to cut programs for the working people of this country and to actually deny food to
18:39hungry kids in America.
18:42There is no world, no universe, no religion that would not believe that that is grossly
18:51immoral and unacceptable.
18:54You don't give tax breaks to the rich and take food away from hungry children.
19:00Mr. President, the House CR bill that we will be soon voting on here is a piece of legislation
19:10I cannot support.
19:12Instead, what the Senate must do is pass a 30-day CR so that all members of Congress,
19:23not just the House Republican leadership, can come together and produce a good piece
19:29of legislation that works for all Americans and not just the few.
19:36We have an opportunity now to serve the American people.
19:40We have an opportunity to write something that reflects what people in the Congress
19:45feel, what the people in America feel.
19:47I go around the country, and just a couple of weeks ago, I held a telephone town hall
19:56in Vermont.
19:57We are a small state, Mr. President.
19:58We only have about 650,000 people.
20:01And yet, on that telephone town hall, there were some 34,000 people listening in.
20:10That is a significant percentage of a small state.
20:15I have been in many parts of the country recently.
20:20I have been in Iowa.
20:22I have been in Wisconsin.
20:25I have been in Nebraska.
20:27I've been in Michigan.
20:30And what I can tell you with absolute certainty is whether people are conservatives, whether
20:36they're Republican, whether they're progressives, whether they're moderate, independent, whatever
20:39they may be, there are very few people in this country who think we should give a trillion
20:46dollars in tax breaks to the rich and cut back on Medicaid, education, and nutritional
20:53programs for hungry children.
20:57So Mr. President, what I strongly propose is that we pass a 30-day CR, that we do what
21:05has always been the case here in the Senate, have both parties work together to come up
21:12with a good piece of legislation.
21:15And with that, Mr. President, I yield the floor.