Bernie Sanders Calls For Shared Sacrifice

Vanessa Remmers

During a press briefing Tuesday, Sen. Sanders (I-VT) touted a stack of papers listing the names of 100,000 Americans who support for tax hikes for the wealthy as evidence of American opposition to Republican plans to balance the budget soley through cuts.

“By overwhelming numbers, based on every single poll that I have seen, the American people do not agree with Republicans who say that deficit reduction should be based on savage cuts to working families, the elderly, the children, the sick and the most vulnerable people in this country while not asking the weathiest people in America and the largest corporations to contribute a nickel,” Sanders said. 

With the budget deadline drawing near, Sanders said he believes the President could make better use of his bully pulpit.

“Do I think the President has fought as hard as he should in making it clear to the American people that he is going to stand tall in defending Medicare, Medicaid, education, nutrition, and community health centers? … No, I do not think he has,” Sanders said.

According to Sanders, it is an economic and moral imperative to fight against budget cuts to certain programs.

“From an economic point of view, you’ve got corporate America sitting on trillions of dollars in cash that they are not investing because working people do not have enough money to buy it. So I think from both a moral perspective for what is fair and an economic perspective of how we create jobs in this country, I am very worried about any proposal that will make devestating cuts to people who are already hurting,” Sanders said.