WASHINGTON, March 28 – Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Monday issued the following statement after President Joe Biden released his fiscal year 2023 federal budget proposal:

I thank the President for submitting his budget proposal to Congress and I look forward to reviewing it closely. At a time when corporations are making obscene profits by charging outrageously high prices for gas, food and rent, we need a budget that takes on the unprecedented corporate greed that is taking place in America today by enacting a windfall profits tax and preventing corporations from ripping off working families.

At a time when over 700 billionaires in America became nearly $2 trillion richer during the pandemic while tens of millions continue to struggle, we need a budget that demands that the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share of taxes and substantially improves the lives of working families with children, the elderly, the sick and the poor.

At a time when we are dealing with a climate emergency, we need a budget that creates millions of good-paying jobs transforming our energy system away from fossil fuel and towards energy efficiency and renewable energy.

At a time when we are already spending more on the military than the next 11 countries combined, no we do not need a massive increase in the defense budget.

Now that the President has done his job, it is up to Congress to review it, pass the proposals that make sense and improve upon it. As the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, I will be doing everything I can to pass a strong and robust budget reconciliation bill that works for working families, not the top 1 percent. To begin that process, the Senate Budget Committee will be holding a hearing on the President’s budget at 11 a.m. this Wednesday.