WASHINGTON, Aug. 6 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) Saturday on the floor of the U.S. Senate gave remarks on the Inflation Reduction Act and called on his colleagues to support amendments to improve the legislation in order to meet the needs of the American people.
Sanders’ remarks, as prepared for delivery, are below and can be watched here.
M. President: I want to say a few words about the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” that we are debating today. I say so-called, by the way, because according to the CBO and other economic organizations this bill will, in fact, have a minimal impact on inflation.
M. President: Let me put this reconciliation bill into the context of where we are as a nation politically and economically. And that is not a good place.
According to the most recent Gallup poll the approval rating for Congress is at 16% with 82% of the American people disapproving of the work we are doing here.
Further, according to a recent University of Chicago poll, a strong majority of Americans believe that the government is “corrupt and rigged against me.”
Further, according to a USA Today poll that came out last week, a very strong majority no longer believes that the Democratic or Republican parties are responding to their needs and we need to move to a multi-party system. And, most frighteningly, there is a growing number of Americans who believe that they may have to take up arms against their own government in order to accomplish what they think needs to be done.
All of this speaks to a very dangerous moment for American democracy and resembles the conditions that existed in Europe in the 1920s and early 1930s which led to fascism and totalitarianism.
In other words, at a time when so many of our people are hurting many of them no longer believe that this Congress and this government is capable of representing their interests and they are losing faith in our democracy.
The people of this country believe, in my view correctly, that we have a corrupt political system dominated by the rich and the powerful and we have a rigged economy in which large corporations are seeing huge profits while the middle class and working families continue to decline. And they are right.
Just, as an example, within the last few weeks, while Americans are paying outrageously high gas prices at the pump, Exxon Mobil, Shell and BP reported a record-breaking $46 billion in profits during the second quarter.
In terms of the outrageously high price of prescription drugs, 3 large pharmaceutical companies – Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and AbbVie – increased their profits last year by 90% to $54 billion. A 90% increase!
This is what a rigged economy is all about. Huge corporate profits while working people cannot afford the basic necessities of life.
M. President: Let’s be clear today where we are as a nation.
Real weekly wages for the average American worker are lower today than they were 49 years ago. And clearly the inflation of today is pushing the average person even further behind.
Half of our people live paycheck to paycheck. And many millions are working for starvation wages. Further, many workers who want to join a union, at Starbucks, Amazon and at other companies are facing fierce and illegal anti-union resistance. This bill does nothing to address their needs.
M. President: As everyone knows we have a completely dysfunctional healthcare system. We now spend over $12,000 a year per person, more than double what other countries spend. Yet, over 70 million Americans are uninsured or under-insured, some 60,000 Americans die each year because they can’t get to a doctor on time, and the cost of healthcare continues to rise. Meanwhile, every year, the insurance companies make tens of billions in profit. This bill does nothing to address the dysfunctionality of our current healthcare system.
In terms of our children, we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost every major nation on earth. This bill, as currently written, does nothing to address it.
Our childcare system is dysfunctional. If a working family is lucky enough to find a slot, on average, they will pay about $15,000 a year for childcare – an impossibly high sum for the average working family. This bill, as currently written, does nothing to address it.
Today, hundreds of thousands of bright young people are unable to afford a higher education and 45 million struggle with student debt. This bill, as currently written, does nothing to address it.
M. President: Today, millions of elderly Americans are unable to afford to go to a dentist or buy the hearing aids or eyeglasses that they need, this bill does nothing to expand Medicare to cover these basic healthcare needs. Millions of seniors will continue to have rotten teeth and lack the dentures, hearing aids or eyeglasses that they deserve. This bill, as currently written, does nothing to address it.
M. President: many millions of elderly and disabled Americans would prefer to stay in their homes rather than be forced into nursing homes. We have a major crisis in home healthcare. This bill, as currently written, does nothing to address it.
M. President: everybody agrees that we have a major housing crisis in this country. Some 600,000 people are homeless sleeping out on streets across the country. In addition, nearly 18 million households are spending an incredible 50 percent of their incomes for housing. Yep, you guessed it. This bill does nothing to address the major housing crisis that we face or build one unit of safe and affordable housing. Just another issue that we push aside.
M. President: The importance of this bill is that it is a reconciliation bill. And that means, unlike regular legislation this bill does not require 60 votes to get passed. All we need are 50 votes, plus the vice president. It is extremely sad to me that there is not one Republican prepared to stand up for the working families of this country, for the children, for the elderly and for the environment.
That is in fact a tragedy. But if all 50 members of the Democratic Caucus were to stand together today we could pass some very important amendments which would have a profound impact on improving the lives of working people in our country and could begin the process of restoring faith in our democracy.
Poll after poll makes it clear. The American people are hurting. They want us to take bold action to improve their lives and under reconciliation we have that opportunity. Let’s do it.
In other words, what I am asking today is for all 50 Democrats to come together and begin the process of addressing the major crises facing working families. We must show them that we are capable of representing the needs of ordinary Americans and not just wealthy campaign contributors.
Now, M. President, let me say a few words about what is in this legislation, a bill which has some good features, but also some very bad features.
This bill deals with 3 major areas – prescription drugs, taxation and climate.
Prescription Drugs
The good news, M. President, is that this reconciliation bill allows Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry.
But M. President: here’s the bad news. At a time when millions of Americans cannot afford the outrageously high price of prescription drugs that provision does not go into effect for 4 years – at which time only 10 drugs will be negotiated with more to come in later years.
This provision will have no impact on the prices for those Americans not on Medicare. Those prices will continue to rise uncontrollably.
Under this bill, at a time when the pharmaceutical companies are making outrageous profits, the pharmaceutical industry will still be allowed to charge the American people, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs.
M. President, if we are really serious about reducing the price of prescription drugs we know exactly how we can do it.
For over 30 years, the VA has been negotiating with the pharmaceutical industry to lower the price of prescription drugs. Moreover, for decades, virtually every major country on earth has done exactly the same thing for all of their people.
The result: Medicare pays twice as much for the exact same prescription drugs as the VA and Americans, in some cases may pay ten times as much for a particular drug as the people of any major country on earth.
In other words, when it comes to reducing the price of prescription drugs under Medicare – we don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
We could simply require Medicare to pay no more for prescription drugs than the VA.
And, M. President, if we did that, we could literally cut the price of prescription drugs under Medicare in half in a matter of months, not years. And that is why I am introducing an amendment today to do just that.
Under this amendment, we could save Medicare $900 billion over the next decade. That is nine times more savings than the rather weak negotiation provision in this bill.
M. President: As you know, we pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, sometimes 10 times more for the same exact drug that is sold in Canada and other countries.
The result: 1 out of 4 Americans are unable to afford the prescription drugs their doctors prescribe, and thousands of Americans die every year because they can’t afford their medicine.
Why is this allowed to happen?
I will tell you why. During the past 20 years, the pharmaceutical industry has spent over $5.1 billion on lobbying and over half a billion dollars in campaign contributions.
Further, the pharmaceutical industry has, over the years, mounted an unprecedented lobbying effort in Washington and in states all over this country.
I want you to hear this. Last year alone, the pharmaceutical industry hired more than 1,700 well-paid lobbyists to Capitol Hill to protect their interests — including the former congressional leaders of both major political parties. Got that? That’s over 3 pharmaceutical industry lobbyists for every Member of Congress.
M. President: Just yesterday, the CEO of Pharma, Steve Ubl, threatened political retaliation against anyone who votes for this very modest proposal. He stated: “Few associations have all the tools of modern political advocacy at their disposal in the way that Pharma does.”
In other words, what he is doing is threatening anyone who votes for this reconciliation bill or any other proposal that would lower the price of prescription drugs. So, if you’re going to earn the enmity of pharma you may as well do it for something meaningful and vote for my amendment.
Climate Change
Now, let’s say a word about the climate provisions in this bill.
M. President, this legislation also provides $370 billion over the next decade to combat climate change and to invest in so-called energy security programs.
The good news is that this legislation, as currently written, would provide far more funding for energy efficiency and sustainable energy than has ever been invested before.
But M. President, the bad news is this bill, as currently written, includes a huge giveaway to the fossil fuel industry – both in the reconciliation bill itself and in a side deal that was just made public a few days ago.
Under this legislation, the fossil fuel industry will receive billions of dollars in new tax breaks and subsidies over the next 10 years – on top of the $15 billion in tax breaks and corporate welfare that they already receive every year.
And that is the reason why BP supports this bill. It is the reason why Shell supports this bill. And it is the reason why the CEO of Exxon Mobil is pleased by many of the provisions included in this deal.
Under this legislation, up to 60 million acres of public waters must be offered up for sale each and every year to the oil and gas industry before the federal government could approve any new offshore wind development. To put this in perspective, 60 million acres is the size of Michigan.
Further, under this bill, up to 2 million acres of public lands must be offered up for sale each and every year to the oil and gas industry before leases can move forward for any renewable energy development on public lands.
In total, this bill will offer the fossil fuel industry up to 700 million acres of public lands and waters to oil and gas drilling over the next decade – far more than the oil and gas industry could possibly use.
And, M. President, that’s not all. The fossil fuel industry will not just benefit from the provisions in the reconciliation bill. A deal has also been reached to make it easier for the fossil fuel industry to receive permits for their oil and gas projects.
This deal would approve the $6.6 billion Mountain Valley Pipeline – a fracked gas pipeline that would span 303 miles from West Virginia to Virginia, and potentially on to North Carolina.
This is a pipeline that would generate emissions equivalent to that released by 37 coal plants or by over 27 million cars each and every year.
M. President, let me quote from a July 29th letter from over 350 environmental organizations including Friends of the Earth, Food and Water Watch, and the Climate Justice Alliance expressing concerns about this bill:
“Any approval of new fossil fuel projects or fast-tracking of fossil fuel permitting is incompatible with climate leadership. Oil, gas and coal production are the core drivers of the climate and extinction crises. There can be no new fossil fuel leases, exports, or infrastructure if we have any hope of preventing ever-worsening climate crises, catastrophic floods, deadly wildfires, and more–all of which are ripping across the country as we speak. We are out of time. Therefore, we’re calling on you to fulfill your promise to lead on climate, starting with denying approvals for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, rejecting all new federal fossil fuel leases onshore, in the Gulf of Mexico, in Alaska, and everywhere else, and preventing any fast-tracked permits for fossil fuel projects.”
M. President: I ask Unanimous Consent to insert this full letter into the record.
And here is what the Center for Biological Diversity had to say on this bill: “This is a climate suicide pact. It’s self-defeating to handcuff renewable energy development to massive new oil and gas extraction. The new leasing required in this bill will fan the flames of the climate disasters torching our country, and it’s a slap in the face to the communities fighting to protect themselves from filthy fossil fuels.”
In my view, we have got to do everything possible to take on the greed of the fossil fuel industry, not give billions of dollars in corporate welfare to an industry that has been destroying our planet.
And that is why I will be introducing an amendment today to strike all of the benefits to the fossil fuel industry in this bill and I will be asking for a roll call vote on it.
And, M. President, let me talk about some of the other amendments I will be introducing to this bill.
I will be introducing an amendment to expand Medicare to provide dental, vision and hearing benefits. This amendment is fully paid for by demanding that the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share of taxes.
I will be introducing an amendment to provide $30 billion to establish the Civilian Conservation Corps which would create 400,000 jobs for young people to combat climate change.
Further, I will be introducing an amendment to expand the $300 a month Child Tax Credit for the next 5 years paid for by restoring the top corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent.
