Incoming Senate Budget Committee Chairman Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will exert great influence over domestic economic issues that will finally help the American working class like never before through a special budget mechanism. Vowing to move quickly to push through an economic stimulus package and fight economic inequality to “boldly address the needs of working families,” he will hold robust influence over taxes, health care, and climate change among other issues during the worst depression since the Great Depression. Sanders said the first order of business must be the Covid bill with $2,000 checks, and that Democrats have to be “bold in a way that we have not seen since FDR in the 1930s.” What kind of legislation can he help Congress move through with a narrow majority and with what budget mechanisms?
Sen. Sanders became the incoming Senate Budget Committee Chairman after the Georgia election resulted in a Senate Democratic majority. While Biden said he considered Bernie Sanders for Labor Secretary, they both agreed he was needed more in the Senate. “I did give serious consideration to my friend Bernie Sanders for this position,” Biden said at an event announcing more economic appointments. He explained, “Bernie and I agreed – in fact, Bernie said we can’t put control of the Senate at risk with a special election in Vermont.” This was ultimately a good choice given Democrats’ slim 50-50 majority even facing inside roadblocks from more conservative Democrats like Sen. Joe Manchin III who opposes $1,400 direct payment relief.
Nevertheless the Senate Budget Committee Chairman wields significant power that can make a great impact on the lives of Americans that have been ignored in the way of corporate interests. The Senate Committee on the Budget was established in 1974 by the Congressional Budget Act. Along with the House Budget Committee, it drafts Congress’ annual budget plan and monitors budget actions.
Former Democratic Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, picked Sanders to be the ranking member in 2014 and dismissed “radical” smears about him, saying, “Even though he is a person who is known as a real progressive socialist, he never was a problem for my caucus…He didn’t try to be a rebel.” A true assessment since the democratic socialist” label equates to a center-left democrat in most western democracies.
Now the most progressive Senator will have a powerful role in shaping Democrats’ spending agenda. Bernie Sanders seeks to move quickly to push through an economic stimulus package saying, “I believe that the crisis is of enormous severity and we’ve got to move as rapidly as we can.” The urgency working-class people, the unemployed, the starving, the ignored feel in America will finally be represented by Bernie Sanders.
Bernie’s secret legislative weapon within a slim majority? A budget mechanism called reconciliation. Budget conciliation allows Congress to move certain legislation a majority instead of 60 votes. Sanders said, “We have to be very, very aggressive, and I intend as chairman of the committee to use reconciliation to do just that.” He went on to say that his reconciliation legislation “will have strong support among Democrats.”
This powerful tool passed legislation like the Trump tax cuts, Bush tax cuts, and Obamacare. The process starts with the Senate and House Budget Committees’ budget resolution. This means that Senator Sanders will lead important legislation originating in the Senate Budget Committee.
Bernie Sanders will effectively get to decide how vast Biden’s spending plans can be and he said he plans to test the bounds of reconciliation to address “structural problems in American society.” He plans to focus on pushing forth the stimulus package first and not tying his long-term priorities like universal healthcare to it. Biden’s team said they will work with Bernie Sanders and other leaders to write legislation for Biden’s agenda despite their differences on issues like single-payer healthcare. Sanders will exert great leadership, pragmatism, and compassion — an example of everything a public servant should hold — as the Senate Budget Committee Chairman. A true mensch.
“The first order of business, by the way,” the Vermont senator continued, “is to pass an emergency Covid-19 bill which, among many other things, says to working-class Americans, ‘We know you’re in pain, and we’re gonna get you a $2,000 check… We are on your side.'”
Senator Sanders supports $2,000 direct payments and money for states and cities to fund Covid vaccine distribution, contact tracing, and testing.
He is also calling for an emergency universal health care program to be created so that people won’t have to go without medical treatment during a pandemic because they’re uninsured. This is a transformative idea that would help millions of Americans who have to choose between treatment or bankruptcy, food or medicine ven resorting to rationing medicine or crowdfunding. This emergency program would most likely help advocate for the passage of Medicare for All down the line — a fiscally responsible choice that would save an estimated 68,000 lives a year while reducing health care spending by $450 billion and grant access to a basic necessity for 27.9 million uninsured Americans.
Wielding a powerful gavel, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders will help working-class Americans like the massive Trump and Bush tax breaks passed through budget reconciliation helped tax-evading corporations and the top 1%. He will ensure that $2,000 direct payments are the “first order of business” upon taking power and warned of electoral backlash like in the 2010 midterms. For his entire career, Senator Sanders’ heart has always been with struggling Americans who have faced stagnant poverty wages, a lack of healthcare affordability, and have been blocked from economic advancement by skyrocketing educational costs all while the rich get richer through Congressional legislation. We always have spending for defense contractors, (imaginary) border walls, and Wall St. subsidies but none for health care, education, or jobs. Senate Budget Chairman Sanders will radically change that and move the needle of socioeconomic equality towards justice and advancement. Godspeed to Bernie Sanders in achieving his legislative goals as Budget Committee Chairman.
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