http://reachmorenow.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Senator-Bernie-Sanders-rally-440x270.jpg
Vermont Democrat Senator Bernie Sanders for President 2016? From Wikipedia
Bernard “Bernie” Sanders (born September 8, 1941, making him 74 years old) is an American politician and the junior United States Senator from Vermont. A Democrat as of 2015,[3] he had been the longest-serving independent in U.S. Congressional history. Sanders has been the ranking minority member on the Senate Budget Committee since January 2015.[4] He is a candidate for President of the United States in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Sanders was born and raised in the borough of Brooklyn, in New York City. He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1964. While a student, Sanders was a member of the Young People’s Socialist League and an active civil rights protest organizer for the Congress of Racial Equality and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.[5][6] In 1963, he participated in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech.[5]
After settling in Vermont in 1968, Sanders ran unsuccessful third-party campaigns for governor and U.S. senator in the early to mid-1970s. As an independent, he was elected mayor of Burlington, Vermont’s most populous city, in 1981. He was reelected three times. In 1990, he was elected to represent Vermont’s at-large congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1991, Sanders co-founded the Congressional Progressive Caucus. He served as a congressman for 16 years before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006. In 2012, he was reelected by a large margin, capturing almost 71% of the popular vote.
Sanders has long been critical of U.S. foreign policy, and was an early and outspoken opponent of theIraq War. He rose to national prominence following his 2010 filibuster[7][8] against the proposed extension of the Bush tax cuts. A self-described “democratic socialist”,[13] Sanders favors policies similar to those of social democratic parties in Europe, particularly those instituted by the Nordic countries.[17] Today, he is a leading progressive voice on issues such as income inequality,[10]universal healthcare, parental leave, climate change,[18] LGBT rights, and campaign finance reform.[19]He is also outspoken on civil rights and civil liberties, and has been particularly critical of mass surveillance policies such as the USA PATRIOT Act,[20] the NSA surveillance programs,[21] and racial discrimination in the criminal justice system.
Early life, education, and family
Sanders speaks to students participating in Chicago’s first civil rights sit-in in protest of University of Chicago’s segregated campus housing policy, January 1962
Sanders was born in Brooklyn, to Eli Sanders and Dorothy Glassberg.[22][23] Eli Sanders was a Jewish immigrant from Poland whose family was killed in the Holocaust;[5][22][24] Glassberg was born to Jewish parents in New York City.[25][26] Sanders has said that he became interested in politics at an early age: “A guy named Adolf Hitler won an election in 1932 … and 50 million people died as a result … what I learned as a little kid is that politics is, in fact, very important.”[27][28]
Sanders attended elementary school at P.S. 197, where he won a state championship on the basketball team. He attended Hebrew school in the afternoons, and celebrated his bar mitzvah in 1954. Sanders attended James Madison High School, where he was captain of the track team.[29] While at Madison, Sanders lost his first election, finishing last out of three candidates for the student body presidency. Sanders’ mother died in June 1959 at the age of 46, shortly after Sanders graduated from high school.[24]
Sanders studied at Brooklyn College for a year in 1959–60[30] before transferring to the University of Chicago. While at the University of Chicago, Sanders joined the Young People’s Socialist League,[31] the youth affiliate of the Socialist Party of America, and was active in the Civil Rights Movement as a student organizer for the Congress of Racial Equality and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.[5][6] In January 1962, Sanders led a rally at the University of Chicago administration building to protest university president George Wells Beadle‘s segregated campus housing policy. “We feel it is an intolerable situation when Negro and white students of the university cannot live together in university-owned apartments,” Sanders said at the protest. Sanders and 32 other students then entered the building and camped outside the president’s office, performing the first civil rights sit-in in Chicago history.[32][33] After weeks of sit-ins, Beadle and the university formed a commission to investigate discrimination.[34] Sanders also participated in the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.[35] That summer, he was found guilty of resisting arrest during a demonstration against segregation in Chicago’s public schools and was fined $25.[36]
In addition to his civil rights activism during the 1960s and 1970s, Sanders was active in several peace and antiwar movements. He was a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Student Peace Union while attending the University of Chicago. Sanders applied forconscientious objector status during the Vietnam War; his application was eventually turned down, at which point he was too old to be drafted. Although he opposed the war, Sanders never placed any blame on those who fought and has been a strong supporter of veterans’ benefits.[37][38]
In 1964, Sanders graduated from the University of Chicago with a bachelor of arts degree in political science. He married Deborah Shiling and they bought a summer home in Vermont; they had no children and divorced in 1966. Over the next few years, he took various jobs in New York and Vermont and spent several months on an Israeli kibbutz.[31][39] His son, Levi Sanders, was born in 1969 to Susan Campbell Mott. In 1988 Sanders married Jane (O’Meara) Driscoll, a former president of Burlington College, in Burlington, Vermont.[40] With her he has three stepchildren, whom he considers his own.[31][41]
Sanders’ brother, Larry Sanders, lives in England.[42] He was a Green Party county councillor representing the East Oxford division on Oxfordshire County Council, until he retired from the Council in 2013.[43][44] Larry Sanders ran as a Green Party candidate for Oxford West and Abingdon in the2015 British general election and came in fifth.[45][46]
Sanders has said he is “proud to be Jewish” but “not particularly religious.”[27] Sanders’ wife is Roman Catholic, and he has frequently expressed admiration for Pope Francis, saying that “the leader of the Catholic Church is raising profound issues. It is important that we listen to what he has said.” Sanders often quotes Francis on economic issues and has described him as “incredibly smart and brave.”[25][47]
Early political career
Main article: Electoral history of Bernie Sanders
Liberty Union campaigns
Sanders began his political career in 1971 as a member of the Liberty Union Party, which originated in the anti-war movement and the People’s Party. He ran as the Liberty Union candidate for governor of Vermont in 1972 and 1976 and as a candidate for U.S. senator in 1972 and 1974.[48] In the 1974 race, Sanders finished third (5,901 votes; 4.1%) behind the victor, 33-year-old Chittenden County State’s Attorney Patrick Leahy (D, VI; 70,629 votes; 49.4%), and two-term incumbent U.S. Representative Dick Mallary (R; 66,223 votes; 46.3%).[49][50] In 1979, Sanders resigned from the party and worked as a writer and the director of the nonprofit American People’s Historical Society (APHS).[51] While with the APHS, he made a 30-minute documentary about American Socialist leader and presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs.[31][52]
Mayor of Burlington
In 1981, at the suggestion of his close friend Richard Sugarman, a professor of religion at the University of Vermont, Sanders ran for mayor ofBurlington and defeated six-term Democratic incumbent Gordon Paquette by ten votes in a four-way contest on March 3, 1981.[53][54] Sanders was reelected three times, defeating both Democratic and Republican candidates. He received 53% of the vote in 1983 and 55% in 1985.[55] In his final run for mayor in 1987, Sanders defeated Paul Lafayette, a Democrat endorsed by both major parties.[56]
During Sanders’ first term, his supporters, including the first Citizens Party City Councilor Terry Bouricius, formed the Progressive Coalition, the forerunner of the Vermont Progressive Party.[57] The Progressives never held more than six seats on the 13-member city council, but they had enough votes to keep the council from overriding Sanders’ vetoes. Under Sanders, Burlington became the first city in the country to fund community-trust housing.[58]
During the 1980s, Sanders was a staunch critic of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America.[59] In 1985, Burlington City Hall hosted a foreign policy speech by Noam Chomsky. In his introduction, Sanders praised Chomsky as “a very vocal and important voice in the wilderness of intellectual life in America” and said he was “delighted to welcome a person who I think we’re all very proud of”.[60][61]
Sanders’ administration balanced the city budget and drew a minor league baseball team, the Vermont Reds, then the Double-A affiliate of theCincinnati Reds, to Burlington.[22] Under Sanders’ leadership, Burlington sued the local television cable franchise, winning reduced rates for customers.[22]
As mayor, Sanders led extensive downtown revitalization projects. One of his signature achievements was the improvement of Burlington’s Lake Champlain waterfront.[22] In 1981, Sanders campaigned against the unpopular plans by Tony Pomerleau, a Burlington developer, to convert the then-industrial[62] waterfront property owned by the Central Vermont Railway into expensive condominiums, hotels, and offices.[63] Sanders ran under the slogan “Burlington is not for sale” and successfully supported a plan that redeveloped the waterfront area into a mixed-use district featuring housing, parks, and public space.[63] Today, the waterfront area includes many parks and miles of public beach and bike paths, a boathouse, and a science center.[63] Burlington is now considered one of the most livable cities in the nation.[64][65]
In 1987, U.S News ranked Sanders as one of America’s best mayors.[66]
After serving four terms, Sanders chose not to seek reelection in 1989. He briefly taught political science at Harvard University‘s Kennedy School of Government that year and at Hamilton College in 1991.[67]
Sanders officially launched his candidacy for President of the United States at Waterfront Park in Burlington in 2015.[62]
U.S. House of Representatives
See also: Electoral history of Bernie Sanders
Elections
In 1988, incumbent Republican Congressman Jim Jeffords decided to run for the U.S. Senate, vacating the House seat representing Vermont’s at-large congressional district. Republican Lieutenant Governor Peter P. Smith won the House election with a plurality, securing 41% of the vote. Sanders, who ran as an independent, placed second with 38% of the vote, while Democratic State Representative Paul N. Poirier placed third with 19% of the vote.[68] Two years later, Sanders ran for the seat again and defeated the incumbent Smith by a margin of 56% to 40%.
Sanders was the first independent elected to the U.S. House of Representatives since Frazier Reams‘s election to represent Ohio 40 years earlier.[69] He served as a Representative for 16 years, winning reelection by large margins except during the 1994 Republican Revolution, when he won by 3.3%, with 49.8% of the vote.[70]
Tenure
Sanders in 1991
During his first year in the House, Sanders often alienated allies and colleagues with his criticism of both political parties as working primarily on behalf of the wealthy. In 1991, Sanders co-founded the Congressional Progressive Caucus, a group of mostly liberal Democrats that Sanders chaired for its first eight years.[22]
In 1993, Sanders voted against the Brady Bill, which mandated federal background checks and imposed a waiting period on firearm purchasers in the United States; the bill passed by a vote of 238–187.[71][72] In 2005, he voted for the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.[73] The act’s purpose was to prevent firearms manufacturers and dealers from being held liable for negligence when crimes have been committed with their products. In 2015, Sanders defended his vote, saying: “If somebody has a gun and it falls into the hands of a murderer and the murderer kills somebody with a gun, do you hold the gun manufacturer responsible? Not any more than you would hold a hammer company responsible if somebody beats somebody over the head with a hammer.”[74]
Sanders voted against the resolutions authorizing the use of force against Iraq in 1991 and 2002, and opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He voted for the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists[75] that has been cited as the legal justification for controversial military actions since the September 11 attacks.[76] Sanders voted for a non-binding resolution expressing support for troops at the outset of the invasion of Iraq, but gave a floor speech criticizing the partisan nature of the vote and theGeorge W. Bush administration’s actions in the run-up to the war. Regarding the investigation of what turned out to be a leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame‘s identity by a State Department official, Sanders stated: “The revelation that the President authorized the release of classified information in order to discredit an Iraq war critic should tell every member of Congress that the time is now for a serious investigation of how we got into the war in Iraq and why Congress can no longer act as a rubber stamp for the President.”[77]
Sanders was a consistent critic of the Patriot Act. As a member of Congress, he voted against the original Patriot Act legislation.[78] After its 357-to-66 passage in the House, Sanders sponsored and voted for several subsequent amendments and acts attempting to curtail its effects,[79] and voted against each reauthorization.[80] In June 2005, Sanders proposed an amendment to limit Patriot Act provisions that allow the government to obtain individuals’ library and book-buying records. The amendment passed the House by a bipartisan majority but was removed on November 4 of that year in House-Senate negotiations and never became law.[81]
In March 2006, after a series of resolutions passed in various Vermont towns calling for him to bring articles of impeachment against George W. Bush, Sanders stated that it would be “impractical to talk about impeachment” with Republicans in control of the House and Senate.[82] Still, Sanders made no secret of his opposition to the Bush Administration, which he regularly criticized for its cuts to social programs.[83][84][85]
Sanders was a vocal critic of Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan; in June 2003, during a question-and-answer discussion with the then-Chairman, Sanders told Greenspan that he was concerned that Greenspan was “way out of touch” and “that you see your major function in your position as the need to represent the wealthy and large corporations”.[86][87] Sanders said in 1998 that investment banks and commercial banks should remain separate entities.[88] In October 2008, after Sanders had been elected to the Senate, Greenspan admitted to Congress that his economic ideology was flawed.[89]
On November 2, 2005, Sanders voted against the Online Freedom of Speech Act, which would have exempted the Internet from the campaign finance restrictions of the McCain–Feingold Bill.[90]
U.S. Senate
Elections
Main articles: United States Senate election in Vermont, 2006 and United States Senate election in Vermont, 2012
Sanders being sworn in by Vice President Dick Cheney
Sanders entered the race for the U.S. Senate on April 21, 2005, after Senator Jim Jeffords announced that he would not seek a fourth term. Chuck Schumer, Chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, endorsed Sanders, a critical move as it meant that no Democrat running against Sanders could expect to receive financial help from the party. Sanders was also endorsed by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Democratic National Committee Chairman and former Vermont Governor Howard Dean. Dean said in May 2005 that he considered Sanders an ally who “votes with the Democrats 98% of the time”.[91] Then-Senator Barack Obama also campaigned for Sanders in Vermont in March 2006.[92] Sanders entered into an agreement with the Democratic Party, much as he had as a congressman, to be listed in their primary but to decline the nomination should he win, which he did.[93][94]
In the most expensive political campaign in Vermont’s history,[95] Sanders defeated businessman Rich Tarrant by an approximately 2-to-1 margin. Many national media outlets projected Sanders as the winner before any returns came in. He was reelected in 2012 with 71% of the vote.[96]
Tenure
Sanders listening to testimony by Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs Sloan D. Gibson, 2014
Polling conducted in August 2011 by Public Policy Polling found that Sanders’ approval rating was 67% and his disapproval rating 28%, making him then the third-most popular senator in the country.[97] Both the NAACP and the NHLA have given Sanders 100% voting scores during his tenure in the Senate.[98]
Budget
On September 24, 2008, Sanders posted an open letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson decrying the initial bank bailout proposal; it drew more than 8,000 citizen cosigners in 24 hours.[99] On January 26, 2009, Sanders and Democrats Robert Byrd, Russ Feingold, and Tom Harkin were the sole majority members to vote against confirming Timothy Geithner as United States Secretary of the Treasury.[100]
On December 10, 2010, Sanders delivered an 8½-hour speech against the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, the proposed extension of the Bush-era tax rates that eventually became law, saying “Enough is enough! … How many homes can you own?”[101] (A long speech such as this is commonly known as a filibuster, but because it didn’t block action, it was not technically a filibuster under Senate rules.)[8] In response to the speech, hundreds of people signed online petitions urging Sanders to run in the 2012 presidential election, and pollsters began measuring his support in key primary states.[102] Progressive activists such as Rabbi Michael Lerner and economist David Korten publicly voiced their support for a prospective Sanders run against President Barack Obama.[102]
Sanders’ speech was published in February 2011 by Nation Books as The Speech: A Historic Filibuster on Corporate Greed and the Decline of Our Middle Class, with authorial proceeds going to Vermont nonprofit charitable organizations.[103]
Senate Budget Committee
In January 2015, Sanders became the ranking minority member of the Senate Budget Committee.[4] He appointed economics professor Stephanie Kelton, a distinguished modern monetary theory scholar and self-described “deficit owl”, as the chief economic advisor for the committee’s Democratic minority[104] and presented a report aimed at helping “rebuild the disappearing middle class”, which included proposals to raise theminimum wage, boost infrastructure spending, and increase Social Security payments.[105]
Committee assignments
- Committee on the Budget (Ranking Member)
- Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
2016 presidential campaign
Main article: Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, 2016
.jpg)
Sanders campaigning in New Orleans, Louisiana, July 2015
Sanders announced his intention to seek the Democratic Party‘s nomination for president on April 30, 2015, in an address on the Capitol lawn.[106][107][108] His campaign was officially launched on May 26, 2015, inBurlington.[107]
In his announcement, Sanders said, “I don’t believe that the men and women who defended American democracy fought to create a situation where billionaires own the political process.”[106][107] His entry into the race was welcomed by Senator Elizabeth Warren, saying: “I’m glad to see him get out there and give his version of what leadership in this country should be.” On June 19, 2015, the “Ready For Warren” organization (Warren has resisted calls to become a candidate herself.[109]) endorsed Sanders and rebranded itself “Ready to Fight”.[110]
Unlike other presidential candidates, Sanders has stated that he will not pursue funding through a “Super PAC“, instead focusing on small individual donations.[111] Sanders’ presidential campaign raised $1.5 million within 24 hours of his official announcement.[112] After four days, Sanders’ campaign had raised $3 million from small donors, with an average of $43 per donation.[113] On July 2, the campaign announced that it had raised $15 million from 250,000 donors. On September 30, The New York Times reported that Sanders had raised $26 million over the preceding three months, exceeding Barack Obama‘s pace of fundraising in 2008; the campaign announced that it had reached one million individual donations, becoming the first 2016 candidate to reach that threshold.[114][115]
Sanders speaking in Minneapolis
Sanders has used social media to help his campaign gain momentum.[116] Along with posting content onTwitter and Facebook, he held an “Ask Me Anything” on Reddit on May 19. Sanders has also gained a large grassroots organizational following online. A July 29 meetup organized online brought 100,000 supporters to more than 3,500 simultaneous events nationwide.[117] Sanders has received over one million individual online donations. He has credited this to his “organic” approach to social media, and to writing his campaign’s online postings himself.[118]
On June 25, 2015, The New York Times noted that Sanders was “running right alongside [Clinton] in a statistical dead heat for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination” in the New Hampshire primaries, citing a CNN/WMUR poll.[119] The Guardian pointed out that when Clinton and Sanders made public appearances within days of each other in Des Moines, Iowa, Sanders drew larger crowds, even though he had already made numerous stops around the state and Clinton’s visit was her first in 2015.[120] By September 2015, polls had Sanders leading Clinton in both Iowa and New Hampshire, and in one poll, he had climbed to within 10 percentage points of her nationally.[121][122]
Sanders’ campaign events in June 2015 drew overflow crowds around the country, to his surprise.[123][124][125] On July 1, 2015, Sanders’ campaign stop in Madison, Wisconsin, drew the largest crowd of any 2016 presidential candidate to that date, with an estimated turnout of 10,000.[126][127] On July 18, he drew an even larger crowd in Arizona, with an estimated turnout of over 11,000.[128] On August 8, Sanders drew an estimated 15,000 in Seattle at the University of Washington’s Hec Edmundson Pavilion.[129] A day later, some 28,000 people attended a Sanders rally in Portland, Oregon.[130] On September 14, 2015, Sanders spoke at Liberty University, a highly Republican-influenced college, during their Convocation.[131] On September 18, 2015, the Sanders campaign posted a letter on its website from 128 artists and cultural leaders announcing their support for his candidacy.[132] On Nov. 12, 2015, the American Postal Workers’ Union announced that it was endorsing Sanders.[133]
Political positions
Income and wealth inequality[edit source | edit]
A cornerstone of Sanders’s campaign is to fight the increasing wealth inequality in the United States:
What we have seen is that while the average person is working longer hours for lower wages, we have seen a huge increase in income and wealth inequality, which is now reaching obscene levels. This is a rigged economy, which works for the rich and the powerful, and is not working for ordinary Americans … You know, this country just does not belong to a handful of billionaires.
— The Guardian (April 2015)[1]
In July 2015 Sanders introduced legislation that would incrementally increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by the year 2020.[2][3]
Taxes[edit source | edit]
Sanders supports repeal of some of the tax deductions that benefit hedge funds and corporations, and would raise taxes on capital gains and the wealthiest one percent of Americans. He would use some of the added revenues to lower the taxes of the middle and lower classes.[4][5] Sanders has suggested that he would be open to a 90% top marginal tax rate (a rate that last existed during the years after World War II) for the wealthiest earners,[6] and has proposed a top marginal rate of 65% for the federal estate tax, up from the current 40% rate.[7]
Wall Street reform[edit source | edit]
On May 6, 2015, Sanders introduced legislation to break up “too big to fail” financial institutions. With three of the four banks that were bailed out during the 2007–08 Global Financial Crisis now larger than they were then, Sanders believes that “no single financial institution should have holdings so extensive that its failure would send the world economy into crisis. If an institution is too big to fail, it is too big to exist.”[8][9] As a representative from Vermont, Sanders opposed the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act, signed into law in 1999 by then president Bill Clinton, which repealed the provision of the Glass–Steagall Act that prevents any financial institution from acting as both a securities firm and a commercial bank. Sanders supports legislation sponsored by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.)
Trade[edit source | edit]
Sanders is opposed to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, which he has called “a continuation of other disastrous trade agreements, likeNAFTA, CAFTA, and permanent normal trade relations with China.” He has said he believes Americans need to rebuild their own manufacturing base by using American factories and supporting decent-paying jobs for American labor rather than outsourcing to China and other countries.[4][11]
Jobs[edit source | edit]
Saying, “America once led the world in building and maintaining a nationwide network of safe and reliable bridges and roads. Today, nearly a quarter of the nation’s 600,000 bridges have been designated as structurally deficient or functionally obsolete…Almost one-third of America’s major roads are in poor or mediocre condition…,” Sanders has introduced amendments to Senate bills (S.Amendt.323) that promote the creation of millions of middle-class jobs by investing in infrastructure, paid for by closing loopholes in the corporate and international tax system.[12][13] He also supports legislation that would make it easier for workers to join or form a union.[14] Sanders’ campaign website has also recognized the plight of the long-term unemployed, citing that “the real unemployment rate is much higher than the “official” figure typically reported in the newspapers. When you include workers who have given up looking for jobs, or those who are working part time when they want to work full time, the real number is much higher than official figures would suggest.”[15]
Employee ownership[edit source | edit]
Sanders supports the establishment of worker-owned cooperatives and introduced legislation in June 2014 that would aid workers who wanted to “form their own businesses or to set up worker-owned cooperatives.”[14][16][17] As early as 1976, Sanders was a proponent of workplace democracy, saying, “I believe that, in the long run, major industries in this state and nation should be publicly owned and controlled by the workers themselves.”[18]
Offshore tax havens[edit source | edit]
Noting that American corporations are collectively holding more than $1 trillion in profits in offshore tax haven countries, Sanders has introduced legislation that would crack down on offshore tax havens by requiring them to pay the top U.S. corporate tax rate on profits held abroad.[19] At his website Sanders offers examples of large American companies that paid no federal taxes and even received tax refunds, with many of them receiving large amounts in financial assistance during the recent financial crisis and continuing to receive billions in subsidies.[20] Sanders feels this is unfair and damages America’s economy, believing the money used for refunds and subsidies should instead be invested in American small businesses and the working people.[21]
Environment[edit source | edit]
Global warming[edit source | edit]
Sanders considers global warming a serious problem.[22] Along with Senator Barbara Boxer, Sanders introduced the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act of 2007 on January 15, 2007.[23] In a July 26, 2012 speech on the Senate floor, Sanders addressed claims made by Senator Jim Inhofe: “The bottom line is when Senator Inhofe says global warming is a hoax, he is just dead wrong, according to the vast majority of climate scientists.”[24] He was Climate Hawks Vote‘s top-rated senator on climate leadership in the 113th Congress.[25]
Believing that “[we need to] transform our energy system away from fossil fuel,” Sanders voted against the Keystone Pipeline bill, saying, “Unless we get our act together, the planet that we’re going to be leaving to our kids and grandchildren will be significantly less habitable than the planet we have right now…I think it’s a good idea for the president, Congress, and the American people to listen to the overwhelming amount of scientists who tell us loudly and clearly that climate change is one of the great planetary crises that we face.”[26]
Nuclear energy[edit source | edit]
Following the 2011 Japanese nuclear accidents, Sanders called for a moratorium on the licensing of new nuclear plants and re-licensing of existing ones, in an effort to slow down what has been touted as a nuclear renaissance in the United States.[27] Sanders wrote to President Obama asking him to appoint a special commission to review the safety of U.S. nuclear plants. Sanders also wants to repeal a federal law that he says leaves the taxpayers to pay most of the costs of a major nuclear accident. He says, “in a free-enterprise system, the nuclear industry should be required to insure itself against accidents.”[27]
Sanders has gone on record against the government financial backing of the nuclear industry, which he calls “nuclear welfare”.[28] Additionally, he expresses concern over the logistics and fiscal challenges of nuclear waste.[28] He has spoken in favor of sustainable alternatives and cites Vermont as a state leading such endeavors, saying in regard to opposition of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission‘s 2011 extension (just one week after the Japanese accidents) of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant‘s operating license, “In my state there is a strong feeling that we want to go forward with energy efficiency and sustainable energy. I believe that we have that right. I believe that every other state in the country has that right. If we want to move to sustainable energy and not maintain an aging, trouble-plagued nuclear power plant, I think we should be allowed to do that.”[29]
Transparency and corruption[edit source | edit]
Campaign finance[edit source | edit]
Sanders supports the DISCLOSE Act, which would make campaign finances more transparent and ban U.S. corporations controlled by foreign interests from making political expenditures.[30] He has been outspoken in calling for an overturn of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, in which the Supreme Court overturned McCain-Feingold restrictions on political spending by corporations and unions as a violation of the First Amendment.[31] Saying that he believes that the Citizens United decision is “one of the Supreme Court’s worst decisions ever” and that it has allowed big money to “deflect attention from the real issues” facing voters,[32] he has proposed a constitutional amendment to undo the ruling.[33] He warns: “We now have a political situation where billionaires are literally able to buy elections and candidates.”[34]
Instant runoff voting[edit source | edit]
In 2007, Sanders testified to the Vermont Senate Government Operations Committee that he “strongly supports Instant-Runoff Voting” because it “allows people to vote for what they really want without worrying about the possibility of them getting what they really don’t want.”[35] The committee and legislature ultimately passed legislation that would have enacted instant runoff voting for U.S. Representatives and U.S. Senators, but the governor vetoed it.[36]
Media reform[edit source | edit]
Sanders has been a leader in calling for media reform and opposes increased concentration of ownership of media outlets,[37] as well as being a contributing author for OpEdNews.[38] He appeared in Orwell Rolls in His Grave and Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism, two documentaries on the subject.[39]
Foreign policy and national security[edit source | edit]
Israeli–Palestinian conflict[edit source | edit]
Sanders supports a Two-state solution, saying that “the Palestinian people, in my view, deserve a state of their own, they deserve an economy of their own, they deserve economic support from the people of this country. And Israel needs to be able to live in security without terrorist attacks.”[40]Sanders has said Israel must have a right to live in peace and security. [41]
According to the Bernie Sanders senate webpage, Writing for Salon, David Palumbo-Liu noted (wrongly) that Sen. Sanders “voted” for the resolution (supporting Operation Protective Edge) which actually passed without a vote.[42] A statement published on his Senate website reads in part: “Sanders believes the Israeli attacks that killed hundreds of innocent people – including many women and children – in bombings of civilian neighborhoods and UN controlled schools, hospitals, and refugee camps were disproportionate, and the widespread killing of civilians is completely unacceptable. Israel’s actions took an enormous human toll, and appeared to strengthen support for Hamas and may well be sowing the seeds for even more hatred, war and destruction in future years.”[40]
Iraq[edit source | edit]
Sanders strongly opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq and voted against the 2002 resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq. In a 2002 speech, he said, “I am opposed to giving the President a blank check to launch a unilateral invasion and occupation of Iraq” and “I will vote against this resolution. One, I have not heard any estimates of how many young American men and women might die in such a war or how many tens of thousands of women and children in Iraq might also be killed. As a caring Nation, we should do everything we can to prevent the horrible suffering that a war will cause. War must be the last recourse in international relations, not the first. Second, I am deeply concerned about the precedent that a unilateral invasion of Iraq could establish in terms of international law and the role of the United Nations.”[43]
Sanders has called the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) “a barbaric organization” and “a growing threat,” but does not believe that the U.S. should lead the fight against it. Sanders believes that “the United States should be supportive, along with other countries, but we cannot and we should not be involved in perpetual warfare in the Middle East–the Muslim Countries themselves must lead the effort.”[44]
Iran[edit source | edit]
Sanders supports the agreement with Iran reached by President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry. While calling it less than a perfect agreement, he believes that the United States needs to negotiate with Iran rather than enter in yet another war in the Middle East.[45]
Surveillance[edit source | edit]
Sanders has long been critical of U.S. government surveillance policies. He voted against the USA PATRIOT Act and all of its renewals and has characterized the National Security Agency as “out of control.” He has frequently criticized warrantless wiretapping and the collection of the phone, email, library, and internet browsing records of American citizens without due process:[46]
In my view, the NSA is out of control and operating in an unconstitutional manner. I worry very much about kids growing up in a society where they think ‘I’m not going to talk about this issue, read this book, or explore this idea because someone may think I’m a terrorist.’ That is not the kind of free society I want for our children.[47]
During the first Democratic presidential debate in October 2015 the candidates were asked for their opinion of whistle blower Edward Snowden. When asked the question “hero or traitor?” Sanders replied, “I think Snowden played a very important role in educating the American people to the degree in which our civil liberties and our constitutional rights are being undermined. He did—he did break the law, and I think there should be a penalty to that. But I think what he did in educating us should be taken into consideration.” Journalist Norman Solomon praised Sanders’s reply saying, “I think Bernie Sanders handled it the best in terms of scoping out and describing the terrain. And for the most part, I think Edward Snowden would probably agree with what he said.”[48]
Veterans[edit source | edit]
Sanders won the 2014 Col. Arthur T. Marix Congressional Leadership Award from the Military Officers Association of America for his leadership in support of veterans.[49] Sanders introduced the Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2013 (S. 893; 113th Congress) into the Senate on May 8, 2013.[50] The bill would increase the disability compensation rate for American veterans and their families.[51] Sanders co-wrote, with Senator John McCain, the Veterans’ Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act of 2014, a bill intended to reform theUnited States Department of Veterans Affairs in response to the Veterans Health Administration scandal of 2014.[52]
Cuba[edit source | edit]
On April 14, 2015, after the White House announced that President Barack Obama intended to remove Cuba from the United States’ list of nations that sponsor terrorism, Sanders issued a statement saying: “While we have our strong differences with Cuba, it is not a terrorist state. I applaud President Obama for moving aggressively to develop normal diplomatic relations. Fifty years of Cold War is enough. It is time for Cuba and the United States to turn the page and normalize relations.”[20]
Education[edit source | edit]
Early childhood[edit source | edit]
Drawing figures from a recent report that ranks the U.S. 33rd out of 36 nations in reading literacy, 27th in mathematical literacy, 22nd in science literacy, and 18th overall in secondary education, Sanders has said, “In a society with our resources, it is unconscionable to that we do not properly invest in our children from the very first stages of their lives”. He has introduced legislation to provide child care and early education to all children six weeks old through kindergarten. Sanders believes that “the Foundations for Success Act would provide preschool children with a full range of services, leading to success in school and critical support for hard-pressed families nationwide.”[53][54][55]
Student loans[edit source | edit]
See also: Student debt
Sanders has long been an advocate of making college more affordable. He has spoken out against the high interest rates on federal student loans, noting that in the next ten years, the federal government will profit by as much as $127 billion from them. He has also criticized President Obama for signing legislation that temporarily freeze student loan interest rates in exchange for allowing the rates to reach historic highs over the next two years. Sanders believes tax reform is the solution, and has developed a plan to bring matching grants from the federal and state governments to cut tuition at public universities by more than half. He has criticized both Republicans and Democrats for failing to institute reforms that will stop predatory lending practices in the student loan market.[56]
Tuition-free public universities[edit source | edit]
Sanders is in favor of public funding for college students. He believes “we live in a highly competitive global economy and, if our economy is to be strong, we need the best-educated work force in the world.” He further maintains that many other developed nations in Western Europe have long taken this approach to higher education. Sanders expects his plan to meet strong opposition from the Republican Party, but says it is ultimately “the American people” who will determine its failure or success.[57]
On May 19, 2015, Sanders introduced the College for All Act (S.1373), which would use a Robin Hood tax of 50 cents on every “$100 of stock trades on stock sales” to fund tuition at four-year public colleges and universities for students who meet admission standards.[58][59][60] In addition, the Robin Hood tax would include a .5% speculation fee to be charged on investment houses, hedge funds, and other stock trades, while a .1% fee would be charged on bonds, and a .005% fee on derivatives.[61]
Health care[edit source | edit]
Sanders is a staunch supporter of a universal health care system, and has said, “If you are serious about real healthcare reform, the only way to go is single-payer.”[62] He advocates lowering the cost of drugs that are high because they remain under patent for years; some drugs that cost thousands of dollars per year in the U.S. are available for hundreds, or less, in countries where they can be obtained as generics.[63]
As chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging, Sanders has introduced legislation to reauthorize and strengthen the Older Americans Act, which supports Meals on Wheels and other programs for seniors. Sanders believes that supporting seniors “is not only the right thing to do, it is the financially smart thing to do”, because it decreases expensive hospitalizations and allows seniors to remain in their homes.[64]
NARAL Pro-Choice America has given Sanders a 100% score on his pro-choice voting record.[65]
Social issues[edit source | edit]
Paid leave[edit source | edit]
Sanders has become a prominent supporter of laws requiring companies to provide their workers parental leave, sick leave, and vacation time, arguing that such laws have been adopted by almost every developed country, and that there are significant disparities among the types of workers who have access to paid sick and paid vacation time.[53][54]
Sanders’s Guaranteed Paid Vacation Act (S.1564) would mandate that companies provide 10 days of paid vacation for employees who have worked for them for at least one year. He is cosponsoring a Senate bill that would give mothers and fathers 12 weeks of paid family leave to care for a baby. It would also allow workers to take the same amount of paid time off if they are diagnosed with cancer or have other serious medical conditions or to take care of family members who are seriously ill. Sanders has also cosponsored a bill that would guarantee workers at least seven paid sick days per year for short-term illness, routine medical care, or to care for a sick family member.[53][54]
Gun control[edit source | edit]
Sanders supports banning certain semi-automatic weapons and closing an existing loophole that allows buyers to skirt regulations when making a purchase at a gun show. He is also in favor of instant background checks for gun owners.[66]
In the House of Representatives, Sanders voted against the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act that required federal background checks on firearm purchasers in the United States. In the United States Senate Sanders voted for the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.[67]When asked, Sanders stated that his opposition was due to a states’ rights issue with nationally legislated waiting periods.[68] Speaking to CNN‘s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union“, Sanders said, “If somebody has a gun and it falls into the hands of a murderer and the murderer kills somebody with a gun, do you hold the gun manufacturer responsible? Not any more than you would hold a hammer company responsible if somebody beats somebody over the head with a hammer.” Sanders has said, “we have millions of people who are gun owners in this country — 99.9% of those people obey the law. I want to see real, serious debate and action on guns, but it is not going to take place if we simply have extreme positions on both sides. I think I can bring us to the middle.”[66]
Criminal justice reform[edit source | edit]
Sanders has called for reforms to sentencing guidelines, drug policy, and use of force policies within police departments. Noting that there are more people incarcerated in the U.S. than any country in the world at an annual cost to taxpayers of $70 billion, Sanders argues that the money would be better spent on education and jobs. He has spoken out against police brutality and the uneven rates of arrest of African-Americans and other minorities, saying: “From Ferguson to Baltimore and across this nation, too many African-Americans and other minorities find themselves subjected to a system that treats citizens who have not committed crimes as if they were criminals and that is unacceptable.”[69] Following the release of footage depicting the arrest of African American Sandra Bland for a minor traffic violation, Sanders strongly condemned the “totally outrageous police behavior” shown in the video, stating that: “This video highlights once again why we need real police reform. People should not die for a minor traffic infraction. This type of police abuse has become an all-too-common occurrence for people of color and it must stop.”[20]
Sanders has also spoken out against the privatization of prisons throughout the United States, stating:
It is morally repugnant and a national tragedy that we have privatized prisons all over America. In my view, corporations should not be allowed to make a profit by building more jails and keeping more Americans behind bars. We have got to end the private-for-profit prison racket in America!
— Remarks by Senator Sanders to the National Urban League (July 2015).[70]
On September 17, 2015, Sanders introduced the “Justice Is Not for Sale” Act,[71] which prohibits the United States government at federal, state and local levels from contracting with private firms to provide and/or operate detention facilities within two years. He noted that “We cannot fix our criminal justice system if corporations are allowed to profit from mass incarceration.”[72][73]
Death penalty[edit source | edit]
Sanders has been a strong opponent of the death penalty throughout his political career.[74]
LGBT rights[edit source | edit]
In a letter he published in the early 1970s, when he was a candidate for governor of Vermont, Sanders called for the abolition of all laws against homosexuality.[75]
In the 1980s, Sanders supported the designation of the Burlington “Lesbian and Gay Pride Day” as the mayor of the city and signed a resolution recommending that all levels of government support gay rights.[76]
In the House, Sanders voted against the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996.[77] The bill was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on September 21, 1996.
Vermont was the first state to legalize same-sex unions in 2000 and in 2009 was the first state to legalize same-sex marriage by statute. When the Supreme Court took up the issue in 2015, Sanders issued a statement reaffirming his support, saying gay Americans in every state should be allowed to marry: “Of course all citizens deserve equal rights. It’s time for the Supreme Court to catch up to the American people and legalize gay marriage.”[78]
Immigration[edit source | edit]
Sanders voted for the comprehensive immigration reform bill in 2013,[79] saying, “It does not make a lot of sense to me to bring hundreds of thousands of [foreign] workers into this country to work for minimum wage and compete with American kids.” Sanders opposes guest worker programs[80] and is also skeptical about skilled immigrant (H-1B) visas, saying, “Last year, the top 10 employers of H-1B guest workers were all offshore outsourcing companies. These firms are responsible for shipping large numbers of American information technology jobs to India and other countries.”[81] He believes a path to citizenship should be created for new immigrants.[82]
Racial justice[edit source | edit]
Sanders was a civil rights organizer at the University of Chicago in the 1960s, and has been rated 100% by the NAACP for his civil rights voting record. In 1988, Sanders worked for Jesse Jackson‘s presidential campaign saying: “Jesse Jackson uniquely and alone has shown the courage to tackle the most important and basic issues facing working class Americans, poor people, elderly people, environmentalists, peace activists, women, and America’s minorities.”[83]
As part of his 2016 presidential platform, Sanders calls for an end to “the four central types of violence waged against black and brown Americans: physical, political, legal and economic.”[84][85] Speaking on these issues, Sanders says:
It is an obscenity that we stigmatize so many young Americans with a criminal record for smoking marijuana, but not one major Wall Street executive has been prosecuted for causing the near collapse of our entire economy. This must change. We must address the lingering unjust stereotypes that lead to the labeling of black youths as “thugs.” We know the truth that, like every community in this country, the vast majority of people of color are trying to work hard, play by the rules and raise their children. It’s time to stop demonizing minority communities.
Church and state[edit source | edit]
Sanders is rated by Americans United for Separation of Church and State as strongly in favor of the separation of church and state.[86]
Genetically engineered food[edit source | edit]
In 2012 Sanders, along with Senator Barbara Boxer, introduced an amendment which would have given states the right to require labels on food products which are genetically engineered. The bill has been passed by the House Agriculture Committee by a vote of nine to one, but not the full House.[26]
Cannabis legalization[edit source | edit]
On October 28th, 2015, Sanders expressed his support for the decriminalization and eventual legalization of Cannabis by way of its removal as aSchedule I drug at the federal level, completely removing it from the list of dangerous substances outlawed by the federal government clearing the way for it to be fully legalized at the state level unimpeded by the federal government. Sanders is also in favor of the sale and tax of marijuana at the state level in a similar manner to alcohol and tobacco.[87][88]
Interest group ratings[edit source | edit]
| Bernie Sanders’ ratings from advocacy organizations[89] | |||
| Group | Advocacy issue(s) | Rating | Year |
| ACLU | Civil and Political Rights | 100% | 2014 |
| AFBF | Agriculture | 83% | 2014 |
| AFL-CIO | Labor Unions | 100% | 2013 |
| ARA | Senior Citizens | 100% | 2014 |
| HRC | LGBTQ Rights | 100% | 2014 |
| LWV | Civic Engagement | 89% | 2007 |
| NAACP | Minorities and Affirmative Action | 100% | 2014 |
| NARAL | Abortion, Pro-Choice | 100% | 2014 |
| NFU | Farmer’s Union | 90% | 2012 |
| NRA | Gun Ownership | 8% | 2012 |
| NTU | Tax Policy, Conservative | 5% | 2013[90] |
| PPFA | Reproductive Health | 100% | 2014 |
| SEIU | Service Union | 100% | 2012 |