Sanders Calls For Progressive Meeting, Alternative To Fiscal Commission

WASHINGTON -- Clearly displeased with the initial deficit-reduction recommendations offered by the fiscal commission chairmen, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced on Friday that he will craft and introduce his own proposals as an alternative.

The Vermont Independent said that he will work with members of Congress, labor unions, seniors' organizations and others to develop alternative suggestions. And while he didn't get into the weeds, he did offer a few general areas that he hopes to target, including ending Bush-era tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans, chopping off Cold War-era Pentagon programs and eliminating of tax credits for big oil companies.

Of the ideas pushed by the commission co-chairmen -- former Sen. Alan K. Simpson and Erskine Bowles, former President Bill Clinton's former chief of staff -- Sanders offered the following:

"It is no surprise that these two favor draconian cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the needs of our veterans, and education while proposing tax reductions for the wealthy and large profitable corporations... Simpson is a darling of the Republican right wing and Bowles is a former investment banker who made a fortune on Wall Street. Their plan was floated amid reports that the two were struggling to cobble together enough support on their own commission to go forward by a Dec. 1 deadline."

The likelihood that a progressive alternative for deficit reduction would get a vote in the Senate, let alone a hearing, is slimmer than the chances of Simpson and Bowles' recommendations making it to the floor unscathed. But Sander's effort isn't necessarily about getting a vote. Rather, there is, currently, one blueprint being offered for the task of deficit reduction and it's largely anathema to the progressive community. Having a second proposal out there serves the purpose of giving the negotiations a bit of bearing.

"We all know that there are a number of fair and progressive ways to address the deficit crisis that would not harm the middle class and those who have already lost their jobs, homes, life savings and ability to send their kids to college," Sanders writes, in a letter to those he's inviting for discussions. "The time has come to put these proposals into a package so that the progressive view becomes a part of the national discussion."

sandersletter

Comments

[Dan Stewart]

03:33 PM on 11/15/2010

It'll be a small meeting.  Him and Dennis Kucinich.

[liberaldawg]

03:25 PM on 11/15/2010

When Russ Feingold leaves the senate, sanders may be the only progressive
left.

[LucieLee]

03:45 PM on 11/15/2010

No......There's Sens. Sherrod Brown and Barbara Boxer

[Chuck Mak]

03:21 PM on 11/15/2010

Bernie Sanders, one of the few sane ones on Capitol Hill. As a bonus, he's an Independent and not affiliated w/ any political party.

[HalEBurton]

03:42 PM on 11/15/2010

I wouldn't characterize it as a "bonus" I would say it was a direct correlation.

[Jimtoday]

01:38 PM on 11/15/2010

Bernie Sanders is a hero.

[libwithaclue]

03:18 PM on 11/15/2010

We'd on the road to greatness if we had 50 Bernie Sanders in the US Senate. F&F

[wyldthings]

01:18 PM on 11/15/2010

You can hold the meeting in California the home of progressives

[ProudLiberalDan]

02:17 PM on 11/15/2010

As a Californian, and a progressive, I welcome such a meeting here.

[AMCD]

12:17 PM on 11/15/2010

Send emails to every one of your representatives. And the White House.

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

They need to hear from us.

[wollstonecraft]

01:46 PM on 11/15/2010

Thanks. I carry my elected officials' contact information around in my wallet. I try to contact them often. Trouble is, I don't think enough other people do that.

[lakabux]

02:26 PM on 11/15/2010

Include a check for a coupla thou. No money, no see.

[katylied]

12:14 PM on 11/15/2010

This is my favorite Sanders rant. Fast forward to 26:30 and listen to the caller from AZ who accuses him of being a Communist and engaging in 'class warfare'...Priceless. Love 'ya Bernie....

http://www.bernie.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=155:video-sen-sanders-on-washington-journal-cspan&catid=39:audiovideo&Itemid=96

[AMCD]

12:31 PM on 11/15/2010

Thank you for that post. I listened not only to that caller but the caller afterward who was from Texas and said her water and sewage bill, flat rate, before using any water, was $154 per month.

Like Sanders said, if we let them the corporations will charge us for the air we breath.

[katylied]

12:36 PM on 11/15/2010

I'm jealous of VT. They have Sanders and Whitehouse (love that name). We have Nelson and Rube-io...sigh....

[katylied]

12:39 PM on 11/15/2010

Oops, Whitehouse is from RI....still like him :)

[wollstonecraft]

01:51 PM on 11/15/2010

The "communist," "Marxist," and "socialist" word bombs kill me, especially when those hurling them throw in "fascist."

As to the first three, in this political climate, no Marxist, communist, or socialist could get far, with rare exceptions (Dennis Kucinich, for instance). Certainly, no one with those politics could get within fifty miles of the presidency, but Obama gets called all three a gazillion times a day. Anyone flinging those names around loses all credibility. They're clueless about today's political realities. The country has been yanked to the right in recent decades, and apparently, for some it hasn't been yanked far enough to the right. That's scary.

[Arjala]

11:52 AM on 11/15/2010

I'd vote for Bernie--he is consistently speaking out on progressive and sensible agenda; no matter what the opposition. Bernie is a Warrior for the Good of the People.

[tr88]

03:09 PM on 11/15/2010

As long as those people are tax takers, not payers.

[dsgeorge]

11:38 AM on 11/15/2010

love Senator Sanders.....he speaks truth to power.

[dmezz1962]

11:16 AM on 11/15/2010

all you need to read is "He will work with labor unions to draw up a bill" Guess whose gonna come out on top on this bill.

Unions are more corrupted than anyone.

Funny the Unions claim they are for you but my farther in law worked his whole life and was supposed to get a pension of $8,000 a month which the moment he retired went to $5,000 and then the market went from 11000 to 7000 they cut it again to $3,000 and now that the market is back at 11000 they said they still cant afford to bring it up but they maybe able to get him $3500

These people are crooks who just use all the money to get political favors tat ONLY help te union bosses not the workers they claim to represent

[Whipkey]

02:08 PM on 11/15/2010

It's not the union that gives out pensions, it's the company your father in law worked for that is screwing him.

[EndSeparateness]

11:05 AM on 11/15/2010

vote progressive....real ideas real solutions...

[toolology]

01:46 PM on 11/15/2010

Nope. Never gonna happen. Even though I share a couple beliefs but overall, I'm a staunch conservative.

[deepseas]

02:31 PM on 11/15/2010

Staunch = stubborn. Sticking to the same think without noticing it no longer works and the party you once loved has moved so far right is dangerous. Many conservatives of years gone by do not recognize the republican party today. Wake up.

[Mugzi]

04:07 PM on 11/15/2010

Therein lies YOUR problem!

[AMCD]

11:00 AM on 11/15/2010

When are we going to stop this madness? How can they talk about cutting Social Security? It would be solvent if both parties didn't raid its funds to spend on tax cuts and pork barrel projects!

But now, after they raided the piggy bank, are claiming that SS is out of money. How convenient.

Instead of going after fraud and waste first. They want to cut benefits. Instead of looking at non essential spending. They want to take away the safety net. Instead of asking the more fortunate to kick in a little more. They want to pile on more debt on the less fortunate.

That is not the America I know. They've perverted the American Dream. It's now the American Nightmare with the Christian Taliban at the helm.

[Jimtoday]

01:39 PM on 11/15/2010

It still IS solvent and has run a surplus for 75 straight years!

[myke3000]

11:00 AM on 11/15/2010

Thank you, Senator Sanders.

A lone reasonable voice based on facts and service to our country and to the benefit of the weakest of its citizenry, who should have a voice. Thank you, Senator and God Speed with your commission.

[osage]

10:48 AM on 11/15/2010

THE OBAMA WHITE HOUSE HAS BEEN A DISASTER FOR THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY

The Republicans and or Teabaggers didn't create the disillusionment of Democrats; the Obama, Biden, Emanuel, Gibbs, Summers, Geithner WHITE HOUSE DID!

The ARROGANT STUPIDITY of taking liberals and progressives for granted was immeasurably DESTRUCTIVE!

The abandonment of Howard Dean was TREACHEROUS and SELF-DEFEATING! How many new Democrats did Tim Kaine and Rahm Emanuel get elected?

The mishandling of the health care reform bill was a smoke and mirrors face-saving public relations catastrophe!

Openly and repeatedly criticizing the "professional left" was political FRATRICIDE. It made liberals and progressives FEEL BETRAYED!

Negotiating with Republicans, Blue Dogs, the religious right and perpetuating Bush's wars, legal battles, secrecy and corporate protectionism and or favoritism, while the working class was losing their jobs and their homes, made traditional Democrats feel HOPELESSLY FORSAKEN!

Who was the Obama White House’s political advisor……Karl Rove?

Democrats should have blown the looney tunes GOP away, but due to the repeated POLITICAL miscalculations of the selectively deaf and dumb Obama White House, the looney tunes GOP is staging what should have been an IMPOSSIBLE comeback. This should never have happened. To deny that the Obama White House created and or enabled it is every bit as self-delusional as today’s Teabaggers believing that Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Bachmann, Sean Hannity and Jim DeMint are selfless humble servants of “we the people”.

[AMCD]

12:33 PM on 11/15/2010

I couldn't agree with you more. F&F'd!!

[workinguy]

02:34 PM on 11/15/2010

As usual...DEAD ON.

[kirotahoe]

10:30 AM on 11/15/2010

Until we realize that the real problem in this country is the gap between rich and poor, we are doomed to continue jousting at windmills. Fix the distribution of wealth problem and everything else takes care of itself. There are plenty of entrepreneurs who can create jobs, they just don't have access to money. Somehow, the rich need to be curbed. Raising taxes on them just passes the cost back to consumers as they raise prices on their goods and services in order to recoup their losses. These greedy bastards at the top will always take from regular people rather than themselves. We must find a way to truly take back our government from the rich and powerful.

[Rob Rice]

10:52 AM on 11/15/2010

One problem...poor conservative voters don't care how the rich got rich. They believe it's their right to be rich by any means possible. Think about it. This goes deeper than economics. The only thing you can really hope for is time, which is constant.

[Mugzi]

04:09 PM on 11/15/2010

Seems our Pres has said this over and over...and the repub call him socialist...