Bernie Sanders

These are enormously profitable corporations that in some recent years have paid zero in Federal income taxes.

If we are serious about lowering the deficit and the debt, the best way to do that is not by developing an austerity program which increases suffering for those already hurting.

I thank you for your advice, but that is advice that this Senator will not accept.

That is exactly what the Republican budget will be doing, taking from the working people and the poor and giving to the wealthy and large corporations

The wealthiest family in this country--one family--owns more wealth than the bottom 42 percent of the American people

We are going to hear from witnesses who suggest that in the midst of this massive income and wealth inequality, that we cut programs that the elderly, the children, the sick, the poor, and working families desperately depend upon

The top one percent earns more income than the bottom 50 percent

For most Americans, the economic reality of today is pretty clear.

The typical female worker is making $1,300 less than she did in 2007.

Real unemployment is not 5.5 percent, it is 11 percent.

Despite the modest gains of the Affordable Care Act, 40 million Americans continue to have no health insurance.

But bottom line is spending money on enforcement will bring in a lot more money than we are spending--

Clearly, every branch of Government can and must be more efficient and effective.

You think we should have zero corporate taxes in America?

The IRS has estimated that each and every year about $350 billion in taxes go uncollected.

The Pentagon could not account for some $2.3 trillion in transactions.

We must also consider the population that is under 65, because there will be a greater focus on prevention.

What I would say to my colleagues... when folks want more and more money... we do not even know how they are spending their money right now.

14 years later, the Pentagon still cannot pass an audit.

But the other thing, what we know is when you invest in the IRS--and they can do the audits--we bring in significant amounts of money for every dollar we spend in funding the IRS.

The truth is when we speak about discretionary spending, the money is in the Defense Department.

Medicare today is about cancer, it is about diabetes, it is about heart disease, it is about stroke.

Hedge fund managers get a tax benefit that the witnesses have already condemned through the carried interest exception, and as a result, in the recent years they have had tax rates that are lower than the tax rates for Rhode Islanders who…

So please do not paint me into the corner of being an obstructionist or partisan about doing something about the debt when you have taken the biggest part of the problem and ruled it off limits.

Am I correct that you also understand that in an economy where 70 percent of our GDP is based on consumer demand, that when we have millions and millions of people who have literally no disposable income, it is going to be hard to grow the…