Bernie Sanders

Does that concern you, that the collective amount coming into the Federal Government from corporations, in general, have declined precipitously?

Maybe, if we are serious about deficit reduction, rather than cutting Social Security or Medicare, we might want to examine that reality.

At a time when the U.S. spends more on the Pentagon than the next nine countries combined, and when over half of our discretionary spending goes to the Pentagon, we have got to pay close attention to this issue.

Does it concern you that we have seen a massive shift in income and wealth inequality in this country so that we have the highest proportion of inequality in the world?

The Federal minimum wage today of $7.25 an hour is a starvation wage

The situation has become so absurd that the Pentagon is unable to even account for how it spends its money.

I suspect on this issue you are right, there should be a nonpartisan approach.

I think the history of the last number of decades is that we have taken from the middle class and the working families of this country and given to the super rich.

The answer is spending is one cause of deficit, but not raising revenue is another cause of deficit.

If that massive transfer of wealth and income did not take place, Social Security would be in much better financial shape

The fact of the matter is that over the last 40 years, under Democratic and Republican leadership, we have witnessed an enormous transfer of wealth from the middle class and the poor to multimillionaires and billionaires.

I find it a little bit strange that some of my deficit hawk friends who want to cut Social Security or Medicare or Medicaid forgot to pay for two wars.

Everybody has health insurance, so maybe we should have a hearing here as to how that works.

I love the idea that we brought somebody from Europe to be with us today. I think that is a great idea, and I think we should do more of it.

I know that the oil companies have huge clout around here. They do not need subsidies.

If the debt is just a stalking horse for an attack on social programs--on Medicare, on Social Security, on other things--and if it is defined, as it has been defined in this very hearing, as an overspending problem, and my colleagues…

If we are serious about dealing with the deficit, we are going to have to look at revenue.

Today millions of Americans are working longer hours for low wages. We have the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country on Earth.

Under President Bush, my Republican colleagues passed huge tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires and some of the most profitable corporations in this country.

In this country, do you know what the number is?

How does a person with a disability survive out on the street when the weather gets, in my State, 10 below zero?

I would hope very much that we in the Senate will move to confirm you and remove the 'Acting' from your title.

So the bottom line is, short term, we have to do what has been done 11 times in the past. Long term, we have to work together to make Social Security solvent for our kids and our grandchildren.

My understanding is that for someone who is fully disabled in Holland, they would receive benefits equivalent to about 85 percent of what their previous income was.

Let us sit down and figure out how we do not kick the can down the road.