Bernie Sanders

Right now in America we have the most unequal distribution of wealth and income of any major country on Earth.

The middle class is disappearing.

I do know that Bank of America gets too many privileges relative to what they produce for the rest of us.

The top 1 percent is earning more than 100 percent of all new income.

The top 1 percent owning 38 percent of the wealth, the bottom 60 percent owning 2.3 percent of the wealth.

Well, I would point out that we have introduced legislation, Madam Chair, to do just that. It would bring in $590 billion over a 10-year period.

I see opportunities to invest that are not being taken advantage of, and the opportunities that I see are the opportunities to invest in the 310 million Americans who are here.

Do you balance the budget on the backs of disabled veterans and the most vulnerable people in this country, or do you ask billionaires and very profitable corporations to pay more?

Well, on that issue I think you do not have to tell the people in this room up here. We know that very well.

I do not believe that is the way you treat disabled veterans in this country.

Some 45,000 Americans die each year because they do not get to a doctor when they should.

There are 50 million in America who have no health insurance.

I vigorously oppose, along with the AFL-CIO, every veterans' organization, every senior organization, every disability organization, is the so-called chained CPI.

Real unemployment today is over 14 percent.

That one family owns more wealth than the bottom 40 percent of the American people.

The United States is the only country in the industrialized world that does not guarantee health care to all people as a right.

We have the highest rate of childhood poverty in the industrialized world.

Do you think we should end the welfare program to the wealthiest family in America by raising the minimum wage?

I have been getting around a little bit, going to some facilities, and, again, as I mentioned, I was at my own facility in Vermont just this Saturday.

This is very cost-effective care. Preventing the complications of diabetes not only enhances people's lives, but it saves money.

The effective tax rate is just 12 percent, and, in fact, in 2011--corporate revenue as a percentage of GDP was just 1.2 percent lower than any other major country in the OECD.

But are you really suggesting to me, when the GAO tells us we are losing $180 billion per year, there is no way to capture revenue from corporate tax loopholes to help us with deficit reduction that is preferable than cutting Social…

I want to congratulate you. And, again, as the Secretary knows, my major criticism of the VA is they forget to tell the world what they are doing.

Type 2 diabetes is an epidemic in this country, and the veteran population is not being spared that.

I just spent several hours on Saturday in White River Junction and being very impressed by some of the work they are doing in terms of diabetes prevention.