Bernie Sanders

What we are fighting for now is not only the programs whether it`s child care or pre-k or climate change. What we are fighting for is to a consciousness which says, you know what, in America, we can do what other major countries do, that…

The hypocrisy is extraordinary. When we want to improve lives for our children, for the elderly, when we want to make health care universal and affordable, when we want to deal with climate, oh my God, Bernie, don`t you understand we have…

People dying because they don`t have any health care, kids unable to get the early childhood education they need, not a problem. We can`t afford to pay for those things. But somehow when it comes to the defense budget and the needs of the…

I vow to oppose the record-breaking Defense Bill.

I was absent for Senate vote No. 447, the vote on the motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar No. 471, Beth Robinson, of Vermont, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit. I would like the record to reflect that had…

I think before there is a vote in the House on the infrastructure bill, the members of the House have a right to know that 50 U.S. senators are supporting a strong reconciliation bill.

No, two people cannot sabotage what the overwhelming majority of this country want.

You have to go big transformational progressive agenda. And his argument Sanders makes privately to the President and others is that, in his view, authoritarianism is on the march in the United States, and that if the Democrats don’t…

We`re talking. We`re talking. We`ll make some progress.

And so I wonder if there is some way for even a Bernie Sanders, who is literally arguing let`s help people who are poor, when Joe Manchin is from the second poorest state in the entire United States, this is a state full of poor people…

We`re talking. We will make some progress.

But what I do think is simply unfair, is that two members of the Senate think that they have a right to obstruct what the overwhelming majority of the American people want, what the President wants.

I honestly don't know much about it. What I've been focusing on right now, Anderson, is the need to pass the most consequential piece of legislation in the modern history of this country, and demand that the wealthiest people in this…

We have the strong support, the overwhelming support of the American people; $3.5 trillion is already a major compromise. And the time is now long overdue for Senators Manchin and Senator Sinema to tell us exactly where they are spending…

But the time is long overdue for him to tell us, with specificity, not generalities -- we’re beyond generalities -- with specificity, what he wants and what he does not want, and to explain that to the people of West Virginia and America.

I believe all Americans are entitled as human beings to health care. I believe people are entitled to quality education regardless of their income. I believe that people are entitled to affordable housing. I don`t believe that two people…

But the time is long overdue for him to tell us with specificity, not generalities. We`re beyond generalities. With specificity, what he wants and what he does not want, and to explain that to the people of West Virginia and America.

It is whether or not we retain a democracy in which government works for all and not just the very wealthy and the powerful.

This is a pivotal moment in American history, it seems to me, really. And I`m going to continue to fight as I have for working families and do my best to prevent this country from moving in an authoritarian direction.

That is exactly the threat.

It is wrong for one or two people to think that they can dictate the outcome of this process.

Forty-eight people to go down to what two people want, that just seems to be unfair.

It is wrong. It is really not playing fair that one or two people think that they should be able to stop what 48 members of the Democratic Caucus want, what the American people want, what the president of the United States wants.

Senator Manchin, as I understand it, talked about, today, about not wanting to see our country become an entitlement society. I am not exactly sure what he means by that.

I just want to say a few words about some of what`s going on. As chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, I want to say a few words about the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill that a number of us are fighting for.