'You Tell Me What We Should Cut': Sanders Not Budging on $3.5 Trillion

[Uncle Joe]

"The question we face right now is: at this moment, do we have the courage to keep faith with the American people and show them that their democracy in fact can work for them, and not just powerful special interests?" Sanders said. "Let us go forward, let us do the right thing, let us pass this $3.5 trillion reconciliation package."

As conservative Democrats attempt to pare back the legislation, Sanders stressed that the $3.5 trillion plan would make major investments in climate action and child care, establish universal pre-K and paid family leave, and expand Medicare to include dental, vision, and hearing benefits. The Vermont senator went on to declare that the bill—which corporate lobbying groups are working hard to tank—"should and will be fully paid for" by raising taxes on the rich and big businesses, and by lowering prescription drug prices.

"This legislation takes an important step forward," Sanders said. "It doesn't go as far as it should, but it is a major step forward in transforming our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy."

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday challenged members of the media—and conservative Democrats—to specifically cite which portions of the emerging budget reconciliation package they would remove to lower the proposal's $3.5 trillion price tag, which some lawmakers have characterized as excessive.

(snip)

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/09/23/you-tell-me-what-we-should-cut-sanders-not-budging-35-trillion

[Just_Vote_Dem]

1. 3.5 T is what Joe promised

Kudos to Sanders for fighting for Joe's promise

[qazplm135]

2. We should go with Rep Jayapal's idea

shorten the time frame.

Make it over 5 years and you reduce to under 2 trillion.

[KPN]

4. +++

[leftstreet]

3. DURec

[JudyM]

5. He makes the points clearly and succinctly. If only McConnell's constituents gave a damn.

They somehow prefer to believe their mealymouthed viper instead.

[gratuitous]

6. Force the Minority Leader to say it publicly

McConnell wants to cut Social Security and Medicare, two fully-funded programs that don't contribute to the deficit, and he'd do that years before he'd ever ask his wealthy benefactors to contribute one more nickel to support the country that's made them so wealthy.

[questionseverything]

7. With out knowing the exact language it's hard to say what could be cut but

I am not a big backer of 3 year old pre-k

I also would like to know the details of paid family leave because when i was young there were many times at the restaurant I worked at, 3 or 4 girls could be on maternity leave at the same time.

If that little restaurant would of been responsible for paying their time off, it wouldn’t of survived

[Uncle Joe]

8. What if they hadn't of been there in the first place?

"I also would like to know the details of paid family leave because when i was young there were many times at the restaurant I worked at, 3 or 4 girls could be on maternity leave at the same time."

Would the owner have to pay more in wages?

As you, I don't know all the details either of how the language of the bill turns out.

[questionseverything]

9. I also wonder if it's the standard 6 weeks off

Or more( I have heard as high as 3 months)

To me the most important parts of this bill are making the child tax credit permanent and broadening what medicare covers for seniors (hearing aids, glasses and dental)

[Fiendish Thingy]

12. In Canada paid mat leave is 12-18 mos, cost shared by employer, government and employee

Employees contribute to unemployment insurance fund.

America can afford universal paid parental leave.

[questionseverything]

14. I don't think talking about paid leave is even fair when so many

Of us , either have no insurance or can’t afford to use it

[Fiendish Thingy]

17. It's all part of the same conversation- everyone should have healthcare, paid leave, living wage. Nt

[Fullduplexxx]

10. He should be asking this of the dems who wont pass it as is

[DET]

11. Choices

I would imagine that there could be significant cost savings by means testing some of these programs. Personally, I’m not a fan of paid maternity leave; a missing pay check for two months is not going to cripple most families. But I would like to see better options for senior care, which can exhaust family members (especially women) both physically and financially.

[Fiendish Thingy]

13. Missing a pay check or two would indeed cripple many families

Creating a wave of homelessness and child neglect.

Most civilized nation have paid mat leave- Canada has 12-18 months paid leave.

America can afford it.

[DET]

15. Priorities

America COULD afford it if we eliminated Trump’s ‘middle class’ tax cuts, made large corporations actually pay taxes, drastically reduced the obscenely large defense budget, and so on. But the reality is that most of that isn’t going to happen. Another reality is that none of the human infrastructure proposals are going to happen if the bill isn’t passed, which means making concessions to conservative Democrats like Manchin - whether we like it or not.

Manchin and other conservatives are demanding presumably significant cost cuts, which means prioritizing what’s in the bill. In the whole hierarchy of needs, I think that programs to address climate change and the environment have to come first. Everything else should be prioritized by its ability to create the most benefit for the most people who are truly in need. Personally, I think that paid maternity leave is near the bottom, but I realize that this is not a popular opinion.

[Ron Green]

16. Money for new roads should be cut. ANY new roads.

We have to figure out which ones to fix and which to close.