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Sanders may bring his populist brand to powerful Finance panel
By Caitlin Reilly
Posted July 25, 2024
Big corporations and upper-income households could soon be “feeling the Bern,” as unabashed progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on Wednesday hinted at throwing his hat in the ring for the soon-to-be-open Senate Finance Committee seat. Sanders, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, is a vocal critic of Wall Street and corporate America and has pushed to expand entitlements like Medicare and Social Security, make college free and cut drug prices while raising taxes to lofty new heights. Sanders is the most senior senator caucusing with Democrats eligible to join the committee without a waiver, possibly giving him an edge should he pursue the seat.
“I do have some interest in it, yeah,” Sanders said Wednesday of the Finance opening, which will become available with next month’s resignation of Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J.
The 82-year-old liberal firebrand doesn’t take corporate political action committee funds, unlike most of his colleagues. And he’s not shy about taking a swing at the managers of those corporate PACs through far-reaching legislative proposals, which became familiar as part of his 2020 presidential bid. And he’s continued to pump out left-leaning measures at a rapid clip in this Congress.
Sanders has introduced 11 bills since the start of last year that were referred to the Finance Committee, including legislation that would restore the corporate tax rate to 35 percent and end favorable tax treatment of assets held offshore; increase rates on companies with CEO compensation that tops that of the median worker by more than 50 to 1; impose a tax on financial transactions; and tax estates valued more than $1 billion at 65 percent.
He’s got a bill to impose a windfall profits tax of up to 95 percent on some of the largest and most well-known corporations, specifically citing oil-and-gas giant Chevron Corp., Amazon.com Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Warren Buffett’s holding company Berkshire Hathaway Inc., among other big companies, in his summary materials. Another bill would repeal virtually every federal subsidy in the tax code or otherwise for fossil fuel producers.
Another bill would require Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices the same way the Department of Veterans Affairs does, saving hundreds of billions of dollars that Sanders would redistribute to add vision, hearing and dental benefits under Medicare. He’s reintroduced his signature legislation to make Medicare available to all Americans, and his Social Security expansion bill would jack up taxes on individuals earning above $250,000 — a violation of the current administration’s pledge to protect households earning less than $400,000 from tax increases.
https://rollcall.com/2024/07/25/sanders-may-bring-his-populist-brand-to-powerful-finance-panel/
Posted July 25, 2024
Big corporations and upper-income households could soon be “feeling the Bern,” as unabashed progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on Wednesday hinted at throwing his hat in the ring for the soon-to-be-open Senate Finance Committee seat. Sanders, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, is a vocal critic of Wall Street and corporate America and has pushed to expand entitlements like Medicare and Social Security, make college free and cut drug prices while raising taxes to lofty new heights. Sanders is the most senior senator caucusing with Democrats eligible to join the committee without a waiver, possibly giving him an edge should he pursue the seat.
“I do have some interest in it, yeah,” Sanders said Wednesday of the Finance opening, which will become available with next month’s resignation of Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J.
The 82-year-old liberal firebrand doesn’t take corporate political action committee funds, unlike most of his colleagues. And he’s not shy about taking a swing at the managers of those corporate PACs through far-reaching legislative proposals, which became familiar as part of his 2020 presidential bid. And he’s continued to pump out left-leaning measures at a rapid clip in this Congress.
Sanders has introduced 11 bills since the start of last year that were referred to the Finance Committee, including legislation that would restore the corporate tax rate to 35 percent and end favorable tax treatment of assets held offshore; increase rates on companies with CEO compensation that tops that of the median worker by more than 50 to 1; impose a tax on financial transactions; and tax estates valued more than $1 billion at 65 percent.
He’s got a bill to impose a windfall profits tax of up to 95 percent on some of the largest and most well-known corporations, specifically citing oil-and-gas giant Chevron Corp., Amazon.com Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Warren Buffett’s holding company Berkshire Hathaway Inc., among other big companies, in his summary materials. Another bill would repeal virtually every federal subsidy in the tax code or otherwise for fossil fuel producers.
Another bill would require Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices the same way the Department of Veterans Affairs does, saving hundreds of billions of dollars that Sanders would redistribute to add vision, hearing and dental benefits under Medicare. He’s reintroduced his signature legislation to make Medicare available to all Americans, and his Social Security expansion bill would jack up taxes on individuals earning above $250,000 — a violation of the current administration’s pledge to protect households earning less than $400,000 from tax increases.
https://rollcall.com/2024/07/25/sanders-may-bring-his-populist-brand-to-powerful-finance-panel/
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