At the insistence of the Bush administration, Congress in 2006 passed legislation that required the Postal Service to prefund, over a 10-year period, 75 years of future retiree health benefits.
When I talk about democratic socialist, I’m not looking at Venezuela. I’m not looking at Cuba. I’m looking at countries like Denmark and Sweden.
When World AIDS Day was first observed in 1988, there was no truly effective treatment for what was almost always a deadly disease.
The right wing has monopolized the AM radio airwaves.
What the American people want to see in their president is somebody who not necessarily can win every fight, but they want to see him stand up and fight for what he believes, take his case to the American people.
You know, let me be very clear. I supported Barack Obama originally.
The Koch brothers, through the expenditure of billions of dollars and the creation and support of dozens of extreme right organizations, have taken fringe extremist ideas and made them mainstream within the Republican Party.
History will record that the Citizens United decision is one of the worst in the history of our country.
Democratic socialism means that we must reform a political system that is corrupt, that we must create an economy that works for all, not just the very wealthy.
For every $1 billion we invest in public transportation, we create 30,000 jobs, save thousands of dollars a year for each commuter, and dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions.
If you look at the newspapers here – the Washington papers – most of the discussion deals with campaign gossip.
Yes, we become stronger when men and women, young and old, gay and straight, native-born and immigrant fight together to create the kind of country we all know we can become.
Yes, we become stronger when black and whites, Latino, Asian American, Native American, when all of us stand together.
In 2005, Republicans passed a 360-page reconciliation bill without a single Democratic vote that provided deep cuts to Medicaid and raised premiums on Medicare beneficiaries.
We all remember the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the worst oil spill in U.S. history. What is less well known is that BP is claiming a 9.9 billion tax deduction on the money they had to spend cleaning up their own mess and paying for damages they caused. That is absurd.
The Federal Reserve needs to provide small businesses in America with the same low-interest loans it gave to foreign banks.
If we are serious about moving toward energy independence in a cost-effective way, we should invest in solar energy. If we are serious about cutting air and water pollution and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we should invest in solar energy.
Mitt Romney’s energy policy is a relic of the 19th century. We need a 21st century plan. The fate of the planet is at stake.
We need leadership in this country, which will improve the lives of working families, the children, the elderly, the sick and the poor. We need leadership which brings our people together and makes us stronger.
If we are going to reverse the race to the bottom, workers must have the right to engage in collective bargaining.
I’m not much into speculation.
Social Security, which transformed life for the elderly in this country, was ‘socialist.’ The concept of the ‘minimum wage’ was seen as a radical intrusion into the marketplace and was described as ‘socialist.’
Capitalism does a number of things very well: it helps create an entrepreneurial spirit; it gets people motivated to come up with new ideas, and that’s a good thing.
What some of us believe is that it is possible that if chemicals are related to Gulf War illness that some of the more severe symptoms may not erupt until 10 or 20 years down the line.
It is time we had democratic socialism for working families, not just Wall Street billionaires.
For too long, unfunded federal mandates have drained the budgets of states and communities. The strength and vitality of our communities must be restored.
If you ask me about my views on the environment, on women’s rights, on gay rights, I am liberal. I don’t have a problem with that at all. Some of my best friends are liberal.
I come from a rural state. People drive 50, 100 miles to and from work every single day. That is true all over America.
In 2001, Republicans used reconciliation to pass President Bush’s $1.35 trillion tax cut that mainly benefited the wealthy.
Hillary Clinton will nominate justices to the Supreme Court who are prepared to overturn Citizens United and end the movement toward oligarchy that we are seeing in this country.
The cost of college education today is so high that many young people are giving up their dream of going to college, while many others are graduating deeply in debt.
One in four corporations doesn’t pay any taxes.
Wall Street is greedy, reckless and they operate illegally. That’s fine. But what do you do?
Today the biggest problem in caring for those with AIDS is no longer mainly a medical or scientific problem. The crisis is access to affordable drugs.
While Donald Trump believes in huge tax breaks for billionaires, he believes that states should actually have the right to lower the minimum wage below $7.25. What an outrage!
I have known Hillary Clinton for 25 years. I remember her, as you do, as a great first lady who broke precedent in terms of the role that a first lady was supposed to play as she helped lead the fight for universal health care.
I don’t believe there’s a red state in America where people believe you should cut Medicare, Social Security and veterans’ benefits rather than doing away with corporate tax loopholes.
The Fed has got to become a more democratic institution that is responsive to the needs of the middle class, not just Wall Street CEOs.
Vermonters often ask me whether I am pessimistic about the future of our country. My honest answer is that I am not.
I’m not a Democrat, I’m an Independent, but I caucus with the Democrats.
The Occupy Wall Street protests are shining a national spotlight on the most powerful, dangerous and secretive economic and political force in America.
In Finland, where 80 percent of workers belong to unions, all employees enjoy at least 30 days paid vacation, and the gap between the rich and poor is far more equitable than in the United States.
Finland is no utopia.
Yes, we become stronger when men and women, young and old, gay and straight, native-born and immigrant fight together to create the kind of country we all know we can become.
In terms of job creation, every billion dollars invested in the physical infrastructure creates 47,000 new jobs.
What the Ten Million Solar Roofs Act does is provide consumer rebates for the purchase and installation of solar systems.
It is time for Congress to save the Postal Service, not dismantle it.
If you don’t believe this election is important, if you think you can sit it out, take a moment to think about the Supreme Court justices that Donald Trump would nominate and what that would mean to civil liberties, equal rights, and the future of our country.
CEOs of large corporations earn 400 times what their workers make. That is not what America is supposed to be about.
Together, together, my friends, we have begun a political revolution to transform America, and that revolution, our revolution, continues!
Do the elected officials in Washington stand with ordinary Americans – working families, children, the elderly, the poor – or will the extraordinary power of billionaire campaign contributors and Big Money prevail? The American people, by the millions, must send Congress the answer to that question.
Former Senator Al D’Amato in 1991 offered an amendment to cap credit card interest rates at 14 percent.
Even the alternative weekly newspapers, traditionally a bastion of progressive thought and analysis, have been bought by a monopoly franchise and made a predictable shift to the right in their coverage of local news.
We all remember the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the worst oil spill in U.S. history. What is less well known is that BP is claiming a 9.9 billion tax deduction on the money they had to spend cleaning up their own mess and paying for damages they caused. That is absurd.
If you want to know if your food contains gluten, aspartame, high fructose corn syrup, trans-fats or MSG, you simply read the ingredients listed on the label.
Legislation must be passed which undoes the damage caused by excessive de-regulation. That means reinstalling the regulatory firewalls that were ripped down in 1999.
While I may not agree with all of President Obama’s energy policies, I strongly supported his successful effort to double fuel economy standards for cars and trucks to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.
Social Security is a promise that we cannot and must not break.
Citizens in a democracy need diverse sources of news and information.
You want to know the way to raise money? Put a transaction fee on Wall Street, so maybe we can curb some of the speculation and raise some money.
I see a future where American companies lead the world in the production of hybrid-plug in cars and electric vehicles.
