Promising
to put forth and lobby on behalf of two bold progressive policy ideas
in the months ahead, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has announced his
intention to push for new pieces of legislation in the next session, one
of which would break up the nation's largest Wall Street banks and
another that would expand the Social Security program for all Americans.
"If Congress cannot regulate Wall Street, there is
just one alternative. It is time to break these too-big-to-fail banks
up so that they can never again destroy the jobs, homes, and life
savings of the American people."
In separate floor speeches in recent days, Sanders announced his
plans and explained his thinking on the two policy ideas that he says
could help transform the economy from one that works for the rich and
powerful back towards one that promotes a stable economy and honors the
needs of working people.
Sanders, who has said he is seriously considering a run for president
in 2016 to challenge the presumptive Democratic nomination of Hillary
Clinton, announced his plan for breaking up banks like Citigroup, Bank
of America, JP Morgan Chase and others during a floor debate on Saturday
over a contentious spending bill—of which certain sections were
literally written by lobbyists from Citigroup.
“Over the last several days, it has become abundantly clear that
Congress does not regulate Wall Street but Wall Street regulates
Congress," Sanders said. "If Wall Street lobbyists can literally write a
provision into law that will allow too-big-to-fail banks to make the
same risky bets that nearly destroyed our economy just a few years ago,
it should be obvious to all that their incredible economic and political
power is a huge danger to our economy and our way of life."
Sanders said, "Enough is enough.... If Congress cannot regulate Wall
Street, there is just one alternative. It is time to break these
too-big-to-fail banks up so that they can never again destroy the jobs,
homes, and life savings of the American people."
"At the beginning of the new Congress," he announced, "I will be
introducing legislation that will break these behemoth banks up once and
for all. If a financial institution is too big to fail, it is too big
to exist. I look forward to working with both progressive and
conservative senators who have the courage to stand up to Wall Street
and protect the working families of this country."
"Right now a billionaire pays the same amount into
Social Security as someone who makes $117,000 a year. If we lifted this
cap and applied the Social Security payroll tax to income above $250,000
we could expand Social Security. That is exactly what we have got to
do. And that is exactly what the American people want us to do."
On Monday, Sanders took the Senate floor once again and moved from
tackling Wall Street to pushing for expanded funding and benefits of the
Social Security program. Progressive economists say lifting the cap on
contributions to the program is one of the most direct and accessible
ways to restore equity to what he called "the most successful government
program in history." Doing so, argues Sanders, will bolster the
economic prospects of the nation's aging and retiring population in the
years ahead while making sure the program is adequately funded further
into the future than it already is.
"At a time when prescription drug prices are skyrocketing and
one-third of all seniors depend on Social Security for a least 90
percent of their income, we should not be cutting Social Security, we
should be expanding it," said Sanders in his speech. "Despite what you
may hear from some politicians or pundits on TV, Social Security is not
going broke. In fact the program has a $2.76 trillion surplus and has
paid out every nickel owed to every eligible beneficiary since its
inception."
When the next session of Congress begins in the new year, Sanders
will return to the Budget Committee, but this time as ranking member of
the minority. Sanders is an Independent but caucuses with the Democrats.
In that role, Sanders will push previously introduced legislation
that would lift the cap on contributions to Social Security, a move he
says will bolster the program and strip its detractors of their claim
that the nation can no longer afford one of the most popular programs in
the history of the nation.
"Right now a billionaire pays the same amount into Social Security as
someone who makes $117,000 a year," said Sanders. "If we lifted this
cap and applied the Social Security payroll tax to income above $250,000
we could expand Social Security. That is exactly what we have got to
do. And that is exactly what the American people want us to do."
In a new Republican-controlled Congress, Sanders' prospects of
achieving victory for these legislative proposals are not promising.
"Do we continue the 40-year decline of our middle
class and the growing gap between the very rich and everyone else, or do
we fight for a progressive economic agenda that creates jobs, raises
wages, protects the environment and provides health care for all?"
However, as Campaign for America's Future senior fellow Richard Eskow argues in a
blog post on Tuesday, those who say that these proposals by Sanders are just exercises in futility are missing the point.
"The value of [bills like these] isn’t measured solely by its
likeliness to prevail in the current Congress," Eskow writes. "Sometimes
their purpose to change the composition of
future Congresses,
so that measures like this one are more likely to succeed.
Too-big-to-fail banks pose a systemic threat to the economy. As we now
know, they also present a threat to democratic process."
Earlier this month, Sanders
released a 12-step agenda which he said should be the basis for a bold economic transformation.
"The American people must make a fundamental decision," Sanders said
as he released his list of proposals. "Do we continue the 40-year
decline of our middle class and the growing gap between the very rich
and everyone else, or do we fight for a progressive economic agenda that
creates jobs, raises wages, protects the environment and provides
health care for all?"
His economic agenda didn't gain much attention in the mainstream
press nor did it receive much traction in Congress. Sadly, that it has
been so ignored by the institutions most attuned to serving the
interests of the elites may just underscore how necessary the proposals
are.
