[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 44 (Thursday, March 9, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H2974-H2975]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                      ISSUES IN AMERICAN POLITICS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Vermont [Mr. Sanders] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Speaker, let me just touch upon a few issues that 
are very rarely talked about in this Congress. We do a lot of talking 
about a lot of things but I am always amazed that sometimes the very 
most important issues that face the American people, the dynamics of 
our Nation seem to be ignored here in the Congress. So let me just 
touch upon a few points that I consider to be quite important.
  Number one, if we are to understand the dynamics of American 
politics, it might be appropriate to understand that in the U.S. 
Congress today approximately 20 percent of the Members of Congress 
themselves are millionaires. And everything being equal, until we get 
campaign finance reform, we can only expect that number to increase.
  A democracy is supposed to mean that ordinary people can run for 
office, ordinary people can get elected to represent their neighbors 
back home. Clearly, there is something wrong in this country today when 
at a time that perhaps one-half of 1 percent of our people are 
millionaires, 20 percent of the Members of the House and Senate of 
millionaires.
  We recently had a gentleman in California who took out his checkbook 
wrote himself a check for $25 million in attempting to buy the Senate 
seat in that State, and that is happening increasingly. So if we want 
to understand why the policies of the U.S. Congress so often work to 
reflect the interest of the wealthy and the powerful, it has something 
to do with who is in Congress and who funds people who go to Congress.
  Many of you may have seen in the papers that last month the 
Republican Party held a fundraiser. It was a nice little fundraiser. It 
was only $1,000 a plate. It was a good dinner. Nice dessert. It was a 
good bargain. The point is that the Republican Party on that night left 
with $11 million.
  Now, why do people go to a dinner at a $1,000 a plate? The food is 
good, that is true, but there are other reasons and the reasons might 
be that they are not donating, they are investing.
  Now, as the only Independent in Congress I would point out the 
Democrats are not far behind. They also
 have dinners of that kind. Wealthy people invest so that when this 
session, this Congress comes together, they vote tax breaks for the 
wealthiest people. They vote for trade policies which help large 
corporations export our jobs to Third World countries. That is a very, 
very serious problem. We desperately need campaign finance reform so 
that we can limit the amount of money that can be spent on a campaign 
and that we can really have democracy in this institution.

  Number two, another issue that we don't often talk about is the very, 
very unfair distribution of wealth in America. Very rarely is that 
talked about. It is important to point out that in the United States 
today the wealthiest 1 percent of the population owns more wealth, not 
that bottom 90 percent. We have a situation now where the chief 
executive officers of the largest corporations in America are earning 
150 times what their workers are earning.
  Now, nobody thinks that everybody in America should all earn the same 
amount of money, but clearly there is something very wrong when so few 
people have so much money, while at the same time, the middle class is 
shrinking and at the same time poverty in America is growing.
  While the richest 1 percent of the population own 37 percent of the 
wealth in America, we have 18 percent of our workers, people who are 
working 
[[Page H2975]] full time, they are earning poverty wages.
  We have 22 percent of our children living in poverty. That is the 
highest rate of childhood poverty in the industrialized world by far. 
That is double the rate of any other country. And we have at a time 
that some of our friends are proposing to cut back on WIC and to cut 
back on food stamps, we have 5 million children in America who are 
hungry today.
  Let's talk about that issue. Tax breaks for the rich increased hunger 
for children at a time when we have the highest rate of childhood 
poverty in the industrialized world.
  Let me talk about another issue. Our Republican friends talk about 
the mandate they received on November 8. Let me say a word about that 
mandate.
  What percentage of the people came out to vote in that mandate? 
Thirty-nine percent of the people came out to vote. Republicans ended 
up with a smaller percentage, a little bit larger percentage than the 
Democrats did. Thirty-nine percent of the people came out to vote.
  I am happy to say that in my home city of Burlington, VT on election 
day just this last Tuesday a progressive was elected mayor. We had 50 
percent of the people coming out in a local election.
  Why is it that so few people participate in the Democratic process in 
America? Why is it that poor people in America virtually don't vote at 
all, many working people don't vote at all? And I think the reason is 
that the people are basically giving up on the political system.


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