[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 4995-4996]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               THE BUDGET

  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, later today, maybe as early as 11 o'clock 
or so, we are going to begin a discussion of the budget. As we know, 
the budget is a set of national priorities. A budget has to do with our 
vision of where America is and where America should be. We are now in 
the process of moving the budget to a conference committee between the 
House and the Senate.
  When I think about a budget, I think about a document designed to 
address the problems facing our country. In that regard, I find the 
Republican budget that will likely pass to be totally inadequate, and a 
budget whose priorities are way, way out of place with where the 
American people are.
  When we talk about the needs of America, the most significant need 
and the most significant economic problem we face is that for 40 years 
the American middle class has been in decline. Today we have over 40 
million Americans living in poverty, almost more than at any time in 
the modern history of America. Our real unemployment is not 5\1/2\ 
percent; real unemployment is 11 percent. And despite the modest gains 
of the Affordable Care Act, we still have 35 million Americans who have 
no health insurance.
  While millions of Americans work today longer hours for lower wages 
than used to be the case, despite a significant increase in 
productivity, what we are seeing as a nation is an obscene level of 
income and wealth inequality. That reality speaks to the fact that 
since the Wall Street crash of 2008, about 99 percent of all new income 
today is going to the top 1 percent. I know people find that amazing, 
but it is true. Which means that no matter what the GDP may be--2 
percent, 5 percent--it doesn't really matter, because virtually all the 
new income goes to the top 1 percent.
  In terms of distribution of wealth, what we are seeing in America 
today is worse and more unequal than any major country on Earth, and 
worse in

[[Page 4996]]

America than at any time since the late 1920s. Today we have the top 
one-tenth of 1 percent owning more wealth than the bottom 90 percent. 
Unbelievable--the top one-tenth of 1 percent owning more wealth than 
the bottom 90 percent. Today we have one family owning more wealth than 
the bottom 42 percent of the American people--that is, the Walton 
family of Walmart.
  A recent report came out by Forbes magazine which pointed out--and 
this is almost beyond belief--that the wealthiest 14 people in this 
country, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Koch brothers, others, saw their 
wealth increase between 2013 and 2015, a 2-year period, by $157 
billion. That is just an increase in their wealth.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, I will be back on the floor dealing with 
the budget as the ranking member, but I am happy to yield the floor at 
this point.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority whip.

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