FULL TRANSCRIPT of Senator Sanders Filibuster | Congressional Record

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(Congressional Record: December 10, 2010 (Senate))
(Page S8735-S8781)
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access (wais.access.gpo.gov)
(DOCID:cr10de10-20)

THE ECONOMY

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, let me begin by thanking my friend from
Virginia for doing what is very important. I think the essence of what
he is saying is that today there are millions of Federal employees,
people in the Armed Forces, who are doing the very best they can. In
many instances, they are doing a great job to protect our country, to
keep it safe. And very often, to be honest with you, these folks get
dumped on. So it is important that people such as Senator Warner come
here and point out individuals who are doing a great job, people of
whom we are very proud. So I thank Senator Warner for that.

Mr. President, as I think everyone knows, President Obama and the
Republican leadership have reached an agreement on a very significant
tax bill. In my view, the agreement they reached is a bad deal for the
American people. I think we can do better.

I am here today to take a strong stand against this bill, and I
intend to tell my colleagues and the Nation exactly why I am in
opposition to this bill. You can call what I am doing today whatever
you want. You can call it a filibuster. You can call it a very long
speech. I am not here to set any great records or to make a spectacle;
I am simply here today to take as long as I can to explain to the
American people the fact that we have to do a lot better than this
agreement provides.

Let me enumerate some of the reasons I am opposed to this agreement.

First, as everybody knows, this Nation has a recordbreaking $13.8
trillion national debt at the same time as the middle class is
collapsing and poverty is increasing. And I think it is important to
say a word--because I am not necessarily sure a lot of Americans know
this--about how we got to where we are today in terms of the national
debt.

I know there are some people who think this all began the day
President Obama took office. Well, that is not quite the case. When
President Clinton left office, this country was running, in fact, a
very significant surplus, and the projections were that we were going
to continue to run a surplus. During the 8 years of President Bush's
administration, for a number of reasons--the primary reasons being the
war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, huge tax breaks for the wealthiest
people in this country, a Medicare Part D prescription drug program,
the Wall Street bailout, among other things, all of which were not paid
for--we saw an almost doubling of the national debt. Since President
Obama has been in office, we have passed a stimulus package which has
also added to the deficit and national debt.

But here we are today with a $13.8 trillion national debt, a $1.4
trillion deficit, and almost all Americans are in agreement that this
is a very serious issue. So the first point I would make is that it
seems to me to be unconscionable--unconscionable--for my conservative
friends and for everybody else in this country to be driving up this
already too high national debt by giving tax breaks to millionaires and
billionaires who don't need it, and in a number of cases they don't
even want it.

Here is one of the interesting ironies. There are lists of many very
wealthy people who have come forward and said: Sure, I want a tax
break. Everybody wants a tax break. But you know what, there are other
priorities in this country, and I don't need it. Two of the wealthiest
people in the world--and these are billionaires--Bill Gates of
Microsoft and Warren Buffett of Berkshire, say: It is absurd. We don't
need a tax break.

FULL TRANSCRIPT AT LINK

pertinent facts, and use it to megaphone this everywhere.

It is time to be our own media, and this could be a very important tool.

Thank you for posting.

thanks for the link.

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