Sen. Bernie Sanders (I.Vermont), made a speech Monday on the Senate Floor. He denounced Republican senators’ statements that the U.S. should not follow other countries in subsidizing the computer chip manufacturing industry instead of pursuing universal health care.
Sanders made it clear in his speech that the most recent reporting from The Associated Press found that Sen. Mitt Romney (R. Utah) and other Republicans believe the U.S. should be a democracy. join other countries in giving large subsidies to chip manufacturers like Intel by passing the Senate’s $76 billion chips bill. The Vermont senator pointed out that these same lawmakers don’t believe that the U.S. should follow the lead of other countries when it comes to expanding the social safety net.
“Now I find the position of Senator Romney and others to be really quite interesting because I personally have been on this floor many many times urging the Senate to look to other countries around the world and learn from those countries,” Sanders said. “And what I have said is that it is a bit absurd that, here in the United States, we are the only major country on Earth not to guarantee health care to all of their people.”
He suggested that the U.S. should also join countries such as Germany, which offer free higher education. The U.S. should join the European Union. Every other country that is wealthy in the world in guaranteeing its workers paid family and medical leave, Sanders said — measures that he and Democratic lawmakers tried to pass in last year’s Build Back Better Act.
“Let’s join the club!” he exclaimed several times.
Republicans and conservative Democrats were uniformly opposed to provisions for paid family leave during last year’s Build Back Better Act negotiations, claiming that The federal deficitTheir opposition to the bill was justified by excessive government spending. Sanders stated that these same lawmakers appear to have no problem spending billions of dollars on the corporate oligarchy in America.
The senator said that lawmakers are so eagerly awaiting the bill’s passage is actually because of the senator. is because computer chip manufacturers and lobbyists are compelling them to do so. “But I gather the problem is that to join those clubs — in terms of universal health care, in terms of paid family and medical leave, in terms of free tuition at public colleges and universities — we’re going to have to take on powerful special interests and they make campaign contributions, so that’s not what the Senate does,” he said.
He concluded by stating that, aside from his concerns about corporate welfare and the potential for companies to operate in any way they like, he is concerned that the bill will create a precedent that allows them to do so without regard to consequences. “What the precedent is is that any company who is prepared to go abroad, who has ignored the needs of the American people, will then say to Congress, ‘hey, if you want us to stay here, you better give us a handout,’” he said.
Sanders has continually spoken out against the Senate’s bill to provide $52 billion to chips manufacturers, which He saidFor major manufacturers, this is equivalent to corporate welfare. These manufacturers have made huge profitsDuring the pandemic, their CEOs were paid millions of dollars in compensation. profiting from a global chips shortageThis has allowed companies to significantly increase their prices.
The bill was cleared a key procedural hurdleTuesday, the Senate approved it for passage.
Last week, Sanders A modification was introducedThe legislation would limit the funds to ensure that companies that accept the subsidies can’t use the funds for stock buybacks, outsourcing jobs to other countries, or union busting.
