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President-elect Donald Trump campaigned in 2024 as an anti-establishment populist ready to confront the political class and act on behalf of working families. When Trump is ready to move in that direction, I'll be happy to support him. When he doesn't, I vehemently disagree with him.
President Trump said the United States should not pay the world's highest prices for prescription drugs. He's right. Under President Biden, some progress has been made in lowering the cost of the nation's prohibitively expensive prescription drugs, including forcing Medicare to negotiate prices with the pharmaceutical industry. But more needs to be done. I look forward to working with President Trump on legislation that will end the absurdity of Americans paying some of the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. We must have the courage to stand up to the greed of the pharmaceutical industry and dramatically lower drug prices.
President Trump has said he would like to cap credit card interest rates at 10%, with many economically challenged Americans paying 20% to 30% interest on their credit cards. He's right. I will soon be introducing bipartisan legislation to protect Americans from being ripped off by the credit card industry, and I look forward to his support.
Bernie Sanders plans to lead legislation on key Trump proposals
President Trump said disastrous trade deals with China, like NAFTA and PNTR, would cost millions of Americans jobs as companies shut down domestic manufacturing and move overseas in search of cheaper labor. It rightly pointed out that jobs were lost. As someone who has strongly opposed these agreements, I look forward to working with the Trump administration on new trade policies that protect American workers and create good-wage jobs for our country.
Some of President Trump's candidates have made important points. President Trump's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said food companies are “poisoning” young people with highly processed foods, leading to obesity, heart disease and other serious health problems. That statement is correct. The Trump administration and Congress must take on the greed of the food industry and create a healthier America.
At a time when many large companies routinely violate laws and engage in illegal union busting, President Trump's nominee for Labor Secretary, Lori Chavez Delemer, wants workers to join unions and bargain better. I supported the PRO Act, which protects the right to Salary, benefits, and working conditions. she's right. Workers must have the right to join a trade union without unlawful interference from their superiors. I look forward to working with the Trump Administration to pass the PRO Act.
Lori Chavez Delemer nominated by Trump to serve as Labor Secretary
No one denies that waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government must be eliminated. For example, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is right when he points out that the Pentagon has failed seven audits and cannot fully account for its more than $800 billion budget. We must significantly increase the efficiency of the Department of Defense, save taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars a year, and reduce spending.
But let me be clear. Although I am fully prepared to cooperate with the Trump administration on areas where we can agree, I have very strong disagreements with some of the positions that President Trump has proposed.
At a time when income and wealth inequality is high and the richest people are better off than ever before, it is outrageous to provide hundreds of billions of dollars in additional tax breaks to the nation's largest corporations and wealthiest people. That's probably true. New tax cuts should be given to working families in this country. Billionaires and large, profitable corporations must start paying their fair share of taxes.
Bernie Sanderssen: Two Americas, the people vs. the billionaires
Additionally, the deep cuts to Medicaid and other public health programs that some Republicans are willing to pay for in exchange for tax cuts for the wealthy will leave millions of people without access to health care. There should be no. Medicaid is a lifeline for millions of low-income Americans as well as more than 1 million elderly and disabled people in nursing homes.
The past decade has been the warmest year on record, resulting in unprecedented extreme weather disruptions in the United States and around the world. With Los Angeles suffering devastating wildfires and North Carolina still recovering from devastating floods, President Trump's claim that climate change is a “hoax” is a dangerous mistake. Virtually the entire scientific community understands that climate change is real, caused by carbon dioxide emissions, and poses a tremendous threat to the well-being of our children and future generations. Together with the entire global community, we must fight climate change.
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We must not engage in the mass deportation of this country's 20 million people. Many of them have worked and lived here virtually all their lives and are an important part of our economy. We need strong border enforcement to stop illegal border crossings and deport those who commit serious crimes. But we must not separate millions of families, put children in cages, or unconstitutionally use the U.S. military to round up immigrants in door-to-door searches.
Trump Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent is wrong to oppose the need to raise the federal minimum wage. At a time when the $7.25 minimum wage has not been raised in 15 years, it is unconscionable that millions of Americans continue to work for starvation wages. We must raise the minimum wage to a living wage, $17 an hour.
US investor and hedge fund manager Scott Bessent testifies during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on his nomination for Secretary of the Treasury on January 16, 2025 at the Capitol in Washington, DC. (Getty)
We must not allow billionaire oligarchs to take over our government. President Trump has repeatedly said he wants the Republican Party to represent the needs of workers. Well, you can't do that by surrounding yourself with the richest people in the world or having 13 billionaires in your cabinet. Many of them have direct financial interests in the industries they are regulated. We also need real campaign finance reform that prevents billionaires from both parties from buying elections.
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Let us never forget that we are the richest nation in the history of the world. There's no reason why 60% of Americans have to live paycheck to paycheck, why income and wealth inequality has soared, and why 85 million Americans are either uninsured or underinsured. Why isn't 25% of America's seniors trying to survive on $15,000 a year? Or why young people drop out of college with so much debt, or why child care is unaffordable for millions of families. We can do better. we have to do better.
I look forward to working with President Trump to stand by the working families of this country. I firmly oppose him when he represents the needs of the billionaire class and wealthy special interests.
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