Senator Sanders tells Obama: Don’t let Republicans blackmail you again

[Cali_Democrat]

Go Bernie! :bounce: :applause: :loveya:

Senator Sanders tells Obama: Don’t let Republicans blackmail you again
Posted on 06.27.11
By Eric W. Dolan

Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont called on President Barack Obama to stand up for the middle class by not compromising with Republicans on the national budget.

“At a time when the richest people and the largest corporations in our country are doing phenomenally well, and, in many cases, have never had it so good, while the middle class is disappearing and poverty is increasing, it is absolutely imperative that a deficit reduction package not include the disastrous cuts in programs for working families, the elderly, the sick, the children and the poor that the Republicans in Congress, dominated by the extreme right wing, are demanding,” Sanders said on the Senate floor Monday.

“Instead of yielding to the incessant, extreme Republican demands, as the President did during last December’s tax cut agreement and this year’s spending negotiations, the President has got to get out of the beltway and rally the American people who already believe that deficit reduction must be about shared sacrifice.”

Sanders said any deficit reduction plan must rely on new revenue to decrease federal debt. He blamed the current deficits on the large defense budget, Wall Street bailouts and tax breaks for the rich.

Read more...http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/06/senator-sanders-tells-obama-dont-let-republicans-blackmail-you-again/


YOU MUST ALSO WATCH THE VIDEO OF BERNIE ON THE SENATE FLOOR.....http://youtu.be/4axvr3n-ABU

I'm praying that Obama is not successfully blackmailed yet again

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Recommend x 1000!

Thank God for Bernie Sanders!

[murielm99]

3. Even my mother says that!

She mentions him a lot. She says to me, "I don't like his lifestyle, but he is saying exactly what we need him to say."

My mother is 82, so I have given up arguing with her about the lifestyle comments. She will never change.

[hootinholler]

5. What about Bernie's lifestyle?

Does she have him confused with Barney Frank?

:shrug:

-Hoot

[Enrique]

6. maybe she meant his hairstyle

:-)

[murielm99]

10. Yes she does.

I should have specified that.

There are some "momisms" in my family that are not worth pursuing.

She is not senile. It has always been this way. As long as she votes Democratic, and she does, I am not going to make any waves.

[hootinholler]

11. Been there

Done that. Got the shirt and I still have times I wish Mommy was still with us kids.

Give her a hug :D

-Hoot

[provis99]

2. blackmail?

Isn't it more likely that Obama is doing exactly what he believes in? Obama has never claimed to be a liberal or progressive; I don't know why people think he is.

[ImNotTed]

4. Recced

And...http://youtube/ZaGNAL_u-SU

[ProSense]

7. Yup, it was Republican blackmail, but

with Democratic help. If Democrats in Congress believe it's a bad deal, they need to do their jobs, primarily in the Senate. All it takes is 41 Senators to block a bad deal.

Republicans were only needed to pass the Senate bill, and with conservative Dems ready to abandon the Democratic caucus, that created the impression that the deal was solely to appease a few Republicans.

If Sanders' amendment had passed last December, the deal would have been adjusted to include:

<...>

Before they passed the plan, Senators considered an amendment by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who spoke out against the bill for nine straight hours last week, that would have replaced the payroll tax credit with an extension of the Make Work Pay Credit, imposed an estate tax of 45 percent on estates worth more than $3.5 million and provided a cost-of-living-adjustment of $250 to seniors, veterans and the disabled dependent on government benefits. It failed 57 to 43.

<...>

Here are the members of the Democratic caucus who voted against Sanders' amendment:

Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN) (gone, now R)
Bennet (D-CO)
Casey (D-PA)
Hagan (D-NC)
Kohl (D-WI)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR) (gone, now R)
Manchin (D-WV)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Udall (D-CO)
Webb (D-VA)

There were a lot of good things in the deal, including (NYT) :

<...>

The aid ending next month increased the federal share of Medicaid spending in all states, with additional help for states where unemployment rates had risen sharply. The extra aid was scheduled to expire last December, but Congress extended it for six months at the urging of the White House and state officials.

<...>

There were two option: pass the deal or improve it (as Sanders' amendment did). The other option would have let everything negotiated via the deal expire and give Republicans more hostages, including the Medicaid funding and unemployment insurance.

[Tarheel_Dem]

8. I wish Sen. Sanders would STFU, and just run for President? Why won't Bernie run?

:shrug:

[brentspeak]

9. That's right. Elected senators should just shut up and not do their job

They should sit in the corner while a clueless Democratic President lets the minority Republican party dictate his agenda.

[woo me with science]

12. K&R nt

[Gilligans Island]

13. Please Obama don't cave again

[bigwillq]

14. Hello.

welcome to DU! :hi: