Bernie Sanders Flexes His Muscles By Introducing Bill To Create 13 Million New Jobs

[babylonsister]

http://www.politicususa.com/2015/01/03/bernie-sanders-flexes-muscles-introducing-bill-create-13-million-jobs.html

Bernie Sanders Flexes His Muscles By Introducing Bill To Create 13 Million New Jobs
By: Jason Easley
Saturday, January, 3rd, 2015, 12:04 pm


Sen. Bernie Sanders is using his new position as the top Democratic caucus member on the Senate Budget Committee to push a new bill that he will introduce to the new Congress that will create 13 million jobs by rebuilding the nation’s bridges and roads.

Here are the details via Sen. Sanders,

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said today he will introduce legislation when the new session of Congress convenes this month to authorize a $1 trillion, multi-year program to rebuild crumbling roads and bridges and invest in other infrastructure modernization projects.

The investment not only would begin to address a growing backlog of badly-needed repairs, it also would put 13 million Americans to work at decent-paying jobs, according to Sanders, who will take over this month as the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee.

“America once led the world in building and maintaining a nationwide network of safe and reliable bridges and roads. Today, nearly a quarter of the nation’s 600,000 bridges have been designated as structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. Let’s rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. Let’s make our country safer and more efficient. Let’s put millions of Americans back to work,” Sanders said.

….

“There are a number of Republicans who understand that it is vitally important that we rebuild our crumbling infrastructure.”

Sen. Sanders was correct. Infrastructure spending is one of the areas where there is considerable agreement among Democrats and a group of Republicans in the House and Senate. There are two hurdles that an infrastructure spending bill will have to overcome. The far right in the House and Senate who refuse to spend money on anything other than benefits for the wealthy and corporations, and the second problem is that infrastructure bills always face is that every members of Congress wants something for their district or state.

snip//

What Boehner and McConnell do about issues like infrastructure spending will signal how serious they are about governing. What is certain though is that liberals will have a loud voice in the new Congress, and Bernie Sanders will be leading the charge to create millions of new middle-class jobs.

[randys1]

1. Love this..

[yeoman6987]

23. I wish he did these things when we had both chambers

We could have done a lot.

[Doctor_J]

28. not a chance in hell

The white house and blue dogs would not have let this happen.

[davidthegnome]

55. As much as it sucks...

I figure you're basically right. Might be some willing to try, but the majority will shut it down before it goes anywhere.

[Thinkingabout]

36. Yes it would have been a good time when we had both houses and it was on Obama's agenda.

[Recursion]

59. Obama submitted a jobs bill in 2009 and it couldn't pass the House then

Back when we controlled the House. You do remember that, right?

[Thinkingabout]

61. If Bernie is honestly going to try to get this passed I am sure he has the votes lined up already.

[Recursion]

62. Of course he isn't trying to get this passed. He's grandstanding.

Just like his introducing single payer every single year. There's nothing wrong with that in particular, but it doesn't actually do anything.

[Thinkingabout]

63. Just what I thought, I would guess he did not think we could figure this out.

[cui bono]

69. Then you would guess wrong and are insulting our greatest senator.

And the only way to change the conversation is to talk about something else. At least he is talking about things just as he does every day. He works tirelessly for the working people of America.

[Thinkingabout]

87. Has he ever sponsored a bill to repair the infrastructure before? If he has been working tireless

for the working people of America and it has taken him this long to get this going, he is playing to his "base". If it is an insult then he is responsible for not taking action before.

[dotymed]

99. That IS how you change the narrative.

By introducing Single Payer every year and getting out the message that it is possible to do the right things to help Americans.
Sen. Bernie Sanders is using his new position as the top Democratic caucus member on the Senate Budget Committee to introduce this job programs initiative.
Now Bernie is introducing legislation from a place of power. The budget committee is the place that will determine if this bill survives.
An actual peoples representative trying to do good for the majority of Americans....
Bernie has, for decades, been trying to put the reigns of our government in the hands of the people.
He has an (I) behind his name but he is the closest PROVEN legislator to act like a real FDR Democrat, IMO.

[LondonReign2]

74. I love Third Way criticism of a Senator

that dares to promote core Democratic party principles

[Recursion]

76. I don't know that saying he's grandstanding is a cricitism. I certainly didn't mean it as one

But, I mean, there's a reason he didn't introduce it until Reid lost the majority leadership, for instance.

[Thinkingabout]

89. I like a lot of the Third Way platform, I don't like some of the votes Bernie has taken.

If he is flexing his muscle now why has he been sitting for years in Congress without "Flexing" his muscle?

[LondonReign2]

92. Yes, we know you like the Third Way

And the fact you thinking Bernie has been sitting for years doing nothing...

[Thinkingabout]

93. His record speaks for itself huh.

[LondonReign2]

94. Yes it does

and you are ignorant of it.

Also explains your embrace of the infiltrators at the Third Way

[Thinkingabout]

95. You are calling me ignorant, based on what information, believe it or not

I embrace good values, maybe you should familiarize yourself with good values.

[LondonReign2]

96. No, you embrace the Third Way

The Third Way is incompatible with good values, unless you are a corporation.

And you are ignorant of Bernie's record.

[Thinkingabout]

97. Are you talking about these?

http://www.ontheissues.org/House/Bernie_Sanders.htm

What issues do you dislike about "Third Way"?

[NorthCarolina]

79. Ummm....

"Sen. Bernie Sanders is using his new position as the top Democratic caucus member on the Senate Budget Committee to push a new bill"

He didn't have this NEW position back then. Third-Way Dems would have never allowed such a thing anyway. Now with Bernies new position on the Senate budget committee, they will have little choice but to endure.

[daleanime]

2. It would be a start...

[Trillo]

4. Could be good if its paid for from general taxes.

If, OTOH, it ends up increasing tolls and the number of toll roads "as an *investment*", then it's not such a great idea, because citizens can't deduct their transportation costs, but corporations and businesses can.

[Samantha]

68. Yes, but citizens are corporations too, right (n/t)

[JEB]

5. Or we could just start another war.

Very stimulating to certain parts of our economy.

[valerief]

6. We need a War On Wars. nt

[JEB]

9. I like the sound of that.

We could pour billions of dollars into it via organizations like Veterans for Peace.

http://www.veteransforpeace.org/

That would stimulate not just our economy, but I'd venture the world's economy.

[valerief]

13. Yes, but extremely rich people wouldn't get richer and getting them richer appears to be

the most important thing in the world.

[99Forever]

7. Sanders for President, 2016.

America's best hope.

[red dog 1]

100. How about a Sanders-Grayson Democratic ticket in 2016?

Alan Grayson (D-FLA)

If Bernie does actually run for POTUS as a Democrat, and wins the nomination, he'll need a real "bulldog" as his running mate.

Grayson is a populist (like Bernie) and he would do well in Vice-Presidential debates.

IMO, a Sanders-Grayson ticket could win it all!

[jwirr]

8. The first challenge to the new rulers. Good going Bernie.

[JEB]

10. Why is Bernie the only one doing these obvious good things?

I stand with Bernie.

[Recursion]

57. You mean other than Obama's jobs bill that he's been flogging for six straight years? (nt)

[joshcryer]

77. Never passed a budget without a continuing resolution.

Can't pass a black man's budget, after all.

No other President has faced this nonsense.

[project_bluebook]

11. I hope Bernie kicks some fascist butt

but the only thing the fascists will vote on is killing Obamacare and pushing for the tar crap oil pipeline, oh, and Obama's TPP.

[brooklynite]

12. I'm sure McConnell will give this all due consideration...

...as will Speaker Boehner.

[Phlem]

14. K&R!

[1StrongBlackMan]

15. Well, alrighty, then ...

only a couple of years latte; but ...

The far right in the House and Senate who refuse to spend money on anything other than benefits for the wealthy and corporations, and the second problem is that infrastructure bills always face is that every members of Congress wants something for their district or state.

The former is resolved by isolating and separating the far right from those that traditional support infrastructure spending. And the latter, shouldn't be a problem ... every district in every state has bridges, water works, electrical grids, etc.

[bluedigger]

24. "latte"? Is that a swipe at Volvo driving latte sipping Vermont liberals?

Because if it was, it was pretty good!

[1StrongBlackMan]

26. Actually, it was a typo ...

Freudian as hell, but none-the-less a typo!

I cannot claim the wit.

[Jackpine Radical]

81. But your unconscious can.

[1StrongBlackMan]

82. Or, it's proof positive of artificial intelligence ...

the sardonic sense of humor of my smart-phone.

[Jackpine Radical]

86. I hate it when my electronic gadgets are smarter than I am.

[1StrongBlackMan]

88. LOL ... Me, too! n/t

[Renew Deal]

16. He should flex his muscles by getting it passed

Introducing something that will fail doesn't take much effort.

[djean111]

32. Well, maybe he can ask Jamie Dimon to get out the vote for him.

The problem is not Bernie, the problem is McConnell, Pelosi, Reid, Boehner - they decide what comes to the floor. Reid did not allow something to get to the floor to avoid the great gift to Wall Street - because Obama did not want that to happen.
Hilarious, really - Obama is PRESIDENT, and is sometimes cast as helpless before Congress, but Bernie is jeered at for not being able to just get things done.

Bernie does not have Executive privilege, ya know. Just his new position as the top Democratic caucus member on the Senate Budget Committee. Looks like he will be taking great advantage of this. And remember, it seems most in Congress now take their instructions on voting for bills from the Party leaders.

[Thinkingabout]

37. I wonder if Bernie is getting the votes lined up for this.

[cui bono]

70. I wonder what you have against Senator Sanders.

[Renew Deal]

39. I am more critical of the headline than Bernie

The headline is ridiculous.

[djean111]

40. I think the headline is referring to the fact that Bernie has just now got this power

and responsibility in the Budget Committee, and is prepared to use it from Day One.

http://thehill.com/policy/finance/226986-sanders-selected-to-be-top-dem-on-senate-budget

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will be the ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee next year, Democrats announced Friday.

The self-proclaimed socialist replaces Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who is moving over to become ranking member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

The promotion for Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats, gives him a prominent perch to push his priorities as he moves toward a long-shot run for the White House in 2016. He is a vocal advocate for increased spending on social programs and says the budget of the Pentagon should be slashed dramatically.

As ranking member on the budget panel, Sanders could be tasked with creating an alternative fiscal blueprint to the budget that will be put forward by the new Republican Congress.

In this context, yes, Bernie is flexing his muscles.

[NYC_SKP]

17. Just Like Hillary Did!!!

Oh, wait, no...

When Clinton Promoted Outsourcing

by Paul Rockwell
Oakland, California

Job security is the foremost domestic issue for working people in Pennsylvania, where Senator Hillary Clinton is expected to win the Democratic Party primary. For many months, as a candidate for president, Senator Clinton has cultivated a pro-labor image. She claims to be an opponent of NAFTA, and she often denounces the outsourcing of American jobs. Before a crowd of students in New Hampshire, she claimed that she hated "seeing U.S. telemarketing jobs done in remote locations, far, far from our shores."

Newly released White House records demonstrate that Clinton lied about NAFTA. (See "Clinton Lie Kills Her Credibility on Trade Policy," John Nichols, Common Dreams, March 22.) NAFTA, however, is but a single thread in a web of deception regarding globalization and free trade. Clinton is lying not only about NAFTA, but about outsourcing as well. And the evidence comes, not from Obama, but from official records, video tapes, quotations and recordings of Clinton speeches abroad.

Consider this. In 2005 Senator Clinton visited New Delhi, India, ("far, far from our shores&quot , where she met wealthy business leaders, venture capitalists eager for U.S. investment. A few years prior to her visit, Enron gained a foothold in India's economy. Enron uprooted local communities, fleeced the public coffers, then pulled out of India with the profits of unregulated greed.

In a speech promoting globalization and free trade, here is what Senator Clinton said in New Delhi: "There is no way you can legislate against reality. Outsourcing will continue ... . We are not against all outsourcing, we are not in favor of putting up fences."

http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/opin/pr_freetrade.html

And:

Clinton's free-trade advocacy is hitting labor where it lives
Competition helps both sides, she says. A Buffalo deal yielded a few jobs.

July 30, 2007|Peter Wallsten | Times Staff Writer

BUFFALO, N.Y. — To many labor unions and high-tech workers, the Indian giant Tata Consultancy Services is a serious threat -- a company that has helped move U.S. jobs to India while sending thousands of foreign workers on temporary visas to the United States.

So when Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) came to this struggling city to announce some good news, her choice of partners was something of a surprise.

Joining Tata Consultancy's chief executive at a downtown hotel, Clinton announced that the company would open a software development office in Buffalo and form a research partnership with a local university. Tata told a newspaper that it might hire as many as 200 people.

The 2003 announcement had clear benefits for the senator and the company: Tata received good press, and Clinton burnished her credentials as a champion for New York's depressed upstate region.

But less noticed was how the event signaled that Clinton, who portrays herself as a fighter for American workers, had aligned herself with Indian American business leaders and Indian companies feared by the labor movement.

http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jul/30/nation/na-buffalo30

[JDPriestly]

34. I like these paragraphs:

Like many businesses and economists, Clinton says that the United States benefits by admitting high-tech workers from abroad. She backs proposals to increase the number of temporary visas for skilled foreigners.

The Tata deal shows the difficulty of proving concrete benefits to U.S. workers from the visa system. Since 2003, the year its Buffalo office opened, Tata and its affiliates have sought permission to bring more than 1,600 foreign high-tech workers to the state, including at least 495 to the upstate region and 45 to Buffalo, according to government data. Tata has brought additional workers into the country under a second visa program whose numbers have not been disclosed.

Some U.S. worker organizations say Clinton cannot claim to support American workers if she is also helping Indian outsourcing companies and proposing more worker visas.

"It's just two-faced," said John Miano, founder of the Programmers Guild, one of several high-tech worker organizations that have sprung up as outsourcing has expanded. "We see her undermining U.S. workers and helping the offshoring business, and then she comes back to the U.S. and says, 'I'm concerned about your pain.' "

http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jul/30/nation/na-buffalo30

I strongly oppose Hillary Clinton's candidacy for the presidency. She would not make a good president.

[Thinkingabout]

41. It is always interesting to note the negotiations was done by George HW Bush but I don't

See his name coming up on NAFTA, interesting.

[NYC_SKP]

42. I remember the day the senate voted on NAFTA, supported by Clinton and Bush alike. nt

[Thinkingabout]

45. Do you know when it was negotiated? Do you know who was in the group who signed the

Original negotiations?

Here is some information apparently many do not know.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Free_Trade_Agreement

[Union Scribe]

85. We expect Republicans to oppose labor.

We are (but by now should not be, at all) surprised when the knife sinks into our backs instead.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

18. When was the last time the Weeping One claimed, "We're broke"?

[NuclearDem]

19. ...just in time for the new GOP-controlled Congress, where it has zero chance of passing.

Oh well, he'll get another applause line for it.

[JDPriestly]

35. Even if it does not pass, Bernie Sanders' advocacy for rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure

will educate the American people about what we could achieve if we pulled together as a nation instead of allowing Republicans to pull us apart with their divisive hatred of everything they can't buy.

[pampango]

20. “There are a number of Republicans who understand that it is vitally important that we rebuild our

crumbling infrastructure.”

This is a great proposal from Bernie. I suspect his quote about republicans is a bit of wishful thinking, but I support him on this.

[MissDeeds]

21. Bernie gets it, as usual

Huge K&R!!!!

[BrotherIvan]

22. Maybe President Obama can get behind it and push as hard for this bill as the TPP and Cromnibus!

I can dream can't I?

[Thinkingabout]

43. Rebuilding the infrastructure has been on Obama's agenda for a while.

http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-05/obama-says-his-jobs-plan-will-push-for-rebuilding-nation-s-infrastructure.htm

This speech was from September 2011.

[Cha]

53. Thank you for explaining that to the uniformed who are only quick with a cheap pot shot.

[Cha]

52. You mean like when the President's JOBS BILL went down in Congress? You can't make a$$holes VOTE

for JOBs for the American People when all they want is to give tax breaks to their Koch donors.



So yeah, dream away.

[BrotherIvan]

56. Look, I want him to fight for the people of this country and win

I encourage him to fight. The trouble is, he doesn't really fight that hard on issues like these. Now that he's free as a "lame duck" he can go to the mat. I encourage hime to do it.

[Cha]

65. I think he fights HARD.. people don't see it on corporate TV.. I know he fights for us. But, I also

know there's no changing the teabaggers. Obama is not the magic man.

[cui bono]

71. What has he fought hard about?

Not single-payer. Not a public option. Not ending the Bush tax cuts or almost any negotiation with the GOP. Not the economic interests of the working people vs. Wall Street. Not a good, progressive/liberal budget. Not protecting SS. Not our civil rights.

He did fight hard when he was campaigning.

[Recursion]

58. Or, his own jobs bill that he's been pushing for six years? (nt)

[CK_John]

25. If he introduced SocSec at age 50yr he would get presidential buzz.

[Doctor_J]

27. will be be ridiculed or ignored by the dc dems?

I predict ignored.

Go Bernie!

[KG]

29. ignored. the dems are a war party also

[LondonReign2]

75. Our Third Wayers here are going with the ridicule angle

[CrispyQ]

30. We need more of this type of calling out:

“There are a number of Republicans who understand that it is vitally important that we rebuild our crumbling infrastructure.”

[Jefferson23]

31. Highly recommend. n/t

[JDPriestly]

33. 35 years of Reaganomics. We really need this shot in the arm of our infrastructure.

Government has a job to do, and we need our government to do that job. Infrastructure maintenance if one part of it.

[onenote]

38. Will he do the work to get it passed? Will he find repub co-sponsors?

I like Bernie a lot because he says things that need to be said. But when it comes to legislating, he isn't particularly effective. He rarely does the things that it takes to get legislation passed. For example, unlike Ted Kennedy, who would go out and find repubs to co-sponsor his proposals, Bernie rarely if ever gets someone on the other side of the aisle to join his bills. And in a Senate with repub majority, not getting a repub co-sponsor is the equivalent of throwing your bill in the deep ocean.

Maybe now that he has a leadership position (ranking committee chair) he'll do the things it takes to be a more effective legislator.

[djean111]

46. Are you implying that Bernie has never done the work?

Or saying that Bernie should always have been able to do something that Obama cannot do, evidently, without the help of people like Jamie Dimon?

[Recursion]

60. I think the implication is that introducing a bill that simply can't pass is grandstanding

Now, sometimes grandstanding is all you can do, so there's nothing particularly wrong with doing it in that case, but it's something Sanders has really shown a talent for. But the headline is kind of perverse: somehow introducing a bill that you don't have the wherewithal to pass is "flexing muscle"?

[djean111]

64. Um, Bernie is perfrming his new responsibility - he is SUPPOSED to submit something....

"As ranking member on the budget panel, Sanders could be tasked with creating an alternative fiscal blueprint to the budget that will be put forward by the new Republican Congress."

What do you think he should do - "defy his base" and submit Rand Paul's version of a budget? Offer Chained CPI? Cut some more out of WIC or SNAP?

Liberal/Progressive ideas will at least be made public. Good for Bernie. And if you think that anything Bernie submitted, except for Rand Paul's obscenity of a budget, would be passed in this Congress, you are kind of not thinking clearly. Bernie may as well swing for the fences, don't you agree?

[JonLP24]

73. Everyone is grandstanding then since everyone introduces legislation that has about a 1% of passing

Govtrack.us is a great resource.

[JonLP24]

72. He's more effective than most

When it comes to legislation that actually becames law, attracting powerful co-sponsors, bills out-of-committee, and working with the House he is in the top 10% -- https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/bernard_sanders/400357/report-card/2013

[onenote]

78. In 2013 he was near the very bottom in introducing bills with a bipartisan cosponsor

In 2013, Bernie was fourth highest in the Senate with the number of bills introduced (49). But he was near the bottom in having co-sponsors from the other side of the aisle on those bills. Only one committee chair or ranking member introduced a lower percentage of bills with a sponsor from the other party (David Vitter). Only two Senators with ten or more years of service introduced a lower percentage of bills with bipartisan cosponsorship. And only 4 Senators overall introduced a lower percentage of bills with cosponsors from both parties.

Of the nearly 50 bills Bernie introduced in 2013, two became law. But one was merely to name a post office. The other was the Veterans' Compensation Cost of Living Adjustment Act. Not surprisingly, that was one of the few bills he introduced that had bi-partisan cosponsorship.

The 2013 Senate was a historically unproductive Senate. Only 13 bills introduced in the Senate became law. It is to Bernie's credit that one of those bills was his. And it is to his credit that he got strong bipartisan co-sponsorship on the bill. More than half of the bills that passed had at least one original co-sponsor from each party. Where a bill passed without bi-partisan co-sponsorship, it often was a bill of limited parochial interest, such as Tim Johnson's Minuteman Missile National Historic Site Boundary Modification Act (which passed without any repub co-sponsorship).

As I said, I like Bernie a lot. And it is true that most Senators have pretty poor records of actually getting things passed this days. But I also recognize that the reason to celebrate Bernie's introduction of a bill usually has more to do with sending a message than any actual effort to get legislation enacted and folks should recognize that fact and not get overly excited about the prospect of Bernie's bills getting enacted.

[JonLP24]

80. As long as people don't get overly excited whenever anyone else introduces legislation

very few bills introduced actually become law.

You should read the articles surrounding bills that involve the VA. He is a very hard working Senator and whatever aspects he lags behind such as drawing bipartisan co-sponsors he surpasses the others in many other areas.

[Bluenorthwest]

84. Ted Kennedy was in the Senate for 47 years and was the second most senior member when he did

the work for which he is admired. He was elected in 62 and did not start off as a lion but as a lamb. It was not until 1965 that he got anything advanced in the Senate at all. He was in an airplane crash and the time away-6 months out of the Chamber-tuned him into healthcare issues and gave him time to learn how to be an effective Senator, which he most certainly became.
Bernie is in his first term, this is his first leadership position. Comparing him to the forth longest serving Senator in history in his later years of great power is probably not the most accurate thing to do.

[onenote]

91. Bernie is in his second Senate term, not his first

and he was in the House for 16 years before being elected as Senator and his record in successfully sponsoring legislation while a member of the House is similar to his record as a Senator: he introduced over 500 bills, but only one -- another post office naming bill -- was enacted into law.

Again, I'm a fan of Bernie and I salute him for introducing provocative bills that don't have any chance of getting passed but nonetheless make points that need to be made. The point of my post is that folks shouldn't see an announcement that Bernie has introduced a bill as a sign that he intends to make much effort to get it passed. That isn't typically his goal.

[Turbineguy]

44. 13 million new jobs?

The repubs will never stand for it.

[ramprat63]

47. about time

No idea why they waited to do this, it should have been done years ago.

[jtuck004]

49. Busy making bank$ters rich and dropping 10 million additional people into poverty. n/t

[benld74]

48. Hell YES

[WillyT]

50. Huge K & R !!! - Thank You !!!

[Cha]

51. Good on Sen Bernie.. and Good Luck to us All.. l hope he has a much better time of it than when

President Obama's JOBS BILL got Shutdown.



I know the President loves what Senator Sanders is doing.. mahalo babsis

[L0oniX]

54. Well this will embarrass someone ...or it should.

[Enthusiast]

66. Kicked

and recommended a whole bunch!

This will require new revenue. Grover Norquist, go get fucked!

[jdenver_2624]

67. This is another reason why I really respect this man

Good on you Bernie. Keep up the good work.

[Union Scribe]

83. Goodness, the conservadems do not like this one bit! nt

[rhett o rick]

90. k & r. Thanks for posting. nm

[certainot]

98. sanders supporters can't say they're getting his back on this unless some

major org knows what the talk radio gods are saying about it and bernie and responds.

and that's not happening at the moment. not only that, many of those talk radio stations that will make anything bernie is trying to do impossible depend heavily on close to a hundred major publicly funded university and college sports programs whose mission statements would make the relationship impossible if taken seriously.

[madville]

101. Republicans will probably tie Keystone to it

Would that be a legitimate trade-off? Infrastructure jobs in exchange for their pipeline? Could possibly work, the minority never gets anything for free.

[Ramses]

102. good thing Sanders is doing

Watch the people who try and shit on what is trying to do.