Bernie Sanders in 6th Democratic Primary Debate


On Budget & Economy: FactCheck, yes, 3 top people wealthier than half of America

Bernie Sanders said during the LMU debate that "three people own more wealth than the bottom half." He has said in past venues that three individuals--not three percent of the people--are richer than 50% of all of America. Is that true?

Yup, there's a summary on CommonDreams.org entitled "Three Richest Americans Now Own More Wealth Than Bottom Half of US Combined."

The summary comes from an Institute for Policy analysis, "Billionaire Bonanza 2017," based on data recently made public by the˙ Forbes˙400 list and the Federal Reserve's annual "Survey of Consumer Finances."

The analysis asserts: "The three wealthiest people in the United States--Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Warren Buffett--now own more wealth than the entire bottom half of the American population combined, a total of 160 million people or 63 million households." So Senator Sanders is correct that the three wealthiest individual people are wealthier than the sum of half of all of America.

Source: OnTheIssues Fact-Check on December Democratic primary debate Dec 19, 2019

On Foreign Policy: Address root causes to end these endless wars

Q [to V.P. Biden]: A national security official said that there was constant pressure from the Obama White House to produce figures showing the troop surge was working, "despite hard evidence to the contrary." What do you say to that?

Joe Biden: Since 2009, I was on the opposite side of that with the Pentagon. I can speak to it now is because it's been published. I'm the guy, from the beginning, who argued that it was a big, big mistake to surge forces to Afghanistan, period. I argued against it constantly.

Sen. Bernie Sanders: Joe, you're also the guy who helped lead us into the disastrous war in Iraq. What we need to do, is I think, rethink the entire war on terror. We have lost thousands of our own men and women, brave soldiers. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people, have been killed abroad or forced to leave their countries. It is time right now, that we bring this world together, to try to end these endless wars and address the root causes, which are causing these wars.

Source: Newshour/Politico/PBS December Democratic primary debate Dec 19, 2019

On Free Trade: USMCA agreement does not prevent outsourcing or talk climate

Q: Will you support the trade agreement among the US, Canada, and Mexico, recently passed by the House?

Sanders: I voted against NAFTA, voted against PNC with China, agreements that cost four million decent-paying jobs. I don't agree this is going to be a great job creator. This is a modest improvement that would allow Mexican workers to negotiate decent contracts. But it is not going to stop outsourcing. It is not going to stop corporations from moving to Mexico. We need a trade policy that stands up for workers, stands up for farmers, and, by the way, the word "climate change" is not discussed, which is an outrage. I will not be voting for this agreement.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar: I am voting for it; I believe we have a change with this agreement. We've got better labor standards, better environmental standards, and a better deal when it comes to the pharmaceutical provision. While Senator Sanders is correct, there are some issues with it, is much better than the one originally proposed.

Source: Newshour/Politico/PBS December Democratic primary debate Dec 19, 2019

On Health Care: Medicare-for-all costs average family $1200 instead of $12K

Sen. Bernie Sanders [to V.P. Biden]: Joe, you asked me how are we going to pay for [my healthcare plan]? Under your plan, I'll tell you how we're paying for right now. The average worker in America, their family makes $60,000 a year. That family is now paying $12,000 a year for health care--20% of their income. Under Medicare-for-all that family will be paying $1,200 a year.

Joe Biden: [Sen. Sanders' healthcare plan] costs $30 trillion over 10 years. The idea that you're going to be able to save that person making $60,000 a year on Medicare for all is preposterous. You're going to add 84% more and it's not going to be higher taxes? It's going to increase personal taxes.

Sanders: That's right. We got to increase personal taxes, but we're eliminating premiums, we're eliminating copayments, we're eliminating deductibles, we're eliminating all out of pocket expenses and no family in America will spend more than $200 a year on prescription drugs.

Source: Newshour/Politico/PBS December Democratic primary debate Dec 19, 2019

On Principles & Values: Trump has documentedly lied thousands of times as President

Q: Why do you think more people are not in support of impeachment & what else can you do?

Sanders: We have a president who is a pathological liar. We have a president who is running the most corrupt administration in the modern history of this country. And we have a president who is a fraud, because during his campaign he told working people one thing, and he ended up doing something else. I believe, and I will personally be doing this in the coming weeks and months, is making the case that we have a president who has sold out the working families of this country, who wants to cut social security, Medicare, and Medicaid, after he promised he would not do that, and who has documentedly lied thousands of times since he is president. And the case to be made is, yeah, certainly, I disagree with Trump on virtually all of his policies, but what conservatives, I think, understand, is that we cannot have a president with that temperament, who is dishonoring the presidency of the United States.

Source: December Democratic primary debate on impeaching Trump Dec 19, 2019

On War & Peace: I was wrong on my vote for Afghan War; remove all troops

Q: You often point to your vote against the war in Iraq is evidence of your judgment on foreign policy. But you did vote for the war in Afghanistan and as recently as 2015 you said you supported a continued U. S. troop presence there. Was that support a mistake?

Bernie Sanders: Well, only one person, my good friend Barbara Lee [U.S. Rep, D-CA-13] was right on that issue. She was the only person in the House to vote against the war in Afghanistan. She was right; I was wrong. So was everybody else in the House. But to answer your question, I don't think you do what Trump does and make foreign policy decisions based on a tweet at 3AM in the morning, or desert your long-time allies like the Kurds. I think you work with the international community, you remove all troops over a period of time, a short period of time, within one year.

Source: Newshour/Politico/PBS December Democratic primary debate Dec 19, 2019

The above quotations are from Democratic Primary Debate, December 19 at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, co-hosted by PBS Newshour and Politico.com.
Click here for main summary page.
Click here for a profile of Bernie Sanders.
Click here for Bernie Sanders on all issues.
Bernie Sanders on other issues:
Abortion
Budget/Economy
Civil Rights
Corporations
Crime
Drugs
Education
Energy/Oil
Environment
Families
Foreign Policy
Free Trade
Govt. Reform
Gun Control
Health Care
Homeland Security
Immigration
Jobs
Principles/Values
Social Security
Tax Reform
Technology/Infrastructure
War/Iraq/Mideast
Welfare/Poverty
Please consider a donation to OnTheIssues.org!
Click for details -- or send donations to:
1770 Mass Ave. #630, Cambridge MA 02140
E-mail: submit@OnTheIssues.org
(We rely on your support!)

Page last updated: Dec 27, 2019