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bernie sanders
'That's Oligarchy,' Says Sanders as Billionaires Pump Cash Into Trump Campaign
"We must overturn the disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision and move to public funding of elections," said Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Oct 16, 2024
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday demanded action to curb billionaires' outsized influence on U.S. elections after new federal filings revealed that Tesla CEO Elon Musk and other ultra-rich Americans have pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into Republican nominee Donald Trump's presidential campaign in recent months.
"In three months, three billionaires donated $220 million to Donald Trump," Sanders wrote on social media, referring to Musk, Miriam Adelson, and Richard Uihlein. "Democracy is not billionaires buying elections. That's oligarchy. We must overturn the disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision and move to public funding of elections."
Both Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris have received financial support from members of the United States' increasingly wealthy and powerful billionaire class. According to a Forbes tally, at least 27 billionaires—including Musk—have spent more than a million dollars boosting the Trump campaign, while at least 28 have spent that amount in support of Harris.
The Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision spurred the creation of super PACs that can spend unlimited sums in support or opposition to federal candidates, as long as they don't coordinate directly with campaigns—a restriction that is often flouted in practice. Polling has shown that strong cross-partisan majorities in the U.S. support imposing limits on money in politics.
"Citizens United is among the worst decisions in history," former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich wrote Wednesday, pointing to the new campaign finance filings. "It corrupts our system every day."
In addition to Sanders, Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) called for the overturning of the 2010 decision as the 2024 election shapes up to be the most expensive in U.S. history, fueled by massive spending by big donor-funded super PACs.
According to the watchdogs OpenSecrets and RepresentUS, "the top 1% of donors accounted for 99.1% of all the money raised by super PACs and hybrid PACs" in the 2024 election cycle through September 22.
Last year, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) led more than two dozen House Democrats in introducing the We the People Amendment, a proposed change to the U.S. Constitution that would specify "that the rights provided by the Constitution are for people—not corporations—and that artificial entities have no constitutional rights."
"Corporations are not people and money is not speech," Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said after introducing the amendment. "In every election cycle since the disastrous Citizens United decision, we have seen more and more special interest dark money poured into campaigns across the country."
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) introduced a similar amendment in the U.S. Senate in September 2023.
Neither proposal, in either chamber of Congress, has received a vote.
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'Thank You, Kamala': Sanders Welcomes Harris Plan to Expand Medicare
"Congratulations to Vice President Harris for announcing a bold vision to expand Medicare to cover not only home healthcare, but also vision and hearing."
Oct 09, 2024
Independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont—a longtime universal healthcare advocate—on Wednesday hailed aw proposal by Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris to expand Medicare to cover in-home care for seniors as well as dental and vision for the first time ever.
As Common Dreamsreported Tuesday, labor unions and consumer advocates applauded Harris' plan—unveiled on the ABC talk show "The View"—to expand Medicare coverage in order to better serve what the Democratic nominee called the "sandwich generation" of middle-aged Americans who are simultaneously providing for their children and aging parents.
Responding to the proposal, Sanders said, "Congratulations to Vice President Harris for announcing a bold vision to expand Medicare to cover not only home healthcare, but also vision and hearing."
The senator continued:
It is no secret that we have a major crisis in home healthcare. Millions of seniors would prefer, when possible, to receive care in their homes rather than be forced into nursing homes. Kamala's plan is a major step forward not only in improving the quality of life for seniors and their families, but also in saving the healthcare system large sums of money.
Further, her plan to expand Medicare to cover the cost of vision and hearing is enormously important. In the wealthiest country on Earth, millions of lower-income seniors today are unable to afford the hearing aids and eyeglasses they desperately need. That is not acceptable. Every senior in America should be able to access these basic healthcare needs.
"Thank you, Kamala," added Sanders, who has been campaigning for Harris across the country and plans to visit the Midwest this week.
Sanders' remarks echoed those of progressive healthcare advocates, with Social Security Works executive director Alex Lawson on Tuesday calling Harris' plan "life-changing for seniors, people with disabilities, and those who love them."
"Currently, seniors and people with disabilities who need care that family can't provide are too often warehoused in dehumanizing nursing homes," Lawson continued. "Often, these nursing homes are owned by private equity corporations who are exploiting patients for profit. Under the Harris plan, seniors and disabled people would have the freedom to stay in their own homes."
"This is a universal benefit," Lawson added. "Everyone on Medicare would qualify. This is a win for everyone in America—except the billionaires."
Harris' campaign and supporters contrasted the Democratic nominee's plan with the White House record of the Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump, and sounded the alarm on the dangers he poses to Medicare and Social Security.
"Trump tried to cut Medicare and will cut the program as president," the Harris campaign said Tuesday.
Some critics also warned how Project 2025—the far-right initiative to expand U.S. presidential power and purge the federal civil service—poses a dire threat to seniors' public health by making private, for-profit Medicare Advantage plans the default option for all Medicare enrollees.
Harris' campaign added: "Trump spent a long career exploiting seniors, mocking disabled Americans, trying to take away seniors' hard-earned benefits, and supporting others who harm them. As president, Trump tried to destroy the Affordable Care Act and to cut Medicare and plans to do it again."
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'Mark Cuban Is Wrong': Bernie Sanders Defends Lina Khan as 'Best FTC Chair in Modern History'
"By taking on corporate greed and illegal monopolies, [the FTC chair] is doing an exceptional job preventing large corporations from ripping-off consumers and exploiting workers," said the U.S. Senator from Vermont.
Oct 09, 2024
After billionaire entrepreneur and investor Mark Cuban this week said publicly that he would get rid of Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan if he had the chance, Sen. Bernie Sanders pushed back Tuesday by calling her the best person to hold the powerful regulatory post in a long time.
Speaking at a luncheon event hosted by the health policy news outlet KFF in California, Cuban—the outspoken billionaire known for his appearances on the television show Shark Tank and who has endorsed Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris for president—responded to a question about retaining Khan if Harris won November's election by saying, "If it was me, I wouldn't."
While Khan has been championed by progressives for her aggressive efforts to curb corporate greed and the relentless monopolistic consolidations that have harmed consumers and the broader economy, Cuban criticized her antitrust actions as counterproductive.
"By trying to break up the biggest tech companies, you risk our ability to be the best in artificial intelligence," Cuban claimed, according to reporting by Semafor. "The bigger picture," he added, is that Khan is "hurting more than she's helping."
Following Cuban's reported comments, Sanders—who recently traveled with Khan in Texas to talk with voters about the threat of corporate power and how the working class can better confront it—came to her defense.
"Mark Cuban is wrong," Sanders tweeted Tuesday night in response. "Lina Khan is the best FTC Chair in modern history."
"By taking on corporate greed and illegal monopolies," Sanders continued, the current FTC chair "is doing an exceptional job preventing large corporations from ripping-off consumers and exploiting workers."
Other progressives, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Working Families Party national director Maurice Mitchell, also weighed in.
"Let me make this clear," Ocasio-Cortez declared Wednesday, "since billionaires have been trying to play footsie with the ticket: Anyone goes near Lina Khan and there will be an out and out brawl. And that is a promise. She proves this admin fights for working people. It would be terrible leadership to remove her."
Last month, Fortunereported that many "billionaire donors" of Harris' presidential campaign—including Cuban and Barry Diller, chairman of IAC—were lobbying behind the scenes to have Khan replaced if she takes the White House.
In July, Common Dreamsnoted the backlash many of these same billionaire donors—who also include LinkedIn founder Reid Hastings and Netflix's Reed Hoffman—received for going after Khan.
In an August column, progressive activist Jim Hightower warned about the billionaires within the Democratic coalition who had "knives out" for Khan.
"Khan is the first real antitrust champion America has had in years," wrote Hightower at the time. "But will leading Democrats have the guts and integrity to defend her? Or will the business-as-usual powers be ushered back in?"
In a statement from an unnamed spokesperson released to Semafor, the FTC responded to Cuban's remarks by saying Khan believes "extreme consolidation" of large companies is damaging to U.S. economic progress.
"Chair Khan believes choosing competition over centralized corporate control of markets is the path to letting the best ideas win," the spokesperson said.
Sanders concluded his Tuesday rebuke of Cuban by thanking Khan directly for "what you are doing."
Update: This piece has been updated from its original to include new public comment from Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez.
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