Bernie Sanders's Blog, page 9

We Must End Fed Secrecy

I hope that the Senate will vote on my amendment to end secrecy at the Federal Reserve. I hope that as early as Tuesday, through the efforts of incredibly strong progressive and conservative grass-roots organizations, we will win a historic victory for the American people.



It's not going to be easy. It probably will require 60 votes for passage - a very high hurdle. That is why, in an important step forward, I reached agreement on Thursday with Chairman Dodd that absolutely keeps intact the key provisions we have been fighting for and hopefully will give us the additional votes that we need.



Under my amendment, for the first time the American people will know exactly who received more than $2 trillion in zero or near zero interest loans from the Federal Reserve and the exact terms of this assistance. A year ago, I asked Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that question. He said he wasn't going to tell the American people. If we pass this bill, he will have to tell us.



For the first time, under this amendment, there would be a comprehensive top-to-bottom audit of the emergency actions that the Fed has taken since the financial crisis started. The amendment explicitly would require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate what many Americans believe were serious conflicts of interest involving the Fed and CEOs of the largest financial institutions in the country. For example, why was Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein at the New York Federal Reserve when the federal government decided to bailout AIG allowing Goldman to receive $13 billion?



In introducing a modified amendment, I addressed concerns that I heard from both Democrats and Republicans who did not want Congress to be involved in the day-to-day monetary policy of the Fed. I share that concern. That has always been my position. I believed that I had made it abundantly clear in the original amendment. Now we have made it even clearer.



Other changes in the amendment, which I do not consider significant, included setting a specific deadline - December 1, 2010 - for the Fed to make public the names of the financial institutions that received more than $2 trillion in what are now secret Fed loans. Also, we agreed - given that my interest was the recent, unprecedented activities of the Fed since 2007 - that the audit would cover the period since the economic crisis began and would be focused on the Fed's emergency provisions.



I support the legislation passed by the House of Representatives under the leadership of Congressmen Ron Paul and Alan Grayson. Frankly, some provisions in the House legislation are stronger than the language we have in the Senate. But there also are provisions in my amendment which are stronger than theirs, including a mandate that the names of financial institutions that received Fed loans, and the precise terms of the loans, will be made public.



My goal, as I conveyed to Congressmen Paul and Grayson when we talked on Friday, is to do everything that I can to pass this amendment in the Senate, and then to work with them for the strongest possible language in the final bill.

Now Is the Time to Act

The American people are angry -- and for good reason. About 17 percent of our workforce is unemployed or under-employed, health insurance premiums are soaring while more and more people lose their coverage, we are looking at record-breaking deficits, global warming threatens the planet, young people can't afford a college education and we are fighting two wars.



In the midst of all of this, facing the greatest set of crises since the Great Depression, the Republican Party has become the "Party of No." Senate Republicans have engaged in a record number of filibusters and other obstructionist tactics. More than 280 bills passed by the House have not yet been considered in the Senate. Day after day they slow down legislation and use the arcane rules of the Senate to make sure that nothing is accomplished. One senator called for the complete reading of a 700-page amendment. Another put a "hold" on all of President Obama's nominees. Another recently delayed hundreds of thousands of American workers from receiving extended unemployment and health insurance benefits. On and on it goes!



Meanwhile, people who voted for Obama and the Democrats are wondering why the majority party is always on the defensive and why, with large majorities in the House and Senate, they still can't pass major legislation to address the pressing needs of the middle class and working families. I do a national radio show every week and I continuously hear such words as "disappointed," "disgusted," "frustrated." People are hurting; they want action from Congress and they want it now.



The good news is that, in order to get this country moving again, all the Democrats have to do is to use the same Senate procedure that Republicans employed -- time and time again -- in the past. The "reconciliation process" requires 51 votes to pass legislation in the Senate, not 60. I find the hypocrisy extraordinary that when the president or Democrats now talk about using reconciliation, Republicans begin whining and howling about how unfair and undemocratic that process is. That's strange! They have used that very same approach time after time when it suited their purposes.



Remember Newt Gingrich's "Contract with America," the 2,400-page bible of the Republican Revolution of the 1990s, which slashed Medicare and Medicaid, cut education, raised taxes on working families, weakened environmental standards and gave huge tax breaks to the rich? Guess what? Before President Clinton vetoed that terrible bill it passed by reconciliation. In fact, of the 22 times that reconciliation has been used since 1980, Republicans have used it 16 times -- often to provide tax breaks to the wealthy and slash health care for the elderly and poor.



Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), among many other Republicans, is now a critic of reconciliation. But back in 2005, when the Republicans used it, he sang a different tune saying, "All this rule of the Senate does is allow a majority of the Senate to take a position and pass a piece of legislation; support that position. Is there something wrong with majority rules? I don't think so." Senator Gregg was right then. He's wrong now.



Let's take a brief walk down memory lane and review how reconciliation has been used in the past.



In 1985, Congress provided health insurance for the unemployed, a backstop insurance policy commonly known as COBRA. Do you know what COBRA stands for? It's the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act.



In 1996, Republicans used reconciliation to pass major legislation that ended six decades of welfare policy.



In 2001, Republicans used reconciliation to pass President Bush's $1.35 trillion tax cut that mainly benefited the wealthy.



In 2003, Republicans increased the deficit by $350 billion by providing generous tax breaks for the wealthy and large businesses. Vice President Dick Cheney cast the tie breaking 51st vote to send this bill to the president.



In 2005, Republicans passed a 360-page reconciliation bill without a single Democratic vote that provided deep cuts to Medicaid, and raised premiums on Medicare beneficiaries. Once again, Cheney cast the tie-breaking vote.



Republicans believed in reconciliation when George W. Bush was president and wanted to push an agenda that benefited the wealthy and large corporations. Now, however, they vigorously oppose reconciliation because some of us want to reform a disintegrating health care system, make college more affordable for working families and create millions of good jobs by ending our $350 billion a year dependency on foreign oil and moving to energy efficiency and sustainable energy.



The American people have had enough of this double standard. The Democrats were elected to govern and to address the horrendous problems this country faces. It is time for the Democrats to use the same reconciliation rules Republicans used over and over again. The time to act is now!

War and Peace

Americans should be proud that we have a president who is restoring respect for our country around the globe. This well-deserved prize is an inspiration.

It's Time For a Solar Revolution

This country spends, in a typical year, $350 billion importing oil from Saudi Arabia and other foreign countries. While this is no doubt good news for the Saudi royal family, one of the richest in the world, it is bad news for the average American.



The vast majority of the American people understand that now is the time to move to energy independence so that we are no longer subject to the greed of OPEC or Wall Street speculators, or need to fight "wars for oil" in the Middle East. Americans also know that if we are serious about addressing environmental pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and the imperative to create millions of good-paying jobs, we must move aggressively to energy efficiency and such sustainable technologies as solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass.



Thomas Edison, one of history's greatest inventors said; "I'd put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don't have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that." He was right then, in 1931, and he remains right today. The American people agree. Today, 92 percent of all Americans want our country to develop solar energy resources, and 77 percent believe the federal government should make solar power development a national priority.



That is why I was joined by 10 of my colleagues (Senators Whitehouse, Cardin, Gillibrand, Merkley, Lautenberg, Leahy, Boxer, Menendez, Specter, and Harkin) in introducing the Ten Million Solar Roofs Act. The bill is all of 9 pages and is pretty straightforward. It calls for 10 million new solar rooftop systems and 200,000 new solar water heating systems over the next 10 years. When fully implemented, this legislation would lead to 30,000 megawatts of new photovoltaic energy, triple our total current U.S. solar energy capacity. It will increase by almost 20 times our current energy output from photovoltaic panels. The legislation will rapidly increase production of solar panels, driving down the price of photovoltaic systems. It also would mean the creation of over a million new jobs. The passage of this bill would dramatically reorient our energy priorities and would be a major step forward toward a clean energy future for the United States.



What the Ten Million Solar Roofs Act does is provide consumer rebates for the purchase and installation of solar systems. Here is how it works: Take the example of a homeowner who decides to install a 5 kilowatt solar system which, depending on location, would produce enough electricity to cover most, if not all, of an average electric bill (the solar panels would produce excess power during the day which can be sold back to the utility, covering some or all of the cost of electricity when the sun is not shining). That system today costs roughly $35,000 to purchase and install. The federal tax credit of 30 percent reduces the system cost to $24,500. Many states offer additional incentives. In Vermont, for example, a homeowner could get an additional rebate of $1.75 per watt, which would further reduce the system cost to $15,750. Our bill would provide an additional rebate of as much as $1.75 per watt, covering up to 50 percent of the remaining cost. The result: the consumer now pays $7,875 for the solar system.



This is a pretty good deal for a family that plans to stay in their home or wants to increase their home value, or a small business looking to stabilize its energy costs. It's also a good deal for the nation because we save money by preventing the expensive construction of new power plants, we eliminate large health care and other costs associated with air and water pollution, and we take a big step to address global warming.



We know this concept works because it is already being implemented on a smaller scale in California. This legislation extends nationally the California Million Solar Roofs initiative, started by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican. Now several years into the program, California is on track to meet its goal of installing 3,000 megawatts of new solar by 2016.



Interestingly, while solar has a great deal of public support, you might not know that from listening to energy debates in Congress. As a member of both the energy and environment committees, I am constantly astounded by how many of my colleagues prefer to focus on what the government can do for the nuclear or coal industries, rather than why the government should support clean and sustainable energy. In fact, many senators and congressmen are fighting for a "nuclear renaissance" and want the federal government to offer loan guarantees covering the cost to build 100 new nuclear plants. This could place at risk up to $1 trillion in taxpayer money.



In my view, this is an absurd proposal. First, it is enormously expensive and financially risky. Second, if we don't know how to safely dispose of the highly toxic nuclear waster we currently have, what are we going to do with the new waste generated by 100 additional plants?



You may not hear much discussion of this in Congress, but the construction of new nuclear power plants is the most costly approach to producing new energy. Each new plant costs $10 to $17 billion to construct, and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has determined that the risk of default on taxpayer supported loan guarantees is more than 50 percent. The simple truth is that building new solar capacity is a lot cheaper than building new nuclear plants. The cost to produce electricity from new nuclear plants is estimated to be 25 to 30 cents per kilowatt hour. Compare this to the cost of producing electricity from solar photovoltaic panels at 13 to 19 cents per kilowatt hour. Also, importantly, the price of solar is coming down, whereas the price for new nuclear keeps going up. You do not have to be a financial wizard to figure this one out.



The time is now to reorder our energy priorities. Between 2002 and 2008 we put $70 billion of federal tax dollars towards fossil fuels, and just $1.2 billion towards solar power. New nuclear plants get more than triple the government subsidy that new solar plants get (and this does not fully account for the huge subsidy nuclear plants get through the Price-Anderson Act, which caps their liability in the event of a catastrophic event at a nuclear plant). This is not right.



If we are serious about moving toward energy independence in a cost-effective way, we should invest in solar energy. If we are serious about cutting air and water pollution and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we should invest in solar energy. If we are serious about creating a significant number of good paying jobs and making the United States a world leader in the production of sustainable energy, we should invest in solar energy. And, as we move forward in the solar revolution, a very good step forward would be the passage of the Ten Million Solar Roofs Act.



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Where Do We Go From Here?

One year ago the nation gave a collective sigh of relief as the worst and least popular administration in modern American history came to an end. Not only was the Bush administration heading out the door, but the Republican Party was reeling from two consecutive elections in which it suffered massive losses at all levels.



With a huge taxpayer bailout attempting to prop up a reckless and greedy financial system on the verge of collapse; with 700,000 workers a month losing their jobs in the worst recession since the 1930s; with the continuation of a war in Iraq that we never should have gotten into; with a rapidly increasing national debt caused largely by that unpaid-for war as well as tax breaks for the rich; and with the continued refusal to address or even acknowledge the crisis in global warming, the American people were ready for change.



In Senator Barack Obama, Americans at every level reached out to an inspiring young leader who, through a brilliant campaign, brought enormous energy into the political process. Young people who had never given much thought about elections were not only registering to vote in record-breaking numbers, but their newly-tapped idealism was leading them to actively participate in the campaign. Workers and their unions, who were victims of corporate greed and the ongoing collapse of the middle class, were determined to elect political leadership which represented ordinary Americans, not just the wealthy and large corporations. Women, who had battled for eight years to maintain the reproductive and legal rights they had struggled for over generations, were eagerly awaiting an administration that was on their side. Seniors, who were tired of hearing about Republican efforts to privatize Social Security and Medicare, wanted a president who understood the importance of those vital federal safety-net programs. And minorities and people of color, some of whom had experienced the hurt and humiliation of American apartheid, were ecstatic that the dream of a non-discriminatory society was taking a giant step forward. The result: With a strong voter turnout Barack Obama was elected president; the Democrats picked up 21 seats in the House and seven in the Senate (eight by the time Al Franken survived a recount and court challenge).



That was then, one very long year ago. Where are we now?



Today, having already experienced decisive losses in governors' races in New Jersey and Virginia, the Democratic prospects for 2010 appear bleak. Polls show President Obama's approval numbers sagging and some recent "generic ballots" show Republican candidates ahead of Democratic candidates -- a huge turnaround over the course of the year. Perhaps most ominously, these new polls show that "enthusiasm" and "interest in voting" among Republicans is far higher than with Democrats. Given that off-presidential year elections (voter participation could fall by 50 million this year compared to 2008) are often dominated by older and more conservative voters, a particularly low voter turnout among Democrats this fall could result in disaster for them. Why has this occurred? What can be done within the next few months to turn this scenario around?



In my view, the Democrats -- including the President -- have absurdly continued to stumble along the path of "bipartisanship" at exactly the same time the Republicans have waged the most vigorous partisan and obstructionist strategy in recent history.



Instead of making it clear that the first two years of the Obama administration would be about digging the country out of the incredible mess that Bush's eight years left us in, (deep recession, financial collapse, record-breaking deficits, disintegrating health care system, two wars, lack of respect from the international community, neglect of the environment) President Obama, incredibly, has enabled tens of millions of Americans to now believe that Bush's failures are his as well.



Unlike FDR in 1933, who consistently denounced Hoover's Republican policies as the cause of the country's perilous condition, Obama appears very reluctant to be "partisan" and point out to the American people the cause of our current crises. Can one imagine Barack Obama, for example, telling the American people as Roosevelt did in 1933, that he "welcomed" the hatred of the "economic royalists" whose greed had devastated the country?



In response to Obama's genteel and bipartisan outreach, the Republicans have undertaken a campaign of rhetorical savagery unprecedented in recent memory. The Right-Wing echo chamber of Fox News and talk radio, to which the Democrats have no equivalent and no interest in developing one, have implied that Obama is an "illegitimate" president not born in the United States, that he is a friend of terrorists, that he is an anti-white racist, that he rules unconstitutionally and that his administration reeks of Chicago-style corruption. And those are the respectful attacks!



In the overwhelmingly Democratic Senate the situation has been equally dismal. There, the Senate Finance Committee created a "Gang-of-Six" process which included three Republicans -- two of whom (Grassley and Enzi) are extremely conservative -- to determine the shape of health care reform. Amid cries of "death panels," "socialized medicine," "government takeover of health care," etc. etc. the meetings dragged on and on and on. On the floor of the Senate, the situation has been even worse. The Republicans have played the most obstructionist role ever with a record number of filibusters and other delaying tactics. The Republicans recently even voted temporarily to deny funds to our troops in the field of combat as a way to delay health care reform. They are also unanimous in opposing the increase in the debt limit, which if not raised, would likely cause the collapse of both the American and the international financial systems.



The result of all this is that Democrats of every stripe and many independents are perplexed, dispirited and sometimes disgusted. Constituency after constituency has been ignored or rejected. Some examples:



Progressive activists are angry that a Medicare-for-all single-payer approach was totally ignored during the health care debate. They also cannot understand how, despite overwhelming support for a strong public option in health care reform, there will not be one in the final bill. Trade unionists, many of whom voted for Obama and against McCain because of the latter's position on taxing workers' health care benefits, are apoplectic that Obama and Senate Democrats now support the McCain position. Women are outraged that the Democratic House was put in the position of having to support major restrictions with regard to abortion rights. And seniors, who for the first time in 45 years will not be receiving a Social Security COLA, are responding to the hypocritical Republican attacks about "cuts" in Medicare.



Now, I may not be the greatest political strategist in the world but I don't know how you win elections by ignoring the ideas of the progressives who have worked hardest at the grass-roots level for your political victories, or the trade unions that have provided significant financial support and door-to-door volunteers for Democratic campaigns. I am not aware how you succeed politically when you insult women, who far more than men consistently provide you with great margins of support. How do you preserve a big majority in Congress when you fail to be aggressive in protecting the interests of seniors, a huge voting bloc in off-presidential year elections? In other words, it should not surprise anyone that the Democrats are in serious trouble.



The time is short but I believe that the Democrats still have the potential to turn the tide, reverse their fortunes and bring out large numbers of their voters in the coming election. Here are some important steps forward that I believe should be undertaken in the coming months.



Perhaps most importantly, let Obama be Obama. Bring back one of the great inspirational leaders of our time who is more than capable of taking on the powerful special interests and rallying the American people toward a progressive agenda and a more just society. We have too quickly cast aside the audacity of hope as being too audacious. We need to aspire to more, not less: health care for all, education for all, a secure retirement for all, a world at peace, and a nation bound together by looking out for what the Constitution called "the general welfare" rather than a series of special interests looking out for their own financial wellbeing.



Pass the strongest health care reform legislation as soon as feasible -- making it clear that it will be significantly improved in the near future. While it was a tragic mistake to believe that a strong bill could pass under the provision that required 60 votes -- there was a procedural route which would have required only a simple majority -- this legislation does contain a number of provisions that will profoundly help tens of millions of Americans in every state in the country. It is a bill that can be successfully defended in a campaign because, whatever its many weaknesses, it is an indication that we are finally, after countless decades of futility, moving forward. A president and a party that can provide insurance for 31 million more Americans is far preferable to most voters than a party that only says "No."



Pass a major jobs bill which creates millions of new jobs rebuilding our infrastructure and moving our energy system in a different and sustainable direction. At a time when we have the most inequitable distribution of wealth and income of any industrialized nation, this bill must be progressively funded. This means taxing the super-rich - the very people who George W. Bush served so assiduously -- in order to make life better for the average American family.



Pass legislation allowing workers to have the right to join unions without unfair and illegal opposition from their employers. If we are going to reverse the race to the bottom, workers must have the right to engage in collective bargaining.



Boldly address the economic and financial crisis which has left 17 percent of our workforce unemployed or underemployed. This means that the Democrats must be prepared to take quick and decisive action against Wall Street and other Big Money interests whose uncontrollable greed have lowered our standard of living and wreaked havoc on the middle class. Among other actions we should: Pass a strong anti-usury law which limits the interest rates that banks charge on credit cards. We must break up those huge financial institutions which are "too big to fail:" if they are too big to fail, they are too big to exist. We must significantly increase transparency at the Federal Reserve, and replace Chairman Ben Bernanke, a major economic advisor in the Bush administration, with a progressive economist who understands that one of the Fed's core missions is full employment. We must either limit, or levy high taxes on, the bonuses paid by financial institutions.



In the midst of these terrible economic times, we must continue the effort, which Democrats have already pushed, to strengthen the safety net. If the Republicans oppose these efforts, we must make this a major campaign issue. Millions of Americans face unemployment, hunger, homelessness and a desperate existence. This includes senior citizens living on inadequate Social Security benefits, people with disabilities and disabled veterans. In these difficult times we cannot turn our backs on them.



Enact Senate reform. It is extremely undemocratic that 41 percent of the U.S. Senate can thwart the will of the American people, the President, the House of Representatives and a strong majority of the Senate. While individual senators will always have great clout, no one senator should be able to bring the United States government to a halt at one of the most perilous periods in American history.



In January 2009, we inaugurated a new president and swore in a new Congress with large Democratic majorities in the Senate and the House. Our nation seemed poised on the brink of a decade of progressive government, a new ascendancy of hope and change after eight disastrous years of Republican dominance.



One year later, the new electoral majority is disintegrating under the weight of continuous Republican attacks and, more importantly, an unwillingness of both the Congress and the President to rally the American people behind the kind of fundamental changes they were anticipating as a result of the election.



We can learn from the past. The last time our nation faced economic challenges as great as our own, Franklin Roosevelt embraced progressive social policies and major financial and economic reform. The nation did not ignore or forget his commitment to help American families, provide aid to the disadvantaged, and take on the moneyed powers of Wall Street. Roosevelt's greatest political legacy was to build a coalition of Americans from across the country who understood that, if they stood together under a progressive banner, life could be better for the average person. Now is the time to remember that lesson.

Where Was the Fed?

The American people overwhelmingly voted last year for a change in our

national priorities to put the interests of ordinary people ahead of the

greed of Wall Street and the wealthy few. What the American people did not

bargain for was another four years for one of the key

architects of the Bush economy.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, in charge of the central bank since 2006, could

have demanded that Wall Street provide adequate credit to small and

medium-sized businesses to create decent-paying jobs in a productive economy,

but he did not.

He could have insisted that large bailed-out banks end the usurious

practice of charging interest rates of 30

percent or more on credit cards, but he did not.  He

could have broken up too-big-to-fail financial institutions that took Federal

Reserve assistance, but he did not. 

He could have revealed which banks took more than $2

trillion in taxpayer-backed secret loans, but he did not.

The American people want a new direction on Wall Street and at the

Fed.  They do not want as chairman someone who has been part of the

problem and who has been responsible for many of the enormous difficulties that

we are now experiencing. It’s time for a change at the Fed.





We need a new chairman. We need somebody who is going to pay attention to

small- and medium-sized business, somebody who is going to do everything he or

she can to grow our economy and create decent paying jobs, somebody who is

going to protect consumers against outrageously high interest rates on their

credit cards, and somebody who is going to stand up for ordinary people.





I

am going to do my best to see that Mr. Bernanke’s nomination is defeated.

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