Bernie Sanders:
"" The nation’s only
socialist member of Congress
Campaign finance: Limit
corporate and interest-
group spending in
campaigns.
Sanders proposes a
Constitutional amendment
that would effectively
reverse the Supreme
Court’s Citizen United
ruling and ban corporations
and nonprofits from
unlimited campaign
expenditures. The
independent senator would
also require disclosure of
any organizations spending
$10,000 or more on an election-related
campaign.
Climate change: Charge companies for carbon
emissions
Considered to be a “climate change hawk ,”
Sanders argues that shifting global
temperatures are a significant threat and
caused by human activity. He has sponsored a
bill which would charge companies for their
carbon emissions and use some of the money
raised to boost renewable energy technology.
Education: Two years free tuition at state
colleges. Reform student loans.
Sanders would provide $18 billion to state
governments to allow them to cut tuition at
state colleges by 55 percent . And he would
allow anyone paying off a student loan currently
to refinance at a lower rate.
Federal Reserve and banks: Break up big
banks. Open up the Fed.
Sanders would divide large banks into smaller
entities and charge a new fee for high-risk
investment practices, including credit default
swaps. In addition, he believes the Federal
Reserve is an opaque organization which gives
too much support to large corporations. His
pushed for a 2011 audit of the Fed and he
would use the Fed to force banks into loaning
more money to small businesses. Finally, he
would ban financial industry executives from
serving on the 12 regional boards of directors.
Guns: A mixed approach. No federal handgun
waiting period. Some protection for gun
manufacturers. Ban assault weapons.
In the House of Representatives, Sanders voted
against the pro-gun-control Brady Bill, writing
that he believes states, not the federal
government, can handle waiting periods for
handguns. Soon after, he voted yes for the
1994 Violent Crime Control and Law
Enforcement Act that included an assault
weapons ban. He has voted to ban some
lawsuits against gun manufacturers and for the
Manchin-Toomey legislation expanding federal
background checks .
Health care: Change to single-payer
government-provided health care
Sanders voted for the Affordable Care Act , but
believes that the new health care law did not
go far enough. Instead, he espouses a single-
payer system in which the federal and state
governments would provide health care to all
Americans. Participating states would be
required to set up their own single-payer
system and a national oversight board would
establish an overall budget.
Immigration: Offer path to citizenship. Waive
some deportations now.
Sanders generally agrees with President Obama
that most of the undocumented immigrants in
the country now should be given a path to
citizenship. He voted for the senate
immigration bill in 2013, which would have
increased border security and issued a
provisional immigrant status to millions of
undocumented residents once some significant
security metrics had been met. In addition,
Sanders has supported President Obama’s use
of executive orders to waive deportation for
some groups of immigrants, including those
who were brought to the United States as
children.
Taxes: Raise some taxes on the wealthy. Cut
taxes for middle class.
The current ranking minority member on the
Senate Budget Committee, Sanders would
nearly double taxes on capital gains and
dividends for the wealthiest two percent of
Americans. In addition, this year Sanders asked
President Obama to use executive action to
close six tax deductions benefitting
corporations and hedge funds. The Vermont
senator would use some of the revenue gained
from higher taxes on the rich to lower taxes for
middle and lower class Americans.
Iraq, Islamic State and Afghanistan: Opposed
the Iraq war. Calls for troop withdrawal as soon
as possible.
A longtime anti-war activist, Sanders voted
against the Iraq war resolution in 2002. He has
regularly called for the U.S. to withdraw troops
from Afghanistan and Iraq as soon as possible.
Regarding the Islamic State, Sanders has said
the U.S. should not lead the fight. In general,
he believes the U.S. should focus less on
international conflict and more on the domestic
needs of the middle class.
Iran and Israel: Supports current talks with
Iran. Critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu.
Sanders backs President Obama’s negotiations
with Iran and sharply criticized Republican
senators who signed a letter warning Iran
against a potential deal. In a statement, the
Jewish senator pushed back against the idea of
tougher sanctions and was critical of
Netanyahu’s speech to Congress. Sanders was
the first senator to announce he would not
attend the speech.""
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/bernie-sanders-believe-candidate-stands-10-issues/
Um....No....hell no
