[csusbpeace] Sanders Accuses McConnell of Hypocrisy and Corruption in Scathing KY Speech
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- To: "CSUSBPEACE@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <CSUSBPEACE@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 10 May 2021 05:40:37 -0700
https://truthout.org/articles/sanders-accuses-mcconnell-of-hypocrisy-corruption-in-scathing-kentucky-speech/
<https://truthout.org/articles/sanders-accuses-mcconnell-of-hypocrisy-corruption-in-scathing-kentucky-speech/>
Sanders Accuses McConnell of Hypocrisy and Corruption in Scathing KY Speech
Sen. Bernie Sanders said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and the GOP
are motivated more by corporate money than providing help to the American
people.
Bill Pugliano, Rod Lamkey-Pool / Getty Images
In a rally for the progressive movement in Kentucky on Sunday, Sen. Bernie
Sanders (I-Vermont) criticized Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
(R-Kentucky) for “working overtime” for corporations and the wealthy, while
working to “undermine” the lower and middle classes.
“I’m here today because Mitch McConnell is working overtime to represent the
needs of the wealthy and the powerful and to undermine the needs of working
families,” Sanders said <https://youtu.be/h1Fe6HAycwY>, while drawing
attention to McConnell’s leadership in opposing proposals like the American
Rescue Plan, a $15 federal minimum wage, universal child care
<https://truthout.org/articles/elizabeth-warren-unveils-700-billion-plan-to-establish-universal-child-care/>,
the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act
<https://truthout.org/articles/the-house-just-passed-the-most-sweeping-labor-legislation-of-this-generation/>
and the For the People Act
<https://truthout.org/articles/right-wing-groups-attack-election-and-ethics-reform-bill/>.
“The question, I think, that people should be asking is, ‘why is Mitch
McConnell doing what he does?’” in blocking legislation that would improve
the lives of working Americans while working to help the wealthy, Sanders
said. “The answer is pretty simple: follow the money.”
Sanders pointed out that McConnell often receives large sums of money from
Wall Street, health care companies, pharmaceutical companies, the National
Rifle Association and fossil fuel companies. These groups oppose proposals
like raising the minimum wage and reducing the cost of pharmaceutical drugs,
among many things, he points out.
“Mitch McConnell’s top campaign contributors want to do exactly the opposite
of what the American people want and need. And so does Mitch McConnell,” said
Sanders.
Sanders went on to criticize McConnell’s hypocrisy in whingeing over
government spending for the working class while working to provide tax breaks
for the rich.
“This I will never forget: On New Year’s Eve, Mitch McConnell blocked
legislation I was offering to provide working class Americans with a $2,000
direct payment because, get this, he claimed it was ‘socialism for the rich
<https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/31/lindsey-graham-mcconnell-separate-vote-2-000-checks-453015>,’”
said Sanders.
“In Mitch McConnell’s world, if you are a multi-millionaire campaign
contributor, it’s okay to receive a $1.4 billion tax break,” as the Koch
family received
<https://americansfortaxfairness.org/issue/koch-brothers-1-billion-tax-cut/>
as a result of Republican tax cuts in 2017. “But if you are a working-class
person, apparently, it’s not acceptable to get the help you so desperately
need,” Sanders said. “If you are a teacher or a construction worker who makes
$75,000 a year, a $2,000 direct payment is, according to McConnell,
‘socialism for the rich.’”
Sanders pointed out that the ideology of the GOP as a whole is not actually
about limiting government, as they claim — rather, it’s about who can help
them raise more money on the campaign trail.
“The difference in ideology between Senator McConnell and myself, between the
Republican Party and the progressive movement, is not a question of big
government versus small government,” the senator went on. “It’s a question of
whose interests the government represents. It’s a question of whether you
fight for the needs of the wealthy and large corporations who fund your
campaigns, or the working families of our country.”
By contrast, Sanders said, the progressive movement is fighting for the
interests of the working classes, who have suffered during the pandemic.
“What I want to do now — which, I think, as a nation, we don’t do enough — is
to simply compare Senator McConnell’s ideology, his Republican ideology, his
votes, his actions, and his vision for America with the progressive vision
for America,” said Sanders. “And our vision is that the government should
represent all of the people, not just the 1 percent. Our vision believes that
the foundations of government should rest on the pillars of justice —
economic justice, racial justice, social justice, environmental justice.”
“While tens of millions of Americans have been living in economic
desperation, the wealthiest people in this country have become obscenely
richer,” Sanders noted. “We have a worse level of income and wealth
inequality today than we’ve had since the 1920s. In America today, two people
now own more than the bottom 40 percent of our nation, while the top 1
percent owns more wealth than the bottom 92 percent.”
Indeed, economists have shown that the top 1 percent of households own a
hugely disproportionate share of wealth in the U.S., and that share has
continually been growing over many
<https://www.epi.org/publication/top-1-percents-share-income-wealth-rising/>
decades. A recent study showed that the billionaires’ profits from just the
pandemic alone amount to over $1.6 trillion
<https://truthout.org/articles/billionaires-pandemic-profits-alone-could-pay-for-most-of-infrastructure-plan/>
combined, or a growth of 55 percent in a little over a year.
“This is a pivotal moment in American history,” Sanders said. “In the coming
months, we have a fundamental decision to make. Will we build a government,
an economy and a society that works for all of us and not just the 1 percent?
Or will we continue the drift towards oligarchy and authoritarianism in which
a small number of incredibly wealthy and powerful billionaires own and
control a significant part of the economy and exert enormous influence over
the political life of our country?”
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