I would like to thank all my colleagues for being here with me this morning, and for joining me in introducing this very important bill — a bill which would prevent any funds from being used for a war with Iran without Congressional approval.

In the Senate this bill is being cosponsored by Senators Schumer, Leahy, Markey, Wyden, Gillibrand, Baldwin, Cantwell, Warren, Van Hollen, Harris, Blumenthal, and Merkley.

Let me also say that I’m very pleased that the House leadership has committed to seeing that Congressman Khanna’s similar bill and Congresswoman Lee’s repeal of the 2002 Iraq Authorization for Use…

Read a fact sheet on College For All here.

Read the legislative text here.

Read a fact sheet on the Inclusive Prosperity Act to raise revenue for the proposal here.

I don’t often use this phrase but we are, in fact, offering a “revolutionary” proposal — a proposal that will transform and improve our country in many ways.

In a highly competitive global economy, when we need the best educated workforce in the world, this proposal will make it possible for every person in America to get all of the education they need regardless of their financial status. This means…

Let me thank my good friends Representatives Barbara Lee, Jan Schakowsky, Ro Khanna, Mark Takano, and Ilhan Omar for joining me today, and all of the groups that are here with us this afternoon.

Today, we want to discuss an issue that gets very little attention in Congress or the media, but an issue of enormous consequence for the American people. And that is that a handful of people on Wall Street have extraordinary power over the economic and political life of our country.

Today, the six largest banks in America have over $10 trillion in assets equivalent to about…

Senator Bernie Sanders contributed an essay to a new Brennan Center publication, “Ending Mass Incarceration: Ideas from Today’s Leaders.” The essay is below:

The United States imprisons more people than any other country on earth. Year after year, we continue to exceed every nation — including authoritarian governments like China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran — for the highest incarceration rate in the world.[1] And we will never be able to end mass incarceration until we ban private prisons and make it clear that our justice system exists to rehabilitate people, not to make money for corporations.

It is no…

Let me begin by thanking the Sunrise organization for all the great work you are doing and thank the young people in this country for leading the effort against climate change.

Also let me thank Howard University for hosting us here on your beautiful campus. I understand that Howard celebrated its commencement this past weekend. Congratulations to all the graduates and their families. H-B-C-U students have done great work to help solve the climate crisis through the H-B-C-U Climate consortium.

Unlike the President of the United States you know that climate change is not a hoax but it is an…

Today’s modern-day loan sharks are no longer lurking on street corners, threatening violence to collect their payments. Today’s loan sharks wear expensive suits and work on Wall Street, where they make hundreds of millions of dollars in total compensation by charging sky-high fees and usurious interest rates, and head financial institutions like JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, and American Express.

Last year, credit-card companies raked in nearly $180 billion in revenue from interest and fees. This year, they are expected to charge Americans $122 billion in interest payments alone.

Despite the fact that banks can borrow money today…

In the United States, we pay a whole lot of attention to issues impacting the economy, healthcare, education, environment, criminal justice, immigration and, as we have recently seen, Supreme Court nominees. These are all enormously important issues.

With the exception of immediate and dramatic crises, however, foreign policy is not something that usually gets a whole lot of attention or debate. In fact, some political analysts have suggested that by and large we have a one-party foreign policy, where the basic elements of our approach are not often debated or challenged.

We spend $700 billion a year on the military…

Delivered on the Senate floor June 12, 2018

Mr. President, I take this opportunity to thank Senators Reed and McCain for their very hard work on the Department of Defense authorization bill.

Unfortunately, I must vote against it, and I want to take this opportunity to explain why I am voting no, to talk about the amendments I am offering to this bill, and to express my serious concerns about our nation’s bloated military budget, particularly in light of the many unmet needs we face as a nation.

Also, I must express a very serious objection to the fact…