Since taking office in January of 2021, the 46th President of the United States, Joe Biden, has governed in a progressive style, abandoning the “moderate” identity which he utilized to garner key independent voter support during the national presidential election. Indeed, the long-serving career politician has authorized trillions of dollars in new government spending, increased taxes, and essentially opened the southern border of the country to unfettered migration. Biden had also proposed widespread student loan forgiveness for individuals across America, but the Supreme Court blocked this attempted policy, ruling it unconstitutional. Surprisingly, even after Bidens promotion of a progressive style of leadership, a key Democrat figure is unimpressed with his agenda. Bernie Sanders, arguably the spiritual leader of the modern Democratic party, claims more work needs to be done.
On Sunday, August 27th, the Vermont Senator appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union”. Sanders did support the president’s agenda and gave him credit for what he deemed accomplishments but made the statement that 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. In his signature style, Sanders also continued to rail against the nation’s healthcare system, calling it a total disaster. Sanders said that Biden should take pride in the administration’s investment in “clean” energy and infrastructure. Despite this, the “independent” Senator from Vermont continued to claim that government action must be taken to combat wealth inequality, “big pharma” and the cost of prescription medications.
Sanders gave Biden credit for “reducing” inflation but failed to acknowledge that it was initially caused in large part due to policies that he and the president support- like the lavish, trillion dollar spending packages rushed through congress in the early years of his term. Sanders, who openly calls himself a “Democratic Socialist”, continues to push for single-payer healthcare. Economic experts still have no clear estimation on how much a program like this would cost, but there is no question that it would rate in the trillions.
