WASHINGTON, April 6 - Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) Wednesday called for a "strategic pause" on corporate welfare to profitable companies during remarks on the floor of the U.S. Senate.
Sanders' remarks, as prepared for delivery, are below.
M. President: I look forward to offering two roll call votes on Motions to Instruct Conferees to the so-called "competitiveness" bill based on the assurances given to me by the Majority Leader.
The first motion would instruct the conference committee not to provide $53 billion to the highly profitable micro-chip industry without protections for the American taxpayer.
Let's be clear. Mr. Bezos has enough money to buy a $500 million yacht - and here it is.
Mr. Bezos has enough money to buy a $23 million mansion with 25 bathrooms in Washington, DC - and here it is.
No. I do not think that tax the taxpayers of this country need to be providing him a $10 billion bailout to Mr. Bezos to fuel his space hobby.
When all is said and done both of these motions touch on an extremely important issue that is rarely discussed in the corporate media or on the floor of the Senate.
And that is how we proceed with industrial policy in this country. Now, let me be clear. I believe in industrial policy. I believe that it makes sense, in certain occasions, for the government and the private sector to work together to address a pressing need in America. Industrial policy to me means cooperation between the government and the private sector. Cooperation. It does not mean the government providing massive amounts of corporate welfare to profitable corporations without getting anything in return.
In other words, will the United States government develop an industrial policy that benefits all of our society, or will we continue to have an industrial policy that benefits the wealthy and the powerful?
In 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said: "The problem is that we all too often have socialism for the rich and rugged free enterprise capitalism for the poor."
I am afraid what Dr. King said 54 years ago was accurate back then and it is even more accurate today.
We hear a lot of talk around here about the need to create public-private partnerships - and that all sounds very good. But when the government adopts an industrial policy that socializes all of the risk and privatizes all of the profits - whether it's handing the micro-chip industry a $53 billion blank check or giving Jeff Bezos a $10 billion bailout to fly to the moon - that's not a partnership. That is the exact opposite of a partnership. That is corporate welfare. That is crony capitalism.
M. President: Each and every day, I have heard my Republican colleagues and some corporate Democrats blame inflation on runaway government spending.
One of my colleagues in the Democratic caucus has even suggested that we need to take a "strategic pause" when it comes to making urgent federal investments in childcare, healthcare, education, affordable housing, paid family and medical leave and home healthcare - policies that would substantially improve the lives of the American people.
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