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      Man who attacked speaker’s husband Paul Pelosi facing attempted homicide charge – live

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      Bill Scott, chief of the San Francisco police department, said the suspect in the attack on Paul Pelosi will face charges of attempted homicide and assault with a deadly weapon, among others.In a brief press conference where he took no questions, Scott recounted what officers saw when they arrived at the Pelosi residence around 2.27am today to respond to a welfare call.“When the officers arrived on scene, they encountered an adult male and [M] Pelosi’s husband, Paul. Our officers observed Mr Pelosi and the suspect both holding a hammer. The suspect pulled the hammer away from Mr Pelosi and violently assaulted him with it. Our officers immediately tackled the suspect, disarmed him, took him into custody, requested emergency backup and rendered medical aid,” Scott said.The chief identified the suspect as 42-year-old David Depape. In addition to attempted homicide, he’ll also face charges of “elder abuse, burglary, and several other additional felonies”, Scott said.Julián Castro, the former Democratic presidential candidate and housing secretary, is calling for more security for Nancy Pelosi after the attack on the speaker’s husband.Protection is provided to family members of the President and VP but not to family of the Speaker of the House. That’s not good enough at a time when too many people, moved by hatred and paranoia stoked by Trump and right-wing media, embrace violence as a means to achieve power.— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) October 28, 2022
      Paul Pelosi has undergone a successful surgery for a skull fracture and “serious injuries” to his arm and hands, a spokesperson for Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.“Earlier this morning, Paul Pelosi was attacked at home by an assailant who acted with force, and threatened his life while demanding to see the Speaker,” Drew Hammill said. “Mr Pelosi was admitted to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital where he underwent successful surgery to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands. His doctors expect a full recovery. “The Speaker and her family are thankful for the outpouring of support and prayers from friends, constituents and people around the country. The Pelosi family is immensely grateful to Mr Pelosi’s entire medical team and the law enforcement officers who responded to the assault. The family appreciates respect for their privacy during this time.”A relative of David DePape, the suspect in the attack against Paul Pelosi, said the 42-year-old has mental health issues and refused contact with family, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.Ron DePape, who said David DePape is a stepson of his brother’s from a previous marriage, told the newspaper: “We don’t have any contact with him and just feeling sad and sorry for the Pelosi family.” “It’s just a sad event. It has to be mental health issues that he’s been carrying around I would think.” The British Columbia resident told the San Francisco Chronicle that David DePape lived there but left “at an early age” to move to the US with a girlfriend: “He refused contact with any family. He just kind of disappeared.”David DePape appears to have an online blog filled with conspiracy theories about the government, media and tech companies, and appeared to be a follower of the QAnon conspiracy theory, according to the newspaper. Republican Adam Kinzinger, a January 6 committee member, on the attack on Paul Pelosi:This morning’s terrifying attack on Paul Pelosi by a man obsessed with election conspiracies is a dangerous reality encouraged by some members of my own party.I’m thankful he will be okay. This must be condemned by every Member of Congress & candidate. Now. @SpeakerPelosi— Adam Kinzinger (@RepKinzinger) October 28, 2022
      Congressman Bill Pascrell has described the attack on Paul Pelosi as an assassination attempt and blamed “big lies from many Republicans” for the violence.The congressman said in a statement Friday:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“This assassination attempt never should have happened. This guy has a background that shows he’s been moved, instigated, and influenced by those people who seek to divide us. Turn on rightwing media on any given day or night. You will see frothing hosts shrieking unspeakable lies and unfounded conspiracy theories about women, religious and ethnic minorities, city residents, young people and scores of others Americans. That some are radicalized to commit unspeakable violence against their perceived enemies cannot be a surprise. This terrorism is growing and threatens every community in America.”Early reports found that Pelosi’s attacker, David Depape, had embraced conspiracy theories about January 6, the 2020 election and Covid in online posts.I’m Dani Anguiano and I’ll be taking over our live blog for the remainder of the day.House speaker Nancy Pelosi is heading to San Francisco following the attack on her husband Paul Pelosi, Punchbowl News reports:Also: PELOSI is en route to SF. https://t.co/NalnyAiChv— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) October 28, 2022
      While the Capitol police are scrambling to provide extra security to family members of congressional leadership after the attack, CBS News says the agency has been facing a months-long deluge of threats to lawmakers:There were nearly 10,000 investigations into threats against Members of Congress …. last year alonePer our @CBSNews reporting— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) October 28, 2022
      The Guardian’s Dani Anguiano is now taking over this blog, and will cover the latest developments in this breaking story over the remainder of the day.NBC Bay Area reports Paul Pelosi is recovering from surgery on his head at a hospital in San Francisco.Previously, hospital sources had said he was undergoing brain surgery.Years before he reportedly embraced conspiracy theories and was accused of attacking House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, David DePape was associated with a uniquely San Francisco cause, according to Mission Local.The news site reports he was involved in protests against San Francisco’s anti-nudity ordinance, held about a decade ago in the Castro neighborhood:My sources also name the suspect in this morning’s hammer attack on Paul Pelosi as David DePape, born 1980, of Berkeley. He would appear to be a former Castro nudist protester. Things appear set to be bizarre for a while.— Joe Eskenazi (@EskSF) October 28, 2022
      His name is mentioned in some coverage from that episode. The San Francisco Chronicle has someone they identify as “David Depape” pictured alongside pro-nudity activist Gypsy Taub in 2013.In coverage of the protests from the same year, the San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center names DePape as a photographer, spelling his surname “dePape”.The United States will next week put the United Nations spotlight on protests in Iran sparked by the death of a young woman in police custody and look for ways to promote credible, independent investigations into Iranian human rights abuses.The US and Albania will hold an informal UN security council gathering on Wednesday, according to a note outlining the event, seen by Reuters.Iranian Nobel peace prize laureate Shirin Ebadi and Iranian-born actress and activist Nazanin Boniadi are set to brief..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}The meeting will highlight the ongoing repression of women and girls and members of religious and ethnic minority groups in Iran.
      It will identify opportunities to promote credible, independent investigations into the Iranian government’s human rights violations and abuses,” the note said.An independent UN investigator on human rights in Iran, Javaid Rehman, is also due to address the meeting, which can be attended by other UN member states and rights groups.Iran has been gripped by protests since the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in police custody last month. The unrest has turned into a popular revolt by Iranians from all layers of society, posing one of the boldest challenges to the clerical leadership since the 1979 revolution.Iran has blamed its foreign enemies and their agents for the unrest..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}The meeting will underscore ongoing unlawful use of force against protesters and the Iranian regime’s pursuit of human rights defenders and dissidents abroad to abduct or assassinate them in contravention of international law,” read the note about the planned meeting.Rights groups have said at least 250 protesters have been killed and thousands arrested across the country. Women have played a prominent part in the protests, removing and burning veils.The deaths of several teenage girls reportedly killed during protests have fuelled more anger.UN secretary general António Guterres has called on Iranian security forces to refrain from unnecessary or disproportionate force against protesters and appealed to all to exercise restraint and avoid further escalation.Iran: deaths reported as security forces open fire on protesters in ZahedanRead moreTop House Democrat Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul Pelosi is recovering from an assault by a hammer-wielding intruder who broke into their home and shouted “where is Nancy?” Coming less than two years after the deadly January 6 attack on the Capitol, the incident underscores the continued threat of political violence in the United States as voters prepare to cast ballots in the 8 November midterm elections.Here’s what else has happened today:
      Elon Musk completed his purchase of Twitter, but there are no signs that he has lifted the ban on Donald Trump – yet.
      Big name Democrats are out campaigning today to revive the party’s chances ahead of the midterms, including Barack Obama in Georgia, and Bernie Sanders in Nevada.
      Joe Biden stuck to his usual talking points in an interview yesterday, but sounded skeptical of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s insistence that he wasn’t planning to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
      David DePape, the 42-year-old man accused of attempted homicide and other charges for allegedly assaulting Paul Pelosi, has embraced conspiracy theories in online posts, CNN reports:.@SFPD identified the alleged attacker as 42-year-old David DePape. @CNN reached two of the man’s relatives who told CNN he is estranged from his family. A review of his FB page shows he posted memes and conspiracy theories about Covid, the 2020 election, and the 1/6 attack.— Whitney Wild (@WhitneyWReports) October 28, 2022
      Here’s more from the network:CNN looked through the attackers social media. He posted YouTube videos concerned about the 2020 election and January 6th committee. Posted a lot of theories COVID origins and January 6th pic.twitter.com/JnhD8wPJmr— Acyn (@Acyn) October 28, 2022
      Bill Scott, chief of the San Francisco police department, said the suspect in the attack on Paul Pelosi will face charges of attempted homicide and assault with a deadly weapon, among others.In a brief press conference where he took no questions, Scott recounted what officers saw when they arrived at the Pelosi residence around 2.27am today to respond to a welfare call.“When the officers arrived on scene, they encountered an adult male and [M] Pelosi’s husband, Paul. Our officers observed Mr Pelosi and the suspect both holding a hammer. The suspect pulled the hammer away from Mr Pelosi and violently assaulted him with it. Our officers immediately tackled the suspect, disarmed him, took him into custody, requested emergency backup and rendered medical aid,” Scott said.The chief identified the suspect as 42-year-old David Depape. In addition to attempted homicide, he’ll also face charges of “elder abuse, burglary, and several other additional felonies”, Scott said.The San Francisco police department is beginning its press conference on the attack on Paul Pelosi.Follow along here for updates.House Republican Whip Steve Scalise has joined in condemning the attack on Paul Pelosi:Disgusted to hear about the horrific assault on Speaker Pelosi’s husband Paul. Grateful for law enforcement’s actions to respond.Let’s be clear: Violence has no place in this country. I’m praying for Paul Pelosi’s full recovery.— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) October 28, 2022
      In 2017, Scalise was shot when a gunman opened fire at a congressional baseball team practice in Virginia.Virginia shooting: gunman was leftwing activist with record of domestic violenceRead moreCNN is reporting more violent details of the attack on Paul Pelosi:More from @jamiegangel: The man who assaulted Paul Pelosi tried to tie him up “until Nancy got home,” according to two sources familiar with the situation.  When the police arrived, the assailant said he was “waiting for Nancy.” https://t.co/yAZdHrM7Hk— Kristin Wilson (@kristin__wilson) October 28, 2022
      The San Francisco police department is expected to soon hold a press conference on the attack. More

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      Sanders: Democrats shouldn’t court far-right ‘racist, sexist, homophobic’ voters

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      Sanders: Democrats shouldn’t court far-right ‘racist, sexist, homophobic’ votersSenator says nonetheless Democrats should appeal to ‘millions of … working-class people’ who can’t afford healthcare or tuition Democrats should give up trying to appeal to racist, sexist or homophobic voters on the far right even as their party tries to preserve thin majorities in both congressional chambers, the progressive US senator Bernie Sanders said on Sunday.Sanders’ remarks came during an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press after host Chuck Todd asked a question about attempting to woo over supporters of Donald Trump, which include white nationalists who helped stage the deadly January 6 Capitol attack on the day that Congress certified the former Republican president’s defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 election.Todd said Sanders “made a big deal about wanting to court Trump voters” in both the 2016 election that Trump won as well as the 2020 race that he lost and wondered if the Vermont senator still felt they were worth that.“There are some extreme rightwing voters who are racists, who are sexists, who are homophobes – xenophobes,” Sanders said. “No, I don’t think you’re ever going to get them.”Sanders nonetheless said Democrats should sympathize with “millions of … working-class people” who can’t afford healthcare, college tuition for their children or their prescription drugs. And he said one way to appeal to undecided voters is to have the political resolve to punish corporate greed from insurance firms, drug companies and Wall Street traders.“Some of those people – I’m not saying all – will say, ‘You know what, I’m going to stand with the Democratic party because on these economic issues, they’re far preferable to right-wing Republicans,” Sanders told Todd.Sanders is an independent but votes in line with the Democrats’ agenda on Capitol Hill.He recently wrote an opinion piece in the Guardian that warned Democrats should not only focus on protecting abortion rights in the closing phases of this midterm election cycle but also needed to communicate a plan for the economic woes facing Americans that Republicans as a party purport to care more about.Sanders said his voting record starkly illustrates his opposition to the US supreme court’s decision in June to eliminate federal protections for abortion, which a majority of voters believe should be legal in most cases, according to some polling.The supreme court’s ruling overturning the nationwide abortion rights established by the 1973 Roe v Wade case has led to fears that the justices could also target the elimination of same-sex marriage.But Sanders said his party should also be concerned about how six in 10 Americans live paycheck to paycheck. And he has said Democrats should be more vocal about how they have better ideas than Republicans on rectifying that reality, including through methods such as ending tax breaks, raising the federal minimum wage and even providing universal healthcare.The Democrats go into the midterms with an eight-seat advantage in the House. The Senate is split evenly but Biden’s Democratic vice-president Kamala Harris currently gives their party a tiebreaker.TopicsUS midterm elections 2022Bernie SandersUS politicsReuse this content More

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      Sanders warns Democrats not to focus solely on abortion ahead of midterms

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      Sanders warns Democrats not to focus solely on abortion ahead of midtermsSenator urges party to center campaign on economy, warning: ‘You can’t win elections unless you have support of working class’ The Vermont senator Bernie Sanders warns that Democrats should not only focus on abortion rights ahead of the midterm elections in November.In an opinion column for the Guardian published on Monday, Sanders warned that Democrats need to embrace an agenda that addresses the economic woes facing America and supports the working class, not just one solely focused on abortion.Democrats shouldn’t focus only on abortion in the midterms. That’s a mistake | Bernie SandersRead more“It would be political malpractice for Democrats to ignore the state of the economy and allow Republican lies and distortions to go unanswered,” said Sanders, adding that he “has a lifetime 100% pro-choice voting record” and disapproves of the US supreme court’s decision in June to eliminate federal abortion protections.Sanders said that Democrats are recruiting “consultants and directors of well-funded Super Pacs” who urged their party to exclusively focus on abortion rights.“Cut the 30-second abortion ads and coast to victory,” wrote Sanders, who is an independent but votes with the Democrats.But Sanders argued that Democrats also need to focus on countering “anti-worker” views from Republicans and ways that their policies could hurt the working class.Sanders wrote: “Now is the time for Democrats to take the fight to the reactionary Republican party and expose their anti-worker views on the most important issues facing ordinary Americans.”Sanders highlighted stark economic inequality in the US. He noted that 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and questioned if Republicans will legitimately address such issues by ending tax breaks, raising the federal minimum wage or providing universal healthcare.“Is there one Republican prepared to raise taxes on billionaires, or do they want to make a bad situation worse by extending Trump’s tax breaks for the rich and repealing the estate tax?” Sanders wrote.He added: “Is there one Republican in Congress who is prepared to raise the federal minimum wage to at least $15 an hour … Is there one Republican who believes that healthcare is a human right and supports universal coverage?”Sanders noted the importance of gaining the “support of working-class people” ahead of the November midterm elections, especially through actions like extending the child tax credit, increasing social security benefits and expanding Medicare coverage.“You can’t win elections unless you have the support of the working class of this country,” Sanders wrote. “But you’re not going to have that support unless you make it clear that you’re prepared to take on powerful special interests – and fight for the millions of Americans who are struggling economically.”Sanders concluded by promoting a multi-pronged agenda for the Democratic party to implement, one that includes addressing economic inequality and securing abortion rights.“If we close this critical midterm campaign with a clear, unified vision to meet the needs of working families, to take on corporate greed, and protect a woman’s right to choose, we will begin to rebuild the trust between Democrats in Washington and the working families of this country,” Sanders said. “And we’ll win the election.”The Democrats hope to preserve – or even widen – thin advantages in both congressional chambers these midterms.TopicsUS midterm elections 2022Bernie SandersUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      Democrats shouldn’t focus only on abortion in the midterms. That’s a mistake | Bernie Sanders

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      Democrats shouldn’t focus only on abortion in the midterms. That’s a mistakeBernie SandersAmerica has long faced structural economic crises. Democrats must win on the economy and present a pro-worker agenda As someone who has a lifetime 100% pro-choice voting record, and is outraged by the supreme court’s horrific decision to overturn Roe v Wade, there is no question but that Democrats must continue to focus on the right of women to control their own bodies. This is a fight that most Americans want us to wage and, given the Republicans’ extremist position on the issue, makes them genuinely vulnerable.Can Latino voters help Democrats hold Arizona in crucial Senate race?Read moreBut, as we enter the final weeks of the 2022 midterm elections, I am alarmed to hear the advice that many Democratic candidates are getting from establishment consultants and directors of well-funded Super Pacs that the closing argument of Democrats should focus only on abortion. Cut the 30-second abortion ads and coast to victory.I disagree. In my view, while the abortion issue must remain on the front burner, it would be political malpractice for Democrats to ignore the state of the economy and allow Republican lies and distortions to go unanswered.This country has, for decades, faced structural economic crises that have caused the decline of the American middle class. Now is the time for Democrats to take the fight to the reactionary Republican party and expose their anti-worker views on the most important issues facing ordinary Americans. That is both the right thing to do from a policy perspective and good politics.We have more income and wealth inequality than at any time in the modern history of this country, with three people owning more wealth than the bottom half of our nation. Is there one Republican prepared to raise taxes on billionaires, or do they want to make a bad situation worse by extending Trump’s tax breaks for the rich and repealing the estate tax?Today, 60% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, and millions work for starvation wages. Is there one Republican in Congress who is prepared to raise the federal minimum wage to at least $15 an hour?The United States pays, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Is there one Republican prepared to allow Medicare to immediately begin negotiating prescription drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry and cut the cost of medicine by half?We have a dysfunctional healthcare system which, despite being the most expensive in the world, allows 85 million Americans to be uninsured or underinsured. Is there one Republican who believes that healthcare is a human right and supports universal coverage?We remain the only major country on earth not to guarantee time off for moms who have babies or need to take care of sick children.Is there one Republican who supports at least 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave?The list goes on: childcare, housing, home health care, college affordability. On every one of these enormously important issues the Republican party has virtually nothing to say to address the desperate needs of low and moderate income Americans. And what they do propose will most often make a bad situation worse.Nevertheless, in poll after poll Republicans are more trusted than Democrats to handle the economy – the issue of most importance to people. I believe that if Democrats do not fight back on economic issues and present a strong pro-worker agenda, they could well be in the minority in both the House and the Senate next year.And it’s not only the long-term structural crises that Democrats must address. It is the outrageous level of corporate greed that we now see every day that is fueling the inflation hurting so many people.While the price of gas has soared over the last year, the five big oil companies made $59bn in profits during the 2nd quarter of this year alone, and are spending $88bn on stock buybacks and dividends to benefit their wealthy shareholders.While global food prices soared by over 33% last year and are expected to go up another 23% this year, billionaires in the global food and agri-business industry became $382bn richer during the pandemic.While we continue to pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, 3 of the largest pharmaceutical companies in America – Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and AbbVie – increased their profits by 90% last year to $54bn.While 46% of Americans either skipped or delayed the healthcare they need because they could not afford it, the six largest health insurance companies in America last year made over $60bn in profits.What do Republicans have to say about corporations that are charging Americans outrageously high prices, while enjoying record breaking profits? They talk a lot about inflation. But what are they going to do about it? Does one of them have the courage to consider a windfall, profits tax? Absolutely not.You can’t win elections unless you have the support of the working class of this country. But you’re not going to have that support unless you make it clear that you’re prepared to take on powerful special interests – and fight for the millions of Americans who are struggling economically. Whether it is extending the $300 a month child tax credit that expired in December that slashed the child poverty rate by over 40%, or increasing social security benefits, or expanding Medicare to cover dental, hearing and vision or making childcare affordable, the Democrats must stand with the working class of this country and expose the Republicans for the phonies that they are.None of what I am suggesting here is “radical”. It is, in fact, extremely popular. It is what the American people want. If we close this critical midterm campaign with a clear, unified vision to meet the needs of working families, to take on corporate greed, and protect a woman’s right to choose, we will begin to rebuild the trust between Democrats in Washington and the working families of this country.And we’ll win the election.
      Bernie Sanders is a US senator, and the ranking member of the Senate budget committee. He represents the state of Vermont
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      The US has a ruling class – and Americans must stand up to it | Bernie Sanders

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      The US has a ruling class – and Americans must stand up to itBernie SandersIn the year 2022, three multibillionaires own more wealth than the bottom half of American society – 160 million Americans. This is unsustainable Let’s be clear. The most important economic and political issues facing this country are the extraordinary levels of income and wealth inequality, the rapidly growing concentration of ownership, the long-term decline of the American middle class and the evolution of this country into oligarchy.We know how important these issues are because our ruling class works overtime to prevent them from being seriously discussed. They are barely mentioned in the halls of Congress, where most members are dependent on the campaign contributions of the wealthy and their Super Pacs. They are not much discussed in the corporate media, in which a handful of conglomerates determine what we see, hear and discuss.So what’s going on?We now have more income and wealth inequality than at any time in the last hundred years. In the year 2022, three multibillionaires own more wealth than the bottom half of American society – 160 million Americans. Today, 45% of all new income goes to the top 1%, and CEOs of large corporations make a record-breaking 350 times what their workers earn.Meanwhile, as the very rich become much richer, working families continue to struggle. Unbelievably, despite huge increases in worker productivity, wages (accounting for real inflation) are lower today than they were almost 50 years ago. When I was a kid growing up, most families were able to be supported by one breadwinner. Now an overwhelming majority of households need two paychecks to survive.Today, half of our people live paycheck to paycheck and millions struggle on starvation wages. Despite a lifetime of work, half of older Americans have no savings and no idea how they will ever be able to retire with dignity, while 55% of seniors are trying to survive on an income of less than $25,000 a year.Since 1975, there has been a massive redistribution of wealth in America that has gone in exactly the wrong direction. Over the past 47 years, according to the Rand Corporation, $50tn in wealth has been redistributed from the bottom 90% of American society to the top 1%, primarily because a growing percentage of corporate profits has been flowing into the stock portfolios of the wealthy and the powerful.During this terrible pandemic, when thousands of essential workers died doing their jobs, some 700 billionaires in America became nearly $2tn richer. Today, while the working class falls further behind, multibillionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson are off taking joyrides on rocket ships to outer space, buying $500m super-yachts and living in mansions with 25 bathrooms.Disgracefully, we now have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any developed nation on Earth and millions of kids, disproportionately Black and brown, face food insecurity. While psychologists tell us that the first four years are the most important for human development, our childcare system is largely dysfunctional – with an inadequate number of slots, outrageously high costs and pathetically low wages for staff. We remain the only major country without paid family and medical leave.In terms of higher education, we should remember that 50 years ago tuition was free or virtually free in major public universities throughout the country. Today, higher education is unaffordable for millions of young people. There are now some 45 million Americans struggling with student debt.Today over 70 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured and millions more are finding it hard to pay for the rising cost of healthcare and prescription drugs, which are more expensive here than anywhere else in the world. The cost of housing is also soaring. Not only are some 600,000 Americans homeless, but nearly 18m households are spending 50% or more of their limited incomes on housing.It’s not just income and wealth inequality that is plaguing our nation. It is the maldistribution of economic and political power.Today we have more concentration of ownership than at any time in the modern history of this country. In sector after sector a handful of giant corporations control what is produced and how much we pay for it. Unbelievably, just three Wall Street firms (Blackrock, Vanguard and State Street) control assets of over $20tn and are the major stockholders in 96% of S&P 500 companies. In terms of media, some eight multinational media conglomerates control what we see, hear and read.In terms of political power, the situation is the same. A small number of billionaires and CEOs, through their Super Pacs, dark money and campaign contributions, play a huge role in determining who gets elected and who gets defeated. There are now an increasing number of campaigns in which Super Pacs actually spend more money on campaigns than the candidates, who become the puppets to their big money puppeteers. In the 2022 Democratic primaries, billionaires spent tens of millions trying to defeat progressive candidates who were standing up for working families.Dr Martin Luther King Jr was right when he said: “We must recognize that we can’t solve our problem now until there is a radical redistribution of economic and political power” in America. That statement is even more true today.Let us have the courage to stand together and fight back against corporate greed. Let us fight back against massive income and wealth inequality. Let us fight back against a corrupt political system.Let us stand together and finally create an economy and a government that works for all, not just the 1%.
      Bernie Sanders is a US senator from Vermont and the chairman of the Senate budget committee
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      Bernie Sanders rebukes GOP for backing corporate tax breaks but not student debt relief

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      Bernie Sanders rebukes GOP for backing corporate tax breaks but not student debt relief‘I don’t hear any of these Republicans squawking when we give massive tax breaks to billionaires, Vermont senator says Senator Bernie Sanders chided Republicans on Sunday for backing tax breaks for corporations and wealthy Americans while criticizing Joe Biden’s student debt forgiveness plan.“Look, I know it is shocking … to some Republicans, that the government actually, on occasion, does something to benefit low income families and working people,” the progressive from Vermont said during an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC News’s This Week. “I don’t hear any of these Republicans squawking when we give massive tax breaks to billionaires.””I don’t hear any of these Republicans squawking when we give massive tax breaks to billionaires.” Sen. Bernie Sanders tells @GStephanopoulos that Pres. Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan will benefit working families. https://t.co/bCe89FMKPb pic.twitter.com/691muFSDeL— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) August 28, 2022
      Biden’s plan forgives $10,000 in debt for those who make under $125,000 per year. Those who receive Pell Grants are eligible for up to $20,000 in forgiveness. The White House estimates the plan will affect up to 43 million Americans. Republicans have criticized the measure as an unfair bailout for college-educated Americans at the expense of those who chose not to go to college or worked for years to pay off their loans. They have also said the measure will increase inflation, which some economists and Wall Street analysts dispute.“You can’t forgive that much debt and assume people won’t spend the money for other things – it’s gonna take $24bn that should have been coming into the federal government every year in payments and make that available for spending,” Senator Roy Blunt, a retiring Republican from Missouri, said on This Week.The White House has rebuked some congressional critics of the plan by pointing out that the members themselves had benefitted recently from loan forgiveness.Using its official Twitter account, the White House highlighted six Republican members of Congress who had between hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars forgiven in loans from the Paycheck Protection Program, a government relief program designed to stimulate the economy during the Covid-19 pandemic. Those loans were designed to qualify for forgiveness as long as they were used for permissible costs.“We’ve never hesitated to call out hypocrisy, and we’re not going to stop now,” White House spokesperson Alexandra LaManna said last week.TopicsBernie SandersUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      Bernie Sanders: ‘extremely modest’ spending bill fails to meet the moment

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      InterviewBernie Sanders: ‘extremely modest’ spending bill fails to meet the momentLauren Gambino in WashingtonLeftwing senator says party squandered chance to be bold, and takes aim at ‘corporate Democrats’ Sinema and Manchin As Democrats celebrate the long-sought passage of Joe Biden’s sweeping health, climate and economic package, Bernie Sanders is not ready to declare victory. Instead, the Vermont senator is sounding the alarm that Congress has failed to meet the moment, with potentially grave consequences for American democracy.FBI searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home for classified nuclear weapons documents – reportRead more“We are living in enormously difficult times,” he said in an interview with the Guardian. “And I worry very much … that people are giving up on democracy because they do not believe that their government is working for them.”The legislation, which Biden is expected to sign into law next week, is but a sliver of the ambitious domestic policy initiative that Sanders, as chair of the Senate Budget Committee, helped draft last year. The original proposal was, in his view, already a compromise. But he believes it would have gone a long way in addressing the widespread economic distress that is undermining Americans’ faith in their government.With control of Congress at stake this fall, Sanders believes Democrats squandered a major opportunity, probably their last before the midterm elections, to show voters what they could deliver with even larger majorities in Congress.“It seems to me that what we should have done is gone forward with a bold agenda, to show the American people, ordinary people, that we understand what’s going on in their lives,” he said. “And if we cannot succeed because we don’t have the 50 votes, at least let the American people understand that we are fighting for them, and that we had to make a compromise to do far, far, far less than what is necessary.”Sanders supported the resulting compromise, finalized after a year of strained negotiations and setbacks, because he concluded that “the pluses outweighed the negatives”.A core pillar of the bill is nearly $400bn in climate and energy proposals, a historic sum that scientists estimate will help the US cut emissions by about 40% by the end of the decade, compared with 2005 levels. It also enables Medicare to negotiate the price of some prescription drugs, caps the annual out-of-pocket costs of the program’s beneficiaries at $2,000 and extends pandemic-era health insurance subsidies. To pay for it, the bill establishes a new 15% minimum tax on the nation’s biggest corporations.But perhaps most notable, Sanders said, is what was left out.Initially envisioned as a wholesale rebuilding of the American social safety net, weakened by decades of disinvestment, widening income inequality and stagnating wealth, the plan was slashed and trimmed and slashed again in an effort to appeal to two Democratic holdouts in the Senate, where the chamber’s even split left no margin for error.Abandoned in the process were proposals to lower the cost of childcare, establish universal pre-K, guarantee parental leave, expand care for elderly and disabled people, and make community college tuition-free for two years. These policies, he argued, are the best way to begin easing the economic hardship facing so many American families.To underscore his point, the senator listed a series of worrying indicators – elderly Americans unable to afford home care, families struggling to pay for childcare and young people burdened by student-loan debt, all of it made worse by soaring costs of necessities such as food, fuel and rent.“A lot of people are hurting and they’re looking to the United States Congress, asking, ‘Do you understand what’s going on in my life right now?’” he said. “And I think their conclusion is no, they don’t.”Sanders registered his dismay in a series of sharp floor speeches before the Senate vote last weekend, during which he decried Democrats’ plan as an “extremely modest bill that does virtually nothing to address the enormous crises facing the working families of our country”.Another tradeoff that especially infuriated Sanders, and many climate activists, was the inclusion of fossil fuel and drilling provisions, which were added to win the support of Manchin, whose conservative state is heavily dependent on the coal and gas industries.As heatwaves, floods and wildfires wreak havoc across the country, Sanders said: “Does anybody in their right mind think this is sensible, when you’re talking about climate?”Yet he was optimistic that there had been a “change in consciousness” among lawmakers on the issue, partly because the effects were undeniable but also because of the actions of activists and young people.“The activists should be proud,” he said, crediting their persistence for pushing Congress to make its largest ever investment in strategies to slow global warming.During the Senate’s marathon, overnight debate – known as a “vote-a-rama” – Sanders offered a number of amendments that sought to restore some of the policies dropped from the original bill in an effort to win support from Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. They included proposals to extend the child tax credit, expand Medicare coverage, cap the cost of prescription drugs and establish a civilian climate corps.All were defeated, overwhelmingly: 1-99, 1-98, 1-97, with Sanders offering, he later quipped, the “resounding one” vote.The votes frustrated some of his colleagues, who determined that Sanders’ approach risked upsetting their fragile coalition.“Come on, Bernie,” Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio was overheard saying, after explaining that most Democrats supported the policies but were acting to preserve the broader deal.Republicans, meanwhile, have derided the measure as reckless spending that would worsen not improve inflation. Sanders’ criticism of the bill as the “so-called Inflation Reduction Act” provided fodder for Republicans. “This won’t reduce inflation,” Republican senator Lindsey Graham, vice-chair of the Senate Budget Committee, said recently. “Just ask Bernie Sanders.”Vice-President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate on Sunday afternoon, and the House gave final passage the measure on Friday.Acknowledging the political reality of Democrats thin majorities, Sanders argued that his Senate colleagues could have sent a strong message to voters by supporting his amendments, even if they were destined to fail.“At this particular moment, we cannot leave it to conservative Democrats to define the direction in which Congress and the Democratic party is going,” Sanders said – an apparent reference to Manchin and Sinema.Progressives in the House voiced similar reservations as Sanders, but ultimately saw the measure as the best chance to achieve some of their economic policy goals while Democrats control Congress. Ahead of the House vote on Friday, congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, a progressive from Washington, said there was much more to do but urged her colleagues to “celebrate this massive investment for the people”.Biden declared the legislation a significant victory over “special interests”. “It required many compromises,” he said after the bill’s passage. “Doing important things almost always does.”Sanders said the measure amounted to a “slight defeat” for Big Pharma – an industry, he noted, that counts as many as three lobbyists per member of Congress. But the senator said the prescription drug reforms were far too limited in scope, as the changes leave out most Americans, only apply to 10 drugs initially, and won’t take effect until 2026.Senate Republicans rejected an amendment that would have capped insulin prices at $35 for Americans not on Medicare, a move Sanders said, “exposes the fraud for anyone who thinks the Republican party cares a damn about working people”.Now as Democrats fan out across the country for the summer recess, many are testing a new pitch: touting their legislative success while asking voters to deliver them another, bigger congressional majority next year to accomplish what they could not this year.With two more senators, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, said in a recent interview, “We would get childcare. We would get paid family leave. We would get help for the elderly, home care. We would get the kind of things that Joe Manchin was against.”In the weeks ahead, Sanders said he plans to hit the trail for Democrats, with a blunter version of that message: “Give us two or three more seats so we don’t have to make compromises with corporate Democrats.”TopicsBernie SandersUS politicsDemocratsinterviewsReuse this content More

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      How Bernie Sanders and conservatives united against US semiconductor bill

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      How Bernie Sanders and conservatives united against US semiconductor billVermont senator opposed ‘corporate welfare’ to firms paying huge salaries to executives – but Chips and Science Act passed Congress When it comes to alliances in Washington, few are as unlikely as the common ground the democratic socialist senator Bernie Sanders briefly found with the Heritage Foundation and Americans for Prosperity, two architects of conservative policies across the United States.Yet that is what happened this week when Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with the Democrats, made a lonely and unsuccessful stand against a $280bn bill funding scientific research and, controversially, giving computer chip manufacturers financial incentives to build more production in the United States – one that rightwing groups also encouraged lawmakers to make.Pro-Israel group pours millions into primary to defeat Jewish candidateRead more“The question we should be asking is this: should American taxpayers provide the microchip industry with a blank check of over $76bn at a time when semiconductor companies are making tens of billions of dollars in profits and paying their executives exorbitant compensation packages? I think the answer to that question should be a resounding no,” Sanders said during a Monday speech on the Senate floor.The senator’s objections ultimately amounted to naught. The bill passed Congress on Thursday, and Joe Biden is expected to soon sign it.But the episode underscores the tensions that arise when Washington moves to help an industry facing tough times. In this case, the stricken businesses were semiconductor makers who are struggling to keep up with demand and fearful of the threat from ascendant Chinese industry.“The left in this country has generally sort of failed to recognize the importance of capital investment. At the same time, they’re sort of complaining about companies not investing in America, they haven’t actually supported the companies that do invest in America,” said Michael Mandel, chief economist and vice-president of the Progressive Policy Institute thinktank.“My personal view is that capital investment is absolutely essential, and anything we can do to get more investment in this country is a plus for workers and a plus for consumers.”Dubbed the Chips and Science Act, the measure represents Washington’s response to the shortage of semiconductors that began during the pandemic and has snarled the assembly lines of US industries while helping drive up inflation. The bill would offer computer chip manufacturers $52.7bn in incentives to build factories in the United States, as well as $24.3bn in tax breaks.The proposal has taken a tortuous path to passage, with the Senate first approving a version of it last year, before the idea was caught up in the legislative logjam that struck Biden’s agenda in the closing months of 2021.But, unlike some of what the Democratic president hoped to get out of Congress, many Republicans supported the concept of helping the semiconductor industry, particularly because it was seen as an effort to counter China, which has heavily invested in its own microchip industry.And while the US ally Taiwan is one of the biggest manufacturers of computer chips globally, another motivation for Chips is concern about what would happen to its supply if Beijing moves against the island. In July, the commerce secretary, Gina Raimondo, and defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, wrote a letter to the Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress, saying that the measure was “critical for our national security”.Mike Pompeo, a former secretary of state under the Republican president Donald Trump, made an unlikely contribution to calls for its passage. “Congress must pass the Chips Act for both our national and economic security. We have to become less dependent on China for critical technologies – and this is how we do it,” he tweeted as the House of Representatives was considering it.But some of the most influential conservative groups in Washington didn’t buy in.“The answer to the [Chinese Communist party’s] malevolent ambitions is not spending billions of dollars to help Fortune 500 companies, with no guarantee those dollars won’t end up supporting these companies’ business operations in China,” the Heritage Foundation president, Kevin Roberts, said in a statement.“Additionally, the act’s $250bn price tag will contribute to record inflation and increase the already historic cost of living for working- and middle-class Americans.”Americans for Prosperity, which was funded by the conservative industrialists Charles Koch and his late brother David, who are well known for their work promoting climate change denialism, sees the bill as “corporate welfare”.“The United States didn’t become the strongest and most prosperous society in the history of mankind by emulating the Chinese government’s central planning, and we shouldn’t start now,” the group’s vice-president of government affairs, Akash Chougule, said. “If we want to see more American investment, the US government needs to stay out of the way.”The effort ultimately failed, with 24 Republicans voting for Chips in the House and 17 Republicans in the Senate, along with almost all Democrats. While Sanders voted against it, none of his usual allies in that chamber or the House joined him in opposition.It wasn’t just the Biden administration that lawmakers were hearing from. Semiconductor firms invested heavily in lobbying to make the bill become law, with Bloomberg reporting major manufacturers spent $19.6m in just the first half of this year, after $15.8m in the same period of 2021.Particularly vocal was Intel, which has announced a $20bn investment in two new semiconductor factories in Ohio. But amid the Chips Act delay in June, the company announced those plans could be pushed back or curtailed without the funding.“My message to our congressional leaders is: hey, if I’m not done with the job, I don’t get to go home. Neither should you. Do not go home for August recess until you have passed the Chips Act, because I and others in the industries will make investment decisions. Do you want those investments in the US?” Intel’s chief executive, Ryan Scott, said in an interview on CNBC. “Get the job done.”Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who sponsored a bill that was a precursor to Chips, denied that the legislation was corporate welfare, saying there were guardrails in its text to stop corporations from using the funds for their own enrichment. Instead, he likened it to a return of 1940s-era industrial policy, in which the government makes investments in industries deemed strategically important.“I think there’s understandable concern about corporate welfare, but corporate welfare is different than the FDR model of mobilizing for production,” he said, referring to the Democratic president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who led the country through most of the second world war.He envisioned Chips as a template for future efforts that could boost green technologies such as electric vehicles, and solar and wind energy.“I think it’s a first step for how we continue to industrialize America, how we bring our production back, how we reduce our trade deficits. I absolutely think this should be a model,” Khanna said. “And the commerce department should enforce this so none of the money is going to stock buybacks, that it is going to building factories.”TopicsBernie SandersDemocratsUS politicsRepublicansnewsReuse this content More