Bernie Sanders

(1942- )

On January 3, 1991, Bernard Sanders came to Congress as Vermont's only Representative in the House and the first Independent elected to Congress in 40 years. Sanders was reelected seven times, making him the longest-serving Independent in the history of the House of Representatives. In November 2006, Sanders was elected to the Senate.

During the 104th Congress, Sanders focused his efforts on the work of the House Progressive Caucus, which he founded and chairs.

Since its establishment in 1991, the Progressive Caucus has grown from 5 Members to 58 Members. This body is organized around the principles of social and economic justice, a non-discriminating society, and national priorities which represent interests of all people, not just the wealthy and the powerful.

The purpose of the Progressive Caucus is to present thoughtful, practical solutions to the economic and social problems facing America. Its agenda includes job creation, increasing the minimum wage, eliminating corporate welfare, single payer health care reform, environmental reform, and women's rights.

In the 105th Congress, Sanders focused on articulating the views of the caucus as the main voice of opposition to the GOP "Contract with America". The Progressive Caucus offered an 11-point counter-proposal to the "Contract with America", called the "Progressive Promise: Fairness."

Sanders has brought to Washington an agenda for fundamental change in American politics. His major issues include:

  • Progressive tax reform -- Sanders believes that the federal tax system is unfair, unduly taxing working and middle class people and giving excessive tax breaks to corporations and the wealthy. For this reason, Sanders voted for the Clinton budget plan, which raised 80% of new taxes by increasing taxes on the wealthiest 2% of the population, while at the same time offering 20 million low income working families tax reductions through the expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit. Sanders has repeatedly cosponsored alternative budget resolutions introduced by the Congressional Black Caucus/Progressive Caucus which would have shifted a significant portion of the tax burden from working people and the middle class back to the rich. He will continue to push for such budget resolutions.

  • Eliminating Corporate Welfare -- Sanders believes that substantial corporate welfare cuts must be included as an essential component of any reasonable and fair plan to balance the federal budget. Sanders has introduced legislation such as the "Come Home Corporate America Act" and the "Corporate Responsibility Act" to significantly cut back on the $125 billion a year in tax breaks and subsidies which the U.S. currently spends on some of the largest and most profitable corporations in America.

  • National health care -- Sanders believes that every American should be guaranteed comprehensive medical care as a right of citizenship, with no out-of-pocket expense. A long-time supporter of a Canadian-style single payer health care plan, in 1990 he introduced legislation to establish such a plan for the U.S. on a state-by-state basis. Sanders also cosponsored HR 1200, The American Health Security Act. Under this plan, private health insurers would be replaced by a single agency that would negotiate and pay claims submitted by private doctors and hospitals. The system would be financed by progressive taxation. Sanders established a Task Force on Single Payer Health Care in 1993 which found that a single payer system would save Vermont $270 million over what is currently spent on health care.

    Sanders has also worked to combat disturbing trends in managed care. Sanders introduced the "Hippocratic Oath and Patient Protection Act" to prohibit gag rules and improper financial incentives for doctors to deny care, as well as require the disclosure of all HMO policies to patients and health care providers.

  • Major cuts in military spending -- Sanders believes, especially now that the Cold War is over, the defense budget should be cut by 50 percent over the next five years. Sanders has voted for budgetary legislation which would establish deep cuts in the military budget, using the money saved for large-scale domestic programs in education, job training, health and infrastructure. With the end of the Cold War, Sanders strongly favors maintaining Guard and Reserve units at home as a more useful and economical alternative to basing forces overseas and spending billions on nuclear weapons. Sanders is currently waging a fight against "payoffs for layoffs" under which the government provides billions of dollars in subsidies to pay for "so-called" defense restructuring costs when defense contractors merge.

  • Environmental health and safety -- Sanders believes government should play a far stronger role in protecting public health and the safety of consumers. Sanders successfully introduced the Cancer Registries Amendment Act, which created a nationwide system of cancer registries to provide basic data on environmental causes of cancer. In future years it will help doctors and researchers detect how toxic waste dumps, air pollution and occupational pollutants lead to cancer. Following Congressional hearings which he initiated, Sanders was successful in jawboning the Carpet and Rug Institute to develop labels for all carpets, alerting consumers that carpeting contains chemicals which can cause illness in consumers who are chemically sensitive. Sanders has also been successful in urging the EPA to begin a working relationship with physicians who have expertise in environmental medicine in an effort to educate the EPA and others about the causes and treatment of toxic injuries. Sanders co-sponsored the Indoor Air Quality Act of 1993, designed to fund research and abatement strategies to address the growing problem of unhealthy indoor air. Sanders received the American Academy of Environmental Medicine's prestigious Jonathan Forman Award on October 17, 1994. The award is given annually to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of environmental medicine. One of Sanders' main priorities this session is pushing to find answers to the causes of Gulf War Syndrome, including working with physicians who specialize in the impact of chemicals on human health.

  • A national energy policy -- Sanders believes conservation, increased fuel efficiency, and alternative and renewable sources of energy should be emphasized in preference to increased dependence on fossil fuels. One of Sanders' major accomplishments on the energy front is the passage of his Energy Efficient Mortgage Program, which provides for energy efficient mortgages in both the FHA and VA housing programs. This innovative program allows borrowers in five states to borrow additional funds to make energy efficiency improvements to the houses they buy.

  • Affordable housing -- Sanders believes in increasing support for community-based banks and savings institutions concentrating on mortgage lending. Sanders successfully introduced legislation which made community land trusts (a concept that was pioneered in Burlington, VT, while he was Mayor) eligible for federal funding under Section 233 of the HOME program.

  • Support for labor initiatives, workers' rights and job creation -- Sanders insists that the nation must focus on rebuilding its infrastructure and providing decent jobs that pay a living wage. Sanders' key initiatives in this area, the "Workers Bill of Rights" and "Workplace Democracy Act," focused on raising the minimum wage to a livable wage and bringing about sweeping reforms of labor legislation.

    Sanders sponsored a jobs bill to provide $120 billion in economic stimulus over a two year period. It focused on rebuilding the nation's deteriorating physical infrastructure by repairing roads and bridges, upgrading mass transit and sewage treatment plants, and cleaning up environmental hazards. The measure also provided substantial funds for human infrastructure: job training, education, health and Headstart programs.

    Sanders was one of the leaders in the fight against the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). He opposed the NAFTA because it will ship good paying American jobs to Mexico, where many workers earn less than $1 an hour, and because it would both negate American environmental protections and ship pollution across our borders, rather than eliminate that pollution. Sanders was also a strong opponent to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) for many of the same above-mentioned reasons.

  • Support for family farms -- Sanders believes dairy price supports should be guaranteed at a level sufficient for small-scale agricultural producers to survive. Sanders introduced the Dairy Nutrition Act to raise prices paid to farmers through a two-tiered supply management program. Each farmer would be assigned a production base allowing him/her to receive a higher and more stable price for milk sold on the commercial market. Sanders has been a vocal opponent of rBGH, a synthetic bovine growth hormone said to increase milk production in cows. Sanders feels the use of the hormone will put many family farms out of business at a time when many dairy farmers are already being driven off the land due to a surplus of milk and low milk prices. Sanders also successfully led the fight in the House for passage of the Northeast Dairy Compact which established an interstate commission with the power to raise the price paid to dairy farmers by milk processors.

  • Foreign Affairs -- Sanders believes that it is the duty of the American government to support movements to establish democracy in other countries. He co-sponsored legislation to force the military dictatorship of Haiti to recognize the duly elected President, J.B. Aristide. In May 1994, he was one of twenty members of Congress who attended the Inauguration of Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa.

Before coming to Congress, Sanders served as Mayor of Burlington, Vermont's largest city, for four successive terms (1981-1989). His accomplishments as mayor included building affordable housing, revitalizing the city's waterfront and downtown, initiating arts, youth and women's programs and increasing voter turnout by more than 50 percent. Burlington was recognized as one of the three most livable cities in America, and Sanders was chosen as one of the 20 best Mayors in the country by U.S. News and World Report.

Sanders is married to Jane O'Meara Sanders; they have four children. He was born in Brooklyn, New York on September 8th, 1941 and before serving as mayor worked as a writer, documentary producer, and Director of the American People's History Society. Before coming to Congress, he taught at Harvard University and at Hamilton College. He serves on the House Banking and Financial Services Committee, and on the Government Reform and Oversight Committee.

Sources: Congressman Bernie Sanders, Official Bernie Sanders Website