Bernie Sanders Makes Major Legislative Threat in Push for COVID Stimulus

Bernie Sanders is no stranger to controversy, and that doesn’t look to be changing in 2021 either.

The self-professed democratic socialist from Vermont was long been on the far left of the political spectrum, leveraging the resonance of this message with the youth of the nation to push the entire Democratic Party into ever-more liberal directions.

Now, as another round coronavirus stimulus runs the risk of getting stalled by the Senate, Sanders is threatening drastic action.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said Sunday that Democrats will move pass a COVID-19 relief package through reconciliation, a special process that allows for a 51-majority vote, rather than the 60 votes normally required to advance legislation, if Republicans do not quickly express support for the $1.9 trillion bill.

Sanders, the incoming chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said in an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” that unlike Republicans who used reconciliation to pass a tax cut bill and attempt to repeal Obamacare, Democrats will use 50 votes in the Senate, plus Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote, to “pass legislation desperately needed by working families in this country right now.”

Bernie used some strong language.

“If Republicans are willing to work with us to address that crisis, welcome – let’s do it. But what we cannot do is wait weeks and weeks and months to go forward. We’ve got to act now. That’s what the American people want,” Sanders told CNN anchor Dana Bash.

“These are major policy changes, and I criticized Republicans for using reconciliation to give tax breaks to billions to create a situation where large profitable corporations now pay zero in federal income taxes. Yes, I did criticize them for that,” Sanders said. “And if they want to criticize me for helping to feed children who are hungry – or senior citizens who are isolated and alone and don’t have enough food, they can criticize me. I think it’s the appropriate step forward.”

Coronavirus stimulus has been one of the most divisive issues in Washington of late, and the new Democratic majority in the Senate is certainly going to take a crack at it in the coming days…one way or another.