Sanders, who serves as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, spoke in Cedar Rapids on Sunday to promote his 3.5-trillion-dollar bill budget reconciliation bill as part of President Biden's agenda.
The bill contains provisions to expand the federal Child Tax Credit, ensure paid family and medical leave, provide free pre-K education and two years of community college tuition, all of which Sanders calls "human infrastructure."
It is simply not morally acceptable that so many good people are struggling economically to provide for their families, and when half of our people are living paycheck-to-paycheck. We can do better than that."
It also provides funds for low-income housing, establishes a Civilian Climate Corps, lowers the Medicare eligibility age and allows it to cover dental, hearing, and eye care.
Sanders spent the weekend in Indiana, Wisconsin, and Iowa, all states that either voted Republican or were key battlegrounds in the 2020 presidential election. He focused on describing how the bill would benefit working-class Americans across the political spectrum.
They're working longer hours for lower wages, they've seen their jobs go to China. They can't afford child care, they can't afford health care. And they look around and say 'does anybody care about me?' And the time is long overdue for us to restore the faith of the American people in a democratic society."
Sanders says he worked with Democratic leadership to ensure that the reconciliation bill would be passed alongside the bipartisan infrastructure bill that passed the Senate earlier this month.
