Bernie Sanders

Mr. SANDERS

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendment to call up amendment No. 1044 on behalf of Senators Cardin and McCain; and amendments Nos. 1047 and 724 on behalf of Senator Kaine; amendment No. 713 on behalf of Senators Murphy and Cassidy; and amendment No. 1005 on behalf of Senators Murphy and Graham.

Mr. SANDERS. This deficit-neutral reserve fund would prevent the Postal Service from shutting down 82 processing plants in 37 States. It would restore delivery standards which have been slowed down and protect rural postal services. The Postal Service is vital to the well-being of our Nation and economy. This is especially true in our rural areas. This is an issue that has had bipartisan support for the last number of years. Senator Collins is a cosponsor of this amendment. She has been very active on this issue, and I would hope we could pass it with a voice vote.

Mr. SANDERS. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside, on behalf of Senator Wyden, to call up amendment No. 1012.

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, this is a very simple, straightforward amendment. It calls for a substantial increase in the minimum wage. The simple truth is that in America, people working full time should not be living in poverty. Since 1968, the real value of the Federal minimum wage has fallen by close to 30 percent. People all over this country and in State after State on their own have voted to raise the minimum wage. By the way, in State after State where the minimum wage has gone up, more jobs have been created. Let us stand today with the tens of millions of workers who are struggling to put food on the table, to take care of their families. Let us raise the minimum wage

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside and, on behalf of Senator Menendez, call up amendments Nos. 435, 473, 593, and 993 en bloc.

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendment to call up the following amendments en bloc: amendment No. 729, amendment No. 342, and amendment No. 588.

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, I appreciate Senator Moran raising this issue. Last year we wrote the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act. We included language to allow veterans living at least 40 miles from a VA facility to access care in the community. Like Senator Moran, I represent a rural State. I am the first to understand the unique needs of rural veterans. I have spoken with Senator Moran and understand his intention is to ensure that veterans living at least 40 miles from a facility that provides the care they need can seek care in the community through the Choice Program on a case-by-case basis. If that is his intention, I think it is a good amendment. I think we should all support it.

Mr. SANDERS

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, I raise a point of order that the pending amendment is not germane to the underlying resolution and would violate section 305(b)(2) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.

Mr. SANDERS. I object.

Mr. SANDERS

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, I believe there is general support on this side of the floor for that amendment, and I suggest a voice vote.

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the votes scheduled for 12:15 p.m. now take place at 12:30 p.m., with the Democrats controlling 15 minutes and the majority controlling the remaining time, with all provisions of the previous order remaining in effect.

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, how much time do we have left?

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, the amendment we are going to be discussing now--and I will say a few words about it in a moment--deals with one of the most important issues facing our country; that is, the lack of affordability of college and the reality that when millions of our young people graduate school, they are left in crushing debt year after year after year, and they are unable to refinance that debt which has a huge impact on their lives. I give time now to Senator Warren, who has played a great role in focusing on this issue and has brought forth what I think is an excellent amendment. I yield to the Senator from Massachusetts.

Mr. SANDERS. Sure.

Mr. SANDERS. I yield 1 minute to the Senator from Michigan.

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, let's be frank. We live in a global economy. We need the best educated workforce in the world to compete. Yet we are making it harder and harder for middle-class families to send their kids to college. At the same time, we are saying to those young people who go to college: You are going to be living with an oppressive debt for decades--for decades. Several months ago, I talked to a young woman in Burlington, VT. Her crime was that she went to medical school in order to become a primary care physician. Those are exactly the people we need. She left medical school with $300,000 in debt. Does anybody think that makes any sense at all? Right now, if you want to go out and buy a new car, you can get interest rates in some cases of 0 percent, 1 percent, 2 percent. If you want to refinance your home, you can pay 3 percent, 4 percent, 5 percent. Yet, when parents want to send their kids to college or young people themselves take out loans, they are forced to pay 6 percent, 8 percent, or even a higher percent for the crime of wanting to get a higher education. Senator Warren's amendment is eminently sensible. It significantly lowers interest rates, cutting them almost in half to 3.9 percent. This would be a huge blessing for millions of young people who are having a hard time buying homes, a hard time even starting families because they are dealing with this oppressive debt. The last point I would make--and I hope everybody remembers this-- when Wall Street, because of their greed, recklessness, and illegal behavior, needed to be bailed out, the Fed provided them with zero and one-half of 1 percent interest rates by the trillions of dollars. If we could bail out Wall Street--if the Fed could bail out Wall Street with extremely low interest rates, it is time for us to treat the young people in this country and their parents with the same respect. We need to substantially lower interest rates on student debt, and the Warren amendment would do that. I yield 3 minutes to the Senator from New Hampshire.

Mr. SANDERS. The Senator from Rhode Island, 3 minutes.

Mr. SANDERS. The Senator from Rhode Island gets 2 minutes, then.

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, let me conclude by saying this: The high cost of college and student debt is one of the great issues facing our country. We are trying to lower student debt significantly. Our Republican colleagues' response to the crisis is to cut $90 billion in mandatory funding for Pell grants. The choice is pretty clear. We are looking at the future of this country and the need for our young people to get the best education possible and to not graduate college deeply in debt. That is what this amendment is about. I hope we will have strong bipartisan support for it. I yield the floor.

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, over the last several months, I have had three town meetings in Vermont with young people on this issue. It is an issue of huge concern to them and their parents. As Senator Booker just mentioned, we are competing with countries all over the world that say to their young people: If you have the ability and you have the desire, you can go to college regardless of your income. In Germany, tuition for college is now zero. In many Scandinavian countries, it is now zero. What they are saying to the young people is, we need you to get the best education to help us create the strongest economy, to create the jobs we need. How insane is it for us to literally discourage bright young people from attending college or to tell others that if they graduate college or graduate school, they are going to be $70,000, $80,000, $100,000 in debt? What sense does this make for the well-being of the middle class of this country or for our economic competitiveness? In the next month, I will be personally introducing legislation that will cut and do away with tuition in public colleges and universities, but today what we are focusing on is legislation that is so sensible, so obvious, it is hard for me to imagine that anybody can vote against it. I have in my office at least two attorneys who are struggling with huge student debts. This is true all over this country. They graduated from college 15 years ago. They are still paying off that debt, and it impacts what they can do. We have evidence out there that families are not having children because of student debt, not buying homes because of student debt. Why is it that people have to pay double or triple interest rates because they got an education as opposed to what they would pay when they purchase a car or a home? Does anybody think that makes sense? Today we have an opportunity to stand up for the young people of this country and say we want them to get an education and we want them to have the freedom to live their lives after they leave school. That is what this amendment is about. I yield time to the Senator from Virginia, Mr. Kaine.

Mr. SANDERS. So would we.

Mr. SANDERS. The Senator has 8 minutes.

Mr. SANDERS. Reserving the right to object, I would like 1 minute to bring forth eight amendments.

Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, we think the Burr-King amendment is a sensible, noncontroversial amendment, and I don't believe we have any objection to it on this side of the aisle. I suggest a voice vote.