As debate continued over the budget, Sen. Bernie Sanders took to the Senate floor on Thursday to lambast the House Republican plan that would slash Medicare and Medicaid and dole out $1 trillion in new tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. President Obama's budget proposal is better "but to my mind is by no means as strong as it should be," he added. A member of the Senate Budget Committee, Sanders detailed his ideas. "I am going to continue doing everything that I can to make sure that the budget that is finally passed here in the Senate is a fair budget, is a responsible budget, is a just budget."

Everyone understands that over the long-term our record-breaking $14.2 trillion national debt must be reduced, but we must reduce deficits in a fair way and not balance the budget solely on the backs of the middle class, the sick, the elderly, and the poor. That means we have got to ask the wealthy and large corporations to pay their fair share in taxes. Here are ways we can reduce the deficit in a fair and responsible manner:

1. We could raise more than $383 billion over the next 10 years by establishing a 5.4% millionaires' surtax.
2. We could raise as much as $100 billion a year by imposing a fee on Wall Street speculators who caused the largest financial crisis since the 1930s.
3. We could raise more than $580 billion over 10 years by ending tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas.
4. We could raise $330 billion over 10 years by establishing a responsible estate tax that asks the top 0.3 percent of Americans who inherit over $3.5 million in wealth to pay a fair estate tax.
5. We could raise $736 billion over 10 years by taxing capital gains and dividends as ordinary income. Warren Buffett has said that he pays a lower federal tax rate than his secretary because most of his income is generated by capital gains than ordinary income. This would correct that problem. 
6. We could raise $40 billion over the next 10 years by ending tax breaks and subsidies for big oil and gas.
7. We could raise $100 billion a year by prohibiting abusive and illegal offshore tax shelters.
8. We could raise up to $500 billion over 10 years by establishing a currency manipulation fee and create up to 1 million new jobs in the process.