WASHINGTON, April 14 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement today after Congress passed $38 billion in spending cuts as part of legislation to finance the federal government through September:

“This budget moves America in the exactly wrong direction. It cuts programs for struggling working families, the elderly, children and the poor while preserving tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires.

“Unfortunately, this is just the beginning. Republicans in Congress have tasted blood. Now they are dead set on making even deeper cuts. They have proposed a radical budget for 2012 that would end Medicare and Medicaid as we know them while providing $1 trillion more in tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans and large corporations.

“There is no question that we must reduce soaring deficits, but it must be done in a way that is fair, which protects the most vulnerable people in our country, and which requires shared sacrifice.”