As the Senate gears up for a debate on the budget, Sen. Bernie Sanders outlined his priorities at a news conference on Wednesday. Forty-seven Republican senators on Monday sent a letter to Iran’s top leaders that could undermine high-stakes diplomatic negotiations aimed at preventing Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon. Sanders called it sabotage. Standing before stacks of petitions signed by 2 million Americans, the senator spoke about the need to strengthen Social Security. Later that day, he introduced a bill that would boost benefits and make millionaires pay the same share of their income as everyone else.

Not Another War With the United States emerging from two long, costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, “apparently some of my Republican colleagues do not believe that two wars are enough,” Sanders said of the controversial letter that the Republican senators sent to Iran. The letter surfaced at a critical juncture in negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program involving the United States, China, Russia, France, the United Kingdom and Germany. “These negotiations must be allowed to continue and, hopefully, they will succeed. It is an outrage that my Republican colleagues are trying to sabotage that effort.” Watch, Read more

Strengthen Social Security As stacks of petitions signed by 2 million Americans were delivered to the Capitol on Thursday, Sanders introduced legislation to expand benefits and strengthen the retirement program for generations to come. The Social Security Expansion Act was filed on the same day Sanders and other senators received the petitions gathered by the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. “Social Security is the most successful government program in our nation's history. Through good times and bad, Social Security has paid out every benefit owed to every eligible American,” Sanders said. “The most effective way to strengthen Social Security for the future is to eliminate the cap on the payroll tax on all income above $250,000 so millionaires and billionaires pay the same share as everyone else.” Watch

Robin Hood in Reverse At a Senate Budget Committee hearing on Wednesday, corporate lobbyists called for balancing the federal budget on the backs of the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor while giving more tax breaks to the rich and large corporations.  Sanders questioned the proposals he said would take from the poor and give to the rich. The cuts are advocated by the Business Roundtable, which represents the CEOs of some of the nation’s largest corporations and Wall Street financial institutions. “While these people tell us that we should cut Social Security for a senior in Vermont who doesn’t have the funds to heat her home or pay for her medicine, a study from the Institute for Policy Studies tells us that the CEOs of these major corporations in the Business Roundtable can expect a monthly retirement check of about $88,576.  In other words, people who are extremely wealthy are telling us to cut Social Security benefits for some of the most vulnerable people in America. That’s advice that this senator will not accept,” said Sanders. Watch

Budget Priorities With the Budget Committee about to mark up a spending blueprint for the coming years, Sanders is in a pivotal position as the panel’s ranking member. At Wednesday’s news conference, he said his focus will be on creating millions of jobs, increasing the minimum wage, protecting Social Security and Medicare, making college affordable and making our tax system fairer. “In essence, what the debate over this budget will be about is whether or not we produce a document that works for a struggling middle class, or whether or not we will provide a budget that makes the wealthiest people and largest corporations even wealthier and better off than they are today,” he said at the news conference. Sanders also spoke on the budget in a Senate floor speech. Watch

National Press Club Speaking to a packed room at the National Press Club on Monday, Bernie detailed a $1 trillion plan to rebuild the country’s crumbling infrastructure and, in the process, create 13 million good-paying jobs. “Support was evident in the applause that resounded each time he decried foreign wars or those fat cat bankers,” according to a one journalist’s dispatch. Watch