In a speech on the Senate floor on Friday Sen. Bernie Sanders spoke out against intrusive spying taking place on behalf of the U.S. government. “The question is not whether we protect the American people, but whether we do it in a way that is constitutional and protects the constitutional rights of our people,” said Sanders. In an effort to make a college education more accessible to all Sanders introduced a bill on Tuesday to make 4-year public college and universities tuition-free. “We live in a highly competitive global economy. If our economy is to be strong, we need the best educated work force in the world,” Sanders said.

Make College Tuition-Free

Sanders on Tuesday introduced legislation to make 4-year public colleges and universities tuition-free. “We live in a highly competitive global economy. If our economy is to be strong, we need the best educated work force in the world.  That will not happen if every year hundreds of thousands of bright young people cannot afford to go to college and if millions more leave school deeply in debt,” Sanders said. Under the legislation, $70 billion a year in assistance – two-thirds from the federal government and one-third from states – would replace what public colleges and universities now charge in tuition and fees. The federal share of the cost would be offset by imposing a tax on Wall Street transactions by investment houses, hedge funds and other speculators. Read more here.

Senate Votes on Job-Killing Trade Bill

The Senate on Monday voted to advance a bill that would grant President Barack Obama accelerated power to complete a massive trade accord with 11 other Pacific Rim nations. In response, Sanders issued a statement saying, “The Senate just put the interests of powerful multi-national corporations, drug companies and Wall Street ahead of the needs of American workers. If this disastrous trade agreement is approved, it will throw Americans out of work while companies continue moving operations and good-paying jobs to low-wage countries overseas." Read more here.

Big Banks Plead Guilty

After five big banks agreed to pay more than $5 billion and plead guilty to crimes, Sanders issued the following statement. “Despite weak financial regulatory systems around the world, it seems that every week we hear about another multi-billion scandal involving a major financial institution.  Today, we learn that JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup and other huge banks were fined $5 billion for rigging interest rates and manipulating currency exchanges.  Sadly, this is just the tip of the iceberg.  Since 2009, huge financial institutions have paid $176 billion in fines and settlement payments for fraudulent and unscrupulous activities. The reality is that seven years after too-big-to-fail banks crashed the economy, fraud still appears to be the business model on Wall Street. Read more here.

Los Angeles Votes to Raise the Wage

Sanders congratulated Los Angeles after the City Council in the nation’s second-largest city voted 14-1 to approve an increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour over five years. “The momentum is growing all across our country as state after state and city after city raise their minimum wage to help millions of hard-working Americans earn the income they deserve," said Sanders. “States and communities are not waiting for Congress to act because working people cannot survive on the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. If people work 40 hours a week, they deserve not to live in dire poverty. We need to raise the minimum wage to a living wage — $15 an hour over the next few years.” 

Rising Drug Prices

Sen. Sanders and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings today introduced legislation to curb skyrocketing prices of generic drugs. Sharp price hikes not only impact consumers, hospitals, and pharmacists, but strain the budgets for Medicaid, Medicare, the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Under current law, brand-name drug manufacturers must pay a rebate to Medicaid when prices shoot up at a rate steeper than inflation. The proposed legislation – the Medicaid Generic Drug Price Fairness Act – would extend that provision to generic drugs. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the policy change would save taxpayers $1 billion over 10 years. Read more here.