The Senate on Friday took up a $1.1 trillion spending bill jam-packed by Republicans with favors for big banks and big businesses. Sen. Bernie Sanders said he opposes the measure that “comes nowhere close to reflecting the needs and priorities of America’s working families.” The Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday issued a blistering report blaming the Central Intelligence Agency for misleading Congress about its brutal interrogations of terrorism suspects. The Senate on Friday approved a bloated budget bill for the military. Sanders voted no. Also on Friday, Senate leadership named Sanders the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee.

Spending Bill As the Senate prepared to take up a massive spending bill, Sanders explained why he plans to vote against the measure. “At a time when the middle class continues to disappear, and the gap between the very rich and everyone else grows wider, this bill comes nowhere close to reflecting the needs and priorities of America’s working families,” said Sanders. Instead of helping to strengthen Social Security, Medicare and other programs that help working families, this bill would allow the Pentagon to spend almost as much as the rest of the world combined on our military and seemingly never-ending wars in the Middle East. Instead of investing in rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure and creating millions of decent-paying jobs, this bill would let companies renege on promises they made to their workers by cutting the pension benefits of current retirees. Instead of cracking down on Wall Street CEOs whose greed and illegal behavior plunged the country into a terrible recession, this bill allows too-big-to-fail banks to make the same risky bets on derivatives that led to the largest taxpayer bailout in history and nearly destroyed the economy. Instead of cutting back on the ability of billionaires to buy elections, this bill outrageously gives the wealthy even more power over the political process. Instead of giving the Environmental Protection Agency the tools it needs to begin dealing with the planetary crisis of global warming, this bill would cut spending by the EPA.”

Defense Bill The Senate on Friday passed a bill authorizing $560 billion for the Department of Defense. Sanders was one of 11 senators who voted no. “I am voting no because I have very serious concerns about our nation's bloated military budget and the misplaced national priorities this bill reflects. At a time when our national debt is more than $18 trillion and we spend nearly as much on defense as the rest of the world combined, the time is long overdue to end the waste and financial mismanagement that have plagued the Pentagon for years.” He said the military budget books are so convoluted and management problems are so severe that congressional auditors for the Government Accountability Office deem the Pentagon budget to be un-auditable. “I support a strong defense system for our country and a robust National Guard and Reserve that can meet our domestic and foreign challenges. At a time when the country is struggling with huge unmet needs, however, it is unacceptable that the Defense Department continues to waste massive amounts of money.”

Torture Report The Senate Intelligence Committee found that the CIA misled the White House and Congress about the brutal interrogation of terrorism suspects. “This report details an ugly chapter in American history during which our leaders and the intelligence community dishonored our nation’s proud traditions,” said Sanders. “Of course we must aggressively pursue international terrorists who would do us harm, but we must do so in a way that is consistent with the basic respect for human rights which makes us proud to be Americans.” He said the United States must not engage in torture. “If we do, in an increasingly brutal world, we lose our moral standing to condemn other nations or groups that engage in uncivilized behavior,” the senator added. Read the report 

Sanders Tapped as Budget Committee Ranking Member Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Friday announced Sanders’ appointment as the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee in the next session of Congress. “I want to thank Sen. Reid and the Democratic caucus for the opportunity to serve as the ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee. At a time when the middle class is disappearing and the gap between the rich and everybody else is growing wider, we need a budget which reflects the needs of working families and not Wall Street and the top 1 percent. I look forward to working with Democrats and Republicans on the committee to craft a budget that is fair to all Americans, not just the powerful special interests.”