senator Sanders joins us now from his home state of Vermont senator Sanders
I'll get the taxes in just a minute but first I want to ask you about Puerto
Rico what did you make of President Trump tweeting that Puerto Ricans quote
want everything to be done for them you know speaking from his fancy Golf Club
playing golf with his billionaire friends attacking the mayor of San Juan
who was struggling to bring electricity to the island food to the island water
to the island gas to the island that is just it is unspeakable and I don't know
what world Trump is living in people in Puerto Rico are suffering one of the
worst disasters in the history of that island we have got to do everything we
can to help them we all have got to remember the people of Puerto Rico are
American citizens entitled to the same help as the people of any other
community in America and the White House denies it but there are a lot of critics
who say that race or ethnicity might be playing a factor here what do you think
well look given the president's history on race given the fact that he a few
months ago told us that they were good people on both sides when neo-nazis were
marching in charlottesville yeah I think we have a right to be suspect that he is
treating the people of Puerto Rico in a different way than he has treated the
people of texas or Florida let's turn to the president's tax plan the president
wants to double to the standard deduction so that a married couple won't
pay any taxes on the first twenty four thousand dollars of income is that a
provision of the president's tax plan that you might be able to support it is
but overall I just listened to mr. Mulvaney who says that nobody can make
an analysis long-term of what this tax proposal does he's wrong the Tax Policy
Institute has said that 80% Jake at the end of ten years 80% of the benefits
will go to the top one percent so it's not just that they want to repeal the
estate tax which benefits only the top two-tenths of one percent families like
the Walton family or the Koch brothers family will receive tens and tens of
billions of dollars in tax pricks for Trump to go on televisions
that oh this doesn't benefit the wealthy is absolutely outrageous
of course it benefits the wealthy and of course it benefits large multinational
corporations right now we are living in a moment of massive income and wealth
inequality the very very rich are getting richer middle class is shrinking
what this tax proposal does is not only give huge tax breaks to the wealthy and
large corporations it cuts Medicare by four hundred and fifty billion dollars
some listeners some viewers may remember the Trump campaign oh I'm not going to
touch Medicare four hundred and fifty billion dollar cut in Medicare a truly a
dollar cut in Medicaid this is the Robin Hood principle in Reverse
Trump is taking for the middle class and working families in order to give huge
tax breaks to the people on top it is unacceptable and we're gonna fight it as
hard as we can the president and Mick Mulvaney the budget directors say that
the middle class will get a huge tax cut that that's where the focus is going to
be you would oppose that bill if there are also benefits to the wealthy as well
what's the cutoff point beyond which well there's no huge yeah go ahead it is
possible that some people you know depending on the standard deduction it
depending on the Earned Income Tax Credit and how many children you have in
your family it is possible that some middle-class families may make some
gains but when you have a non-partisan group telling us that at the end of ten
years eighty percent of the benefits go to the tax the top one percent when
there are a massive cuts in health care and in education and programs
desperately needed by the working people of this country know the framework of
this proposal is not something we can support the truth is right now that the
wealthiest people in this country are doing phenomenally well and it is time
we ask them to start paying their fair share of taxes not give them tax breaks
in order to cut Medicaid Medicare and other important programs senator let's
turn to the president's ongoing feud with NFL players who take a knee during
the national anthem last night President Trump tweeted quote very important an
NFL players stand tomorrow and always the playing of our National Anthem
respect our flag and our country I want to show you a new poll from CNN by a 49%
to 43 percent margin voters do think that NFL players are doing the wrong
thing when they kneel during the national anthem you've urged a
Democratic Party to go beyond identity politics on this NFL issue do you worry
the Democratic leaders might be falling into some sort of a trap set by the
president no Jake let's not worry about the politics of what's going on let's
talk about why players are doing what they're doing and that is that we have a
real crisis in criminal justice in this country the United States of America has
more people in jail than any other major country on earth we have communities now
where kids are being picked up for smoking marijuana getting police records
which makes it difficult for them to get the jobs that they need so I think what
the players are talking about is the need for criminal justice reform the
need for police department reform they have the right to make that point and I
appreciate their standing up for what they believe assertive health care
president Trump said he will probably sign an executive order next week
allowing people to purchase health insurance across state lines the
president says he believes that would lower costs would you support this move
no I don't think I would but right now what the president has got to do is to
stop sabotaging the Affordable Care Act he has cut back on funding for
navigators to help people get into the exchanges he has cut back on advertising
explaining to people what their health care options are look Jake I was really
proud that we were able to do what the American people wanted in defeating the
disastrous Republican proposal which would have thrown 30 million Americans
off of the health insurance they currently have 30 million Americans what
we should be doing now and what I would hope Trump would be doing is during the
campaign he talked about the high cost of prescription drugs and he was right
pharmaceutical industry is ripping off the American people but since he has
been elected I haven't heard one word let us lower the cost
description drugs in America let us also go forward short-term in making sure
that people have a public option in every state in this in the country if
they're not happy with what private insurance companies are providing them a
public option in many cases could be less expensive with comprehensive health
care long term in my view we have got to join the rest of the industrialized
world guarantee health care to all people as a right not a privilege and
end the absurdity of paying twice as much per capita as any other major
country on earth while the insurance companies and the
drug companies make huge profits that's where we have to go long term Democratic
Senator Bob Menendez is facing corruption charges in New Jersey I want
to show you a new poll from Suffolk University USA Today it finds that 84%
of the people in New Jersey would want Menendez to resign if he's convicted
where do you come down on this if senator Menendez is convicted should he
resign immediately buh-buh-buh-buh-buh you know I think in
this country people are entitled to due process
I'm not into speculating what if that will be Menendez's decision he has not
been convicted let the process take its course you know in America that's what
it's about you have a child and and people the jury makes its decision they
have not made their decision so I think it's a little bit premature to be
talking about that senator Sanders always good to see it thanks for coming
on appreciate it