Gavel in Hand, Bernie Sanders Lays Out an Unabashedly Liberal Economic Agenda -

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Reprinted from The Washington Post by Mike DeBonis on February 20, 2021.

After three decades in Congress wielding influence as a left-wing outsider with a grass-roots following, Senator Bernie Sanders has finally grasped institutional power on Capitol Hill — and he is moving quickly to use it.

As the new chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Sanders has already played a key role in advancing President Biden’s $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package, and he is now scheduling high-profile hearings on some of the nation’s most pressing challenges.

For the first, set for Thursday, Sanders has summoned the chief executives of some of America’s best-known companies to testify about the wages they pay their employees — speaking alongside some of their own front-line workers.

The hearing’s title — “Why Should Taxpayers Subsidize Poverty Wages at Large Profitable Corporations?” — reflects how Sanders intends to use his new gavel to promote an unabashedly liberal economic agenda, one that breaks with the Budget Committee’s traditional focus on the nation’s long-term fiscal outlook. …

The Washington Post 2/20