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Bernie Sanders: “We have a broken campaign finance system that allows…”

Featuring: Bernie Sanders, Independent | U.S. Senate, Vermont

Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall

Published February 26, 2025 | Video Starts at 1:16:09

You ask why it is that we pay five, ten times more for prescription drugs. It is because the pharmaceutical industry spends huge amounts of money on campaign contributions. We have a broken campaign finance system that allows billionaires to buy elections. And that's what large corporations can do as well. So that is when we talk about transforming America to make it a real democracy. (1:16:09–1:16:15)

CLAIM

Asserts that the U.S. campaign finance system permits billionaires to influence elections.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Bernie Sanders

“Our country is moving toward an oligarchic form of society where a handful of billionaires, Elon Musk and some others, are exercising…”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 34:13-34:29
“There were the three wealthiest people in this country, Mr. Musk, Mr. Bezos, Mr. Zuckerberg. And right behind them, there were another 13…”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 34:38-34:52
“I think in many respects, we're looking at a government of the billionaires, by the billionaires and for the billionaires.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 34:51-34:59
“Trump has shown total contempt for the Constitution.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 35:41-35:48
“He has usurped, tried to usurp the power of the Congress by negating Legislation, agencies and appropriations that Congress had authorized.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 35:47-36:00
“Trump lost the election in 2020.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 36:41-36:45
“Climate change, despite what Trump says, is not a hoax.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 36:45-36:49
“It was not Ukraine that started this horrific war. It was Russia and Putin.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 36:50-36:59
“At the United Nations, for the first time, the American administration, the United States, voted against a resolution that made it clear…”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 37:08-37:23
“Trump is doing, is turning his back on 250 years of American history, where we led the world.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 37:40-37:47
“Their groundwork is over a trillion dollars in tax breaks for the top 1%.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 38:18-38:26
“They're going to make massive cuts, over $800 billion to Medicaid, cuts to education, cuts to housing, cuts to the needs of our veterans.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 38:36-38:48
“Rally the American people to make sure that [Trump] does not slash Medicaid or Medicare or Social Security.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 48:59-49:09
“There are 160,000 Vermonters who are enrolled in Medicaid.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 49:19-49:25
“Two out of three people who are in a nursing home get their support from Medicaid.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 49:28-49:35
“One third of our people [in Vermont] do that [utilize a community health center], and 32 million people do it nationally.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 49:40-49:45
“If there were the kinds of cuts that Trump wanted from Medicaid, it would be an absolute disaster.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 50:03-50:09
“Many, many hundreds of employees, probationary employees and others at the VA have been forced out.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 51:59-52:11
“I think their long term plan is to cripple and underfund the VA and then move to the privatization of the VA.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 52:37-52:46
“We remain the only major country on earth not to guarantee health care to all people as a human right.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:01:27-1:01:35
“We're spending twice as much per person on health care so that the drug companies and the insurance companies can make huge profits.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:01:34-1:01:53
“Trump has said over and over again he's not going to cut Social Security. Between you and me, I don't believe him.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:02:14-1:02:26
“Apparently there is an effort now through Doge, and Doge, as you all know, is Musk's group that's running all over the government, that…”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:02:32-1:02:48
“There is [a risk of the Trump administration targeting student federal aid].”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:02:32-1:02:34
“Social Security now is grossly understaffed.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:02:53-1:02:57
“If you understaff [government services], you underfund them, people say, hey, to help with Social Security, let's privatize it.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:03:17-1:03:24
“When 20% of seniors are living on $15,000 a year or less, you know what? We shouldn't be talking about cutting Social Security.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:05:15-1:05:23
“We should be talking about expanding [Social Security]. And I got a bill that we're going to be introducing this week on that.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:05:22-1:05:28
“The agency that has the most waste, fraud and abuse, it is an agency which got some $900 billion more than any other agency that is the…”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:07:45-1:07:57
“For year after year, this Department of Defense has been unable to respond to an independent audit.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:07:58-1:08:06
“If you're on Medicare, you're not going to pay more than $35 a month for insulin.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:14:52-1:14:58
“Some of the largest manufacturers of asthma inhaler reduce their prices to $35.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:15:04-1:15:12
“If you're a senior on Medicare, no matter how many prescription drugs you now pay, you're not going to spend more than $2,000 a year.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:15:11-1:15:20
“We began negotiating prescription drug prices with the drug companies, and that has and will continue to lower the cost of prescription…”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:15:27-1:15:38
“The pharmaceutical industry spends huge amounts of money on campaign contributions.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:16:03-1:16:09
“Some 5 million Americans receive loan forgiveness, debt forgiveness [as a result of pressure on the Biden administration].”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:18:16-1:18:25
“Do I think that this will be a high priority for the Trump administration to kill? Absolutely.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:18:25-1:18:25
“If you stop federal funding for education, it will mean higher property taxes.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:23:42-1:23:49
“If you have a kid with a severe disability, I'm not quite sure what you can do because public schools will not be required or able to take…”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:23:49-1:24:01
“Low income communities will not get Title 1 money, which is keeping them afloat and enable them to hire the teachers that they need.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:24:01-1:24:10
“[Abolishing the Department of Education] will lead to a movement toward the privatization of public education and public funding of…”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:24:09-1:24:29
“If you're some billionaire in Saudi Arabia or someplace, hey, welcome to the United States of America. Five million bucks, man.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:25:59-1:26:08
“Trump is working hard to make sure that the rich in general don't pay taxes.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:26:16-1:26:21
“The VA hospital in White river provides outstanding health care to our veterans.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:30:55-1:31:04
“Almost without exception, [veterans] are very positive of the work that the staff is doing at White River [VA facility].”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:31:07-1:31:09
“We are not going to allow them to decimate the VA system.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:31:26-1:31:34
“A week later, there was 1000-1500 VA employees laid off.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:31:48-1:31:54
“We have, over the years, gone a long way to help people abroad in Africa and elsewhere deal with HIV and other epidemics.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:36:29-1:36:40
“It's less than 1% of our budget.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:37:30-1:37:34
“What Musk did there and his friends did there is once again, a big lie.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:37:47-1:37:52
“Musk comes along, he sends out dozens and dozens of emails to Twitter, which he owns, and he lies and he lies.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:41:04-1:41:14
“He says, tell your member of Congress not to vote for this bill. It's going to increase their salaries by 43%.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:41:13-1:41:22
“Washington Post, owned by the second wealthiest guy in America, a guy named Jeff Bezos, he announced that his editorial page was moving to…”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:42:02-1:42:15
“Trump has sued abc, sued cbs, sued the Des Moines Registrar, small paper in Iowa because he didn't like the poll results that came out of…”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:42:21-1:42:34
“Far more people than we thought [turned out in Nebraska and Iowa].”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:50:30-1:50:39
“We're going to be heading to Michigan, Wisconsin.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:50:40-1:50:42
“I think it's important to get around the country to go to those marginal districts to explain to people what is in this horrific piece of…”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:50:47-1:51:00
“We have lived as a nation through the depression, where 25% of our population was unemployed.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:51:26-1:51:35
“I'm thinking back to 1941, where United States was attacked at Pearl Harbor.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:51:35-1:51:42
“Schools were segregated, black people could not drink at a bloody water fountain.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:51:55-1:51:59
“The speaker of the House is now telling his Republican colleagues, don't hold town meetings.”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:52:17-1:52:23
“You don't undermine the Constitution of the United States. You don't forsake our allies all over the world and side with authoritarian…”
Vermont Congressional Delegation Telephone Town Town Hall | Uploaded February 26, 2025 | 1:52:40-1:52:51