November 22, 2015


ST. HELENA ISLAND, S.C. – Speaking to 600 people packed inside the Penn Center’s Darrah Hall, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday called for paid family leave for new parents and expanded benefits for seniors who rely on Social Security.

Sanders is one of 19 Senate co-sponsors of the Family and Medical Leave Act introduced by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. Rep. Rosa DeLauro is the chief sponsor of a companion bill with 112 co-sponsors in the House.

Under both measures, workers would be entitled to three months of paid leave to care for a newborn child. The legislation also calls for a small payroll tax totaling $1.38 a week for a typical worker.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton does not support Gillibrand’s bill, aides have said. Sanders urged all presidential candidates to join him in supporting the legislation.

The senator from Vermont also called on other White House hopefuls to join him in supporting a boost in benefits for retirees and the disabled.

With Social Security recipients facing a coming year with no cost-of-living adjustment for inflation, Sanders’ Social Security Expansion Act would make sure annual inflation adjustments are based on a formula that better measures seniors’ spending. Increasing medical costs and rising prices prescription drugs disproportionately impact seniors, Sanders told the audience here in South Carolina.

Legislation he introduced in the Senate also would increase Social Security benefits and scrap a cap on income subject to the payroll tax. Now, someone making millions of dollars a year pays no more than someone making $118,500 a year. Levying the same tax rate on annual income greater than $250,000 would only impact the top 1.5 percent of wage earners while boosting benefits for millions of retirees.

“I would hope that every Democratic candidate for president of the United States is prepared to lift the cap and expand benefits for millions of seniors in this country who desperately need to see those benefits expanded,” Sanders said.

According to published reports, Clinton has not categorically ruled out benefit cuts including an increase in the retirement age.

Sen. Sanders’ plan to expand and extend Social Security would boost the income of a typical senior making less than $16,000 a year by about $1,300 a year. It would also make sure that Social Security could pay every benefit owed to every eligible American for the next 50 years.

By KARSON HOAGLAND





Though the doors didn’t open until 5 p.m. Sunday night, those attending Bernie Sanders’ Town Hall at the Johnny Mercer Theater began arriving more than an hour before.

By the time the doors actually did open, hundreds were lined up outside the Civic Center. Varying ages, most in their mid-20s, stood in anticipation of getting a good seat. Some literally ran to the front row as they entered the theater.

The lower level of the theater was at 60 percent capacity within minutes. Half an hour later, the balcony had to be opened.

As 6 p.m. came and went, periodic chants of “Feel the Bern” rang out in anticipation of the Vermont senator. The venue reached capacity, which is around 2,500 seats, and volunteers frantically searched the rows to find vacant seats for the stragglers.

Finally, Mayor Edna Jackson took the stage amid, first, a chorus of cheers, and then, a chorus of boos.

She welcomed Sanders to the stage by talking about his longtime passion to break down walls of discrimination.

The thousands in attendance stood and cheered as Sanders took the stage, waving, followed by a chant of “Bernie, Bernie, Bernie!”

Sanders began the town hall by talking about his campaign — a campaign that he says has garnered more than 800,000 individual contributions averaging around $30.

“So, I do not represent the billionaire class or corporate America,” Sanders said.

Throughout his one-and-a-half hour speech, Sanders spoke on many topics, including economic disparity, the legalization of marijuana and education.

He went into particular detail about the correlation between high youth unemployment and the large number of incarcerated persons.

“It seems to me that it makes a lot more sense for us to be invested in education and jobs for our kids rather than jails and incarceration,” Sanders said.

“And it costs less money for us to send a young kid to the University of Georgia than to lock them up,” he said as the crowd began to cheer. “Let’s send them to the University of Georgia.”

One of his longest applauses of the night — a 20 second standing ovation — came when he talked about introducing legislation that would make public universities tuition-free.

“People should not be denied going to college because they don’t have enough money,” he said.

The audience was also supportive when Sanders began talking about legislation that would take marijuana out of the controlled substances act.

“I’m not advocating smoking marijuana,” he said, and a few booed in the crowd. “It doesn’t make it legal, it just means that you’re not breaking the federal law. The reason we introduced that legislation is because I’ve talked to too many people whose lives have been destroyed because of the police records they get for possessing marijuana.”

Sanders said he advocates that full legalization of marijuana should be up to individual states.

His one mistake for the night was accidentally calling Savannah Atlanta. He quickly made it up to the crowd by playing it out as a confused man’s joke.

“It is Georgia, right?”

Sanders said that the main message he wanted to get across at the town hall Sunday was one of unity.

“Yes, I am here to ask for your support to become your next president, but I’m also here to ask for more than that…the only way we transform America is when millions of people stand up and we come together.”

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But we still have an embarrassingly large number of elected representatives who won't listen, despite overwhelming scientific consensus (even 85 percent of eighth graders accept the science at this point). Not only do they refuse to accept it, many of them are actively working to roll back the progress we've already made.

Just last week, 52 senators voted to eliminate the Clean Power Plan—what's been called the biggest action America's ever taken to cut our carbon pollution and tackle climate change. An extreme and vocal minority in Congress is trying to convince other countries that America won't live up to our international climate commitments—right before countries around the world come together to cut carbon pollution, and stop the worsening economic and health impacts that come with it.

Climate change deniers are doing more than embarrassing themselves—they're threatening to undermine America's ability to show the world we're serious about this threat.

It's up to us to make sure they don't succeed. Progress on climate change isn't guaranteed—it happens when all of us speak out to say we're ready for big steps forward. Say you're in.