Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) could not explain how he would avoid bankrupting the country with his costly proposals — proposals which would double federal spending over the next decade — during Tuesday’s debate in Des Moines, Iowa.
“How would you keep your plans from bankrupting the country,” CNN’s Abby Phillip asked, noting that Sanders’ proposals would “double federal spending over the next decade” to “an unprecedented level of spending not seen since World War II.”
Sanders simply denied the assertion but did not offer a comprehensive rebuttal, instead pivoting to the supposed benefits Medicare for All.
“Our plan wouldn’t bankrupt the country,” Sanders stated, failing to explain how he would pay for his multi-trillion-dollar proposals. “In fact, it would much improve the well-being of working-class families and the middle class.”
“Let us be clear what Medicare for All does,” he continued, dodging the original question. “It ends all premiums. It ends all co-payments. It ends the absurdity of deductibles. It ends out of pocket expenses. It takes on the pharmaceutical industry.”
An analysis piece published by CNN on Tuesday walked through the socialist senator’s costly proposals and cited Larry Summers, the former chief White House economic adviser for former President Barack Obama, who stated that Sanders’ proposals are “far more radical than all previous presidencies.”
“The Sanders spending increase is roughly 2.5 times the size of the New Deal and the estimated fiscal impact of George McGovern’s campaign proposals,” Summers stated.
“This is six times as large of a growth of government than any of the Ronald Reagan dismemberments. We are in a kind of new era of radical proposal,” he added.
His proposals would effectively double the size of government with at least $60 trillion in new spending, as Breitbart News detailed:
While there is no final number indicating the cost of all of Sanders’ proposals combined, some of the individual plans feature estimated price tags. Modest projections have Sanders’ Medicare for All plan costing $32 trillion (although estimates run as high as $60 trillion for that program alone). His Green New Deal plan, which includes expansions for existing entitlement programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), is accompanied by a $16 trillion price tag. His proposal to completely erase student debt and offer free college will, by some estimates, cost $2.2 trillion.
Those three proposals only represent a portion of the costly proposals the socialist lawmaker has put forward on the campaign trail. Others agenda items include universal free child care, affordable housing, a raise in teacher salaries, and a guaranteed federal jobs program.
That considered, his proposals could result in over $60 trillion in new spending over the next decade (using the low-end estimate of his Medicare for All proposal), which is more than what the federal government will spend on all existing programs “from the Defense Department to Social Security and Medicare,” according to CNN.
Sanders has declared in the past that he will fund his proposals via tax hikes on middle-class Americans, Wall Street, and the ultra-wealthy. However, as the analysis found, the revenue generated would not cover the costs of his plans.
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