SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
greg casar
Sanders Shows Senate Dems How to Message 'No' Vote on GOP Spending Scam
Republicans' continuing resolution, he warned, "will provide a blank check for the administration and Mr. Musk to continue their savage war against working families, the elderly, children, the sick, and the poor."
Mar 13, 2025
With a shutdown looming, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday offered his Democratic colleagues a blueprint for how to reject Republicans' stopgap measure, which would fund the government through the end of September but, as critics warn, give President Donald Trump—and billionaire Elon Musk—broad discretion over spending priorities.
"Since President Trump has been in office we have seen chaos, shock, and heartbreak," Sanders (I-Vt.)—who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020—said in a statement explaining his plan to vote "no" on the House-approved package.
"We have seen oligarchs take over our government and the wealthiest person in the world decimate programs that provide support for a struggling working class," Sanders said, pointing to Trump and Musk's recent attacks on the Department of Education, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Social Security Administration.
"We have seen a move toward authoritarianism where the president is illegally usurping the powers of Congress, while his administration challenges the role of the federal courts in constraining unconstitutional administrative actions," he continued, echoing his recent Senate floor speeches and national tour.
The continuing resolution (CR) passed Tuesday by 216 House Republicans and Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) "will provide a blank check for the administration and Mr. Musk to continue their savage war against working families, the elderly, children, the sick, and the poor in order to lay the groundwork for massive tax breaks for the billionaire class," Sanders warned.
"This legislation will also provide a green light for the administration to continue its illegal and unconstitutional activities," he concluded. "This is a bill I cannot support. Instead, the Senate must pass a 30-day CR so that all members of Congress, not just the House Republican leadership, can come together and produce legislation that works for all Americans, not just the few."
Sanders' statement came amid fears that Senate Democrats may cave to the GOP plan in exchange for a certain-to-fail vote on an alternative bill. Although Republicans control the upper chamber, they lack a filibuster-proof majority—meaning at least 60 senators have to agree to hold a vote on most legislation, including a CR on funding.
Progressives in the House who stood against the Republican package urged Senate Democrats to continue the fight to actually pass an alternative spending bill that doesn't further empower Trump and Musk—such as a "clean" 30-day CR that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other key members of the party have suggested.
"Some Senate Democrats are being tempted to pretend to fight the Trump-Musk funding bill today, then quietly agree to give up on blocking it," Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Chair Greg Casar (D-Texas) said on social media Thursday. "That would be a disastrous decision. Voting for cloture on a bill that allows Musk and Trump to steal from taxpayers is the same as voting to allow Musk and Trump to steal from taxpayers. Everything is on the line. Democrats weren't elected to put up a fake fight."
CPC Chair Emeritas Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) similarly declared that "Democrats need to stand up and fight for the American people," and expressed support for the 30-day resolution.
Progressive voices outside of Congress are also calling on Democrats to keep up the fight ahead of the potential shutdown, which would occur if a deal isn't reached before the end of Friday.
"Leader Schumer and Senate Democrats must insist on a clean 30-day funding bill," Public Citizen and Indivisible said in a joint statement. "Helping Republicans pass their harmful, partisan slush-fund for Trump and Musk would correctly and needlessly redirect the public's outrage from Republicans to Democrats. Even those who would be most directly harmed by a government shutdown—federal employees—have said they are willing to risk a Republican-created government shutdown instead of allowing the ongoing lawless dismantling of government, and they're right."
"All Americans should be clear: The Republican long-term CR is not a clean continuation of previous funding commitments. It would enable Trump and Musk to claim much greater authority to violate the separation of powers and refuse to spend appropriated funds," the groups continued. "The Republican long-term CR also would impose draconian spending cuts on Washington, D.C. and impose pointless, devastating harm on children in the nation's capital."
"If Republicans disregard the well-being of the country and choose to shut down the government over their failure to pass their destructive funding bill," they vowed, "we and our partners will mobilize across the country to ensure the anger of voters is directed at the culprits of this manufactured crisis, in defense of the vital programs that Musk's MAGA allies are eager to destroy for the sake of greater corporate profits."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Progressives Launch 'Tax the Greedy Billionaires' Coalition to Counter Trump-GOP Agenda
"Enough with the attacks on working people in order to fund billionaire tax cuts," said Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas). "Tax the billionaires instead of funding the billionaires."
Feb 25, 2025
As House Republicans prepared to vote Tuesday on a budget blueprint that calls for ravaging Medicaid and other programs to help fund trillions of dollars in tax breaks for the wealthy, progressive lawmakers joined community members and organizers outside of the U.S. Capitol to launch a new coalition demanding a radically different approach.
"Enough with the attacks on working people in order to fund billionaire tax cuts," Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said at a press conference. "Just tax the billionaires instead of funding the billionaires."
Speakers at Tuesday's event cast the "Tax the Greedy Billionaires" coalition—which includes People's Action, MoveOn, and other advocacy groups—as a direct challenge to President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans' legislative agenda, particularly the push for $4.5 trillion tax cuts primarily for the wealthiest Americans, financed by deep cuts to Medicaid, federal nutrition assistance, and other key programs.
"The Republican plan is about making government more efficient for big corporations and billionaires who are screwing us over," said Casar. "We don't need to cut Social Security; we can expand it. We don't need to cut people's healthcare; we can expand it. We can have a country that is better off for small businesses and workers alike."
LIVE: The Congressional Progressive Caucus Holds Tax the Greedy Billionaires Press Conference https://t.co/ZCKGk61r1a
— Congressman Greg Casar (@RepCasar) February 25, 2025
The press conference included remarks from organizers who warned the House GOP's proposed $880 billion Medicaid cuts over the next 10 years would have devastating—and potentially deadly—impacts on their communities.
"Medicaid afforded me the opportunity to get on life-saving medication," said Elissa Tierney, co-founder of an organization that helps people negatively impacted by substance addiction. "I am asking, begging: Please protect these programs."
"If your vote is going to result in someone dying or losing their home," Tierney added, "vote no."
A full House vote on the budget blueprint, which Trump has endorsed, could come as soon as Tuesday evening, though there could be delays caused by divisions in the narrow Republican majority as GOP lawmakers face mounting constituent backlash in their home districts.
Politiconoted Tuesday that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) "faces some bleak arithmetic: No Democrats are expected to back the budget plan, and if all members are present and voting, he can lose only one Republican and still approve it."
"Do not take your eye off the ball—and the ball is always the money."
In a letter to members of Congress on Tuesday, the new coalition urged lawmakers not to "slash programs that working families depend on."
"Tax the greedy billionaires now," the letter adds. "The American Dream is dying in a system where unlimited wealth for the few destroys opportunity for all."
Last month, according to an analysis unveiled Monday, the world's billionaires saw their collective wealth surge by $314 billion—roughly $10 billion per day.
The GOP's proposed extension of expiring provisions of their 2017 tax law would be a major boon to billionaires in the United States, who saw their wealth skyrocket in the years following the law's enactment.
"Republicans are not thinking about regular people ever," Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) said at Tuesday's press conference. "It's about who's at the top who we can give more money to while the rest of us are scrapping around for every little bit that we can get. It's not right."
"Do not take your eye off the ball—and the ball is always the money," Balint added. "Who has the money, who's getting the money, and how are the rest of us being screwed."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Elon Musk Targets Programs for 'Poorest Children on Earth' While Getting Billions in Federal Contracts
"Elon loves corporate welfare for himself, rugged individualism for the poor," wrote a top adviser for Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Feb 12, 2025
Critics are pointing out the hypocrisy of billionaire Elon Musk's efforts to slash federal spending and personnel when he himself is a major beneficiary of the government's largesse, to the tune of over $10 billion dollars in federal contracts for his various companies over the past five years.
Meanwhile, Musk and representatives at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency—with the blessing of U.S. President Donald Trump—have infiltrated multiple federal agencies in service of carrying out punishing cuts. One DOGE's first victims was the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the single largest provider of humanitarian assistance worldwide.
The hollowing out of USAID—which aid organizations warn will have a "catastrophic impact" on children worldwide—is currently tied up in litigation. Separately, the administration has implemented a near-total freeze on foreign aid spending.
"While Elon Musk, the wealthiest man alive, is illegally denying food for the poorest children on Earth, SpaceX received another $38 million supplemental federal contract yesterday paid for by your taxes," wrote Warren Gunnels, a top adviser to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), on Wednesday.
"Elon loves corporate welfare for himself, rugged individualism for the poor," he added.
Gunnels post appears to reference reporting from the Lever, which wrote Tuesday that Musk's aerospace firm SpaceX secured "a new 'supplemental' contract dated February 10 [that] adds $7.5 million to SpaceX's NASA work... The overall transaction obligated $38 million to Musk's company, as part of its overall deal with NASA."
Meanwhile, during the first meeting of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency on Wednesday, Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) made comments in a similar vein.
"Last year, Elon Musk was promised $3 billion from close to 100 contracts with the federal government," said Casar, who went on to say that Musk makes "$8 million a day," referencing his federal contracts, while the average person in this country who receives Social Security has to make ends meet on $65 a day.
"When Republicans talk about government efficiency in this Congress, they're not looking into billionaires who don't pay their taxes, they're not looking into billionaires who get rich off of government contracts... They're looking at cutting your public schools, they're going straight for your Social Security, they're coming straight for cancer research," he said.
Casar also lambasted a draft budget resolution unveiled by House Republicans on Wednesday that calls for $4.5 trillion in tax breaks that would disproportionately benefit the wealthy, while proposing $2 trillion in cuts to Medicaid, federal nutrition assistance, and other programs.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular