Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is pushing back hard against President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans over their push to boost military spending by $150 billion, saying the money would be better spent on affordable housing and helping working Americans.
“Wages are stagnant. Housing costs are soaring,” Sanders wrote on X on May 15. “Many young people will never be able to afford their own homes, but Trump wants to increase the bloated military budget by $150 billion. WRONG. That money should go toward building the affordable housing that we desperately need.”
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Sanders: Wealthiest Americans Reap Benefits While Workers Struggle
The Pentagon funding boost is part of a larger Republican budget plan that Sanders says overwhelmingly favors the richest Americans and big corporations at the expense of working families. In separate remarks on the Senate floor on May 13, Sanders blasted the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” backed by Trump, calling it a “death sentence” for millions of Americans.
According to Sanders, the bill gives a $235 billion estate tax break to the top 0.2% of Americans while cutting $715 billion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. “This legislation would provide a $420 billion tax break to large, profitable corporations that are stashing their profits in the Cayman Islands and other offshore tax havens and who, by the way, are replacing American workers with robots,” he said on May 13.
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He warned the cuts would strip health insurance from over 13.7 million people and gut funding for programs like education, nutrition and Planned Parenthood.
“This legislation makes the rich and wealthy campaign contributors even richer while making life harder and more stressful for the working families of our country,” Sanders said.
Workers Falling Behind as Productivity Rises
Sanders has also drawn attention to what he calls a decades-long economic injustice: rising productivity without rising wages.
“American workers are angry. Despite increased worker productivity, inflation-adjusted wages are lower today than they were 52 years ago,” he posted on X earlier this month. “At the same time, there was a huge transfer of wealth from the bottom 90% to the top 1%. The status quo is NOT working. We need real change.”
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A report from the Economic Policy Institute backs up Sanders' claim, showing that while productivity has jumped 86.5% since 1979, hourly pay has only grown by 31.7%. The report blames policy decisions that have weakened unions and shifted wealth away from workers.
Health Impacts of Inequality
Sanders also raised alarm over a growing gap in life expectancy. According to a March Senate report, Americans in the wealthiest counties live significantly longer than those in poorer ones. In Loudoun County, Virginia, life expectancy is 84 years. In McDowell County, West Virginia, it's just 69 years.
“Stress kills,” Sanders said. “The massive income and wealth inequality that exists in America today is not just an economic issue, it is literally a matter of life and death.”
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