Bernie Sanders Speaks at 2024 Democratic National Convention

Thank you. Thank you. My fellow Americans, it is an honor-

Bernie, Bernie, Bernie, Bernie, Bernie, Bernie, Bernie, Bernie.

It is an honor to be with you tonight because we’re laying the groundwork for Kamala Harris to become our next president. And let me tell you why that is so important. I want you all to remember where we were three and a half years ago. We were in the midst of the worst public health crisis in a hundred years and the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. 3,000 Americans were dying every day and our hospitals were overwhelmed with COVID patients. All across the country, businesses were shutting down. Unemployment was soaring. Workers were losing their health insurance. Schools were closing, state and city budgets were running out of money. People were being evicted from their homes. Children in America were going hungry. That was the reality the Biden-Harris administration faced as they entered the Oval Office, a nation suffering, a nation frightened, and people looking to their government for support and within two months of taking office, our government did respond.

(02:26)
We passed the American Rescue Plan, which provided $1,400 for every man, woman, and child in the working class. We extended and expanded benefits for the unemployed. We provided emergency assistance for small businesses to stay open. We guaranteed healthcare coverage to tens of millions of Americans through one of the largest expansions of Medicaid in history. We provided rent relief and mortgage assistance, which prevented tenants and homeowners from being evicted. We established emergency food programs for hungry children and the elderly, and protected the pensions of millions of union workers and retirees from being slashed by up to 65%. Oh, and by the way, we cut childhood poverty by over 40% through an expanded Childhood Tax Credit. Thank you, President Biden. Thank you, vice President Harris. Thank you, Democratic Congress.

(04:11)
Now, I say all of this not to relive that difficult moment, but to make one simple point, when the political will is there, government can effectively deliver for the people of our country. And now we need to summon that will again, because too many of our fellow Americans are struggling every day to just get by, to put food on the table, to pay the rent, and to get the healthcare they need. Brothers and sisters, bottom line, we need an economy that works for all of us, not just the billionaire class. My fellow Americans, when 60% of our people live paycheck to paycheck, the top 1% have never ever had it so good. And these oligarchs, these oligarchs tell us we shouldn’t tax the rich, the oligarchs tell us we shouldn’t take on price gouging, we shouldn’t expand Medicare to cover dental, hearing and vision, and we shouldn’t. Social security benefits for struggling seniors.

(06:05)
Well, I’ve got some bad news for them. That is precisely what we are going to do. And we’re going to win this struggle because this is precisely what the American people want from their government. And my friends, at the very top of that to-do list is the need to get big money out of our political process. Billionaires in both parties should not be able to buy elections, including primary elections. For the sake of our democracy, we must overturn the disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision and move toward public funding of elections. And let me tell you what else we must do, we need to join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee healthcare to all people as a human right, not a privilege.

(07:59)
We need to raise the minimum wage to a living wage. We need to pass the PRO Act so that workers can organize an union and gain the decent pay and benefits they deserve. We need to strengthen public education, raise teachers’ salaries, and make sure that every American, regardless of income, receives the higher education he or she needs. We need to take on big Pharma and cut our prescription drug cost in half so that we no longer pay any more than other countries. Joe and Kamala made sure that no senior in America pays over $35 a month for insulin. We need to make sure that reality is true for every American. I look forward to working with Kamala and Tim to pass this agenda.

(09:33)
And let us be very clear, this is not a radical agenda. But let me tell you what a radical agenda is, and that is Trump’s Project 2025. At a time of massive income and wealth inequality, giving more tax breaks to billionaires is radical. Putting forth budgets to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid is radical. Letting polluters destroy our planet is radical. And my friends, we won’t let that happen.

(10:32)
Fellow Americans, in the last three and a half years working together we have accomplished more than any government since FDR, but much, much more remains to be done. We must summon the courage to stand up to wealth and power and deliver justice for people at home and abroad. Abroad, we must end this horrific war in Gaza, bring home the hostages and demand an immediate ceasefire. At home right here, we must take on big Pharma, big oil, big ag, big tech, and all the other corporate monopolists whose greed is denying progress for working people. On November 5th, let us elect Kamala Harris as our president and let us go forward to create the nation we know we can become. Thank you all very much.