Sanders to Campaign for Budget Proposal in Indiana

Sen. Bernie Sanders next week will visit Republican strongholds in Indiana and Iowa to rally support for the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation proposal. Sanders, who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, will host town halls in congressional districts where Donald Trump increased his vote total between 2016 and 2020. 

“Within the next several months Congress will be voting on the most consequential piece of legislation for working people, the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor since Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal of the 1930s,” Sanders said. “While it will have no Republican support in Washington, Democrats, Independents and working class Republicans all over the country support our plan to finally invest in the long-neglected needs of working families. I very much look forward to hearing from some of them.” 

The Democrats’ budget proposal touches nearly every aspect of American life. If passed, the legislation will ask the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share of taxes, extend the historic expansion of the Child Tax Credit, guarantee free pre-k for all three- and four-year olds, ensure no family pays more than 7 percent for child care, make community college tuition-free, combat the existential threat of climate change, create millions of good-paying jobs, make housing more affordable, expand Medicare to lower the eligibility age and cover eyeglasses, hearing aids and dental care, and make home care more affordable, among many other things.

A recent poll by Data for Progress found support from across the political spectrum for the $3.5 trillion package broadly and the policies in the proposal specifically. 

In 2020, Trump won Indiana by over 16 points and increased his statewide vote total by more than 170,000 votes, including an increase of nearly 30,000 in the 4th Congressional District. Similarly, on his way to victory in Iowa, Trump’s vote total increased by nearly 100,000 statewide and by more than 20,000 in the state’s 1st Congressional District. Both states are represented by two Republican senators, and each congressional district is represented by a Republican.

Here is the itinerary:Friday, August 276:00 p.m. EDT Town Hall with Bernie SandersTippecanoe County Amphitheater Park, 4449 IN-43, West Lafayette, IN 47906Press interested in covering this event must RSVP