Sen. Bernie Sanders indicated he is in no mood to compromise with Republicans on key issues as President Biden takes office and begins to pursue his agenda.
“I don’t know what being in the middle means when half of our population is working paycheck to paycheck, when 40 million people are facing eviction, when we have massive levels of income and wealth inequality,” Sanders told NBC News.
Sanders reasoned that some issues such as climate change and poverty are too urgent for Democrats to spend “months and years” attempting to find a compromise with their Republican colleagues.
“It’s not a question of the middle, it’s a question of responding to the crises,” Sanders said. “I don’t know what the middle is when you deal with climate change — and scientists tell us we have a few years to address that crisis or else there will be irreparable harm.”
The Vermont senator’s comments come as Biden has hinted at an ambitious agenda but also stressed the need to unite the country after his bitter campaign against former President Donald Trump.
“We can join forces, stop the shouting, and lower the temperature,” Biden said during his inaugural address. “For without unity, there is no peace, only bitterness and fury. No progress, only exhausting outrage. No nation, only a state of chaos. This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge, and unity is the path forward.”
But Biden’s agenda includes items that are sure to meet Republican resistance, including an increase in the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour as part of his proposed $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill.
Biden also faces a deeply divided Congress after Republicans made big gains in the House, and the Senate stands at a 50-50 split, though Vice President Kamala Harris would have the tiebreaking vote on issues that split down party lines.
“It’s easy to be skeptical and pessimistic in this Senate,” Sen. Dick Durbin said of the equally divided chamber last month. “I hope that they give us a chance to break through and be constructive and put an end to some of the obstruction.”
