Bernie Sanders Calls GOP Tax Reform Senate Passage 'Highway Robbery’

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, in a video posted on his official Twitter page Wednesday, described the passage of the tax reform by Republicans in the Senate as “highway robbery.”

With regards to the tax reform passage, Sanders could be heard saying in the video: “Today in an unprecedented manner we are witnessing highway robbery in broad daylight and a looting of the federal Treasury.”

Sanders then said that this tax reform passage is a “victory” for the contributors of the Republican campaigns who will be receiving massive tax breaks as federal deficits rose by $1.5 million.

He also went ahead to state the names of big corporate conglomerates like Apple, Microsoft, Pfizer, and General Electric, which he said, were also the victors from this tax reform. According to Sanders, these conglomerates, regardless of their “record-breaking profits,” will receive a huge amount of money due to tax breaks.

He spoke of the fact that as of this moment, the U.S. is going through a time which is seeing massive inequality in wealth and income and where the “very rich are becoming richer” and “most Americans are becoming poorer.”

According to a report in the BBC, the Senate on Tuesday approved the tax cut and reform bill which is said to represent one of the biggest overhauls in the tax system in three decades. The report stated that The House of Representatives approved the bill with ease as the Republicans are in majority on both the houses of the Congress.

Vice-President Mike Pence presided over the voting and also announced the results. He reportedly said, “On this vote, the ayes are 51, the nays are 48. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is passed.”

However, protests also emerged in the Senate’s public gallery where people shouted slogans which said, “Kill the bill.” They were escorted out, said the report.

The bill will go for a final approval to the House Wednesday.

President Donald Trump also took to Twitter celebrating the passage of the bill. He also took attacked the ObamaCare policy and called it a “terrible individual mandate.”

In the video, Sanders said, “Huge tax breaks for billionaires, higher taxes for millions of middle-class families.”

He added, “Nobody, except Republican campaign contributors, thinks that that makes any sense at all.”

Sanders also talked about the priorities set by the Republicans by stating that the tax breaks given to the big corporations are permanent in nature while the same provided to the middle-class families are “temporary and expire” after eight years.

In the latest report by The Hill, the Senate approved the tax-cut bill in a vote Wednesday, resulting in Trump getting closer to his first big legislative victory. The bill was approved in a 51-48 vote, the report said.

The House of Representatives has to vote again Wednesday to get the bill to the White House due to a ruling which stated that the two provisions in the bill did not comply with the rules of the budget which the Republicans are making use of to prevent the Democrats from challenging the bill.