Sanders May Bring His Populist Brand to Powerful Senate Finance Committee

By Caitlin Reilly, CQ-Roll Call (TNS)

Big corporations and upper-income households could soon be “feeling the Bern,” as unabashed progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on Wednesday hinted at throwing his hat in the ring for the soon-to-be-open Senate Finance Committee seat.

Sanders, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, is a vocal critic of Wall Street and corporate America and has pushed to expand entitlements like Medicare and Social Security, make college free and cut drug prices while raising taxes to lofty new heights. Sanders is the most senior senator caucusing with Democrats eligible to join the committee without a waiver, possibly giving him an edge should he pursue the seat.

“I do have some interest in it, yeah,” Sanders said Wednesday of the Finance opening, which will become available with next month’s resignation of Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J.

Sanders’ expansive view of government and populist bent would add backup to voices on the Finance panel such as Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who’ve pushed similar policies. The influential committee, with jurisdiction over tax policy, trade, health care, Social Security and safety net programs for the poor, is getting set for a major revamp of tax laws in 2025. And progressive advocates are already pushing for Menendez’s replacement on Finance to be sufficiently dedicated to the cause.

“Wall Street has more than its fair share of advocates on the Senate Finance Committee; the American people deserve a fighter of their own,” Morris Pearl, chair of Patriotic Millionaires, said in a statement Tuesday after Menendez announced his resignation.

Still churning out hits

Sanders currently chairs the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and holds seats on the Budget, Energy and Natural Resources, Environment and Public Works, and Veterans’ Affairs committees. He’d have to trim his involvement on those panels, but could still retain his slot as HELP chairman, or ranking member if Republicans take the majority.

The 82-year-old liberal firebrand doesn’t take corporate political action committee funds, unlike most of his colleagues. And he’s not shy about taking a swing at the managers of those corporate PACs through far-reaching legislative proposals, which became familiar as part of his 2020 presidential bid. And he’s continued to pump out left-leaning measures at a rapid clip in this Congress.

Sanders has introduced 11 bills since the start of last year that were referred to the Finance Committee, including legislation that would restore the corporate tax rate to 35% and end favorable tax treatment of assets held offshore; increase rates on companies with CEO compensation that tops that of the median worker by more than 50 to 1; impose a tax on financial transactions; and tax estates valued more than $1 billion at 65%.

He’s got a bill to impose a windfall profits tax of up to 95% on some of the largest and most well-known corporations, specifically citing oil-and-gas giant Chevron Corp., Amazon.com Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Warren Buffett’s holding company Berkshire Hathaway Inc., among other big companies, in his summary materials. Another bill would repeal virtually every federal subsidy in the tax code or otherwise for fossil fuel producers.

Another bill would require Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices the same way the Department of Veterans Affairs does, saving hundreds of billions of dollars that Sanders would redistribute to add vision, hearing and dental benefits under Medicare. He’s reintroduced his signature legislation to make Medicare available to all Americans, and his Social Security expansion bill would jack up taxes on individuals earning above $250,000—a violation of the current administration’s pledge to protect households earning less than $400,000 from tax increases.

Small pool of candidates

Democrats favor seniority when filling committee seats, but limit senators to serving on only one of the three most coveted panels: Appropriations, Armed Services and Finance. The party also limits membership on those committees to only one senator per state, though it’s possible to waive both rules.

That leaves a relatively small pool of senators eligible to fill the seat without a waiver. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., would be eligible, though Sanders outranks him on seniority. Booker would maintain New Jersey’s representation on the committee, but could run into some trouble with progressive activists.

The financial services sector is well-represented among Booker’s top career campaign contributors, according to data compiled by OpenSecrets, as well as law firms, Big Tech, The Walt Disney Co. and Stanford University, his alma mater. Among Booker’s top 20 lifetime donors are employees of Goldman Sachs, Apollo Global Management, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Henry Crown & Co. and Morgan Stanley.

Booker’s not exactly a corporate shill, however: ProgressivePunch, a left-leaning outfit, ranks him the ninth most liberal senator in terms of his lifetime voting record, outranking even Sanders, at 17th—though Sanders has a lengthier record to pick apart.

While Booker backs relief from the $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions given his high-tax state, which would benefit wealthier households, he’s also a proponent of expanded tax credits for the working poor and for low-income families with children.

He also opposed the 2017 tax rate cuts that accrued to upper-income households, and during his own 2020 presidential campaign Booker backed eliminating the tax advantage for investment income by raising rates on capital gains and dividends.

Booker declined to comment on Wednesday, but didn’t rule out making a push for the Menendez slot on Finance, which ultimately will be decided by the Democratic Caucus. “I’m not going to discuss my committee choices when I’m still discussing them with leadership,” he said.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., another name with significant seniority, took herself out of the running earlier this week. But her home-state colleague Tina Smith also could be a candidate.

“I’m gonna let that play out as it plays out within the Senate process,” Smith, D-Minn., said.

— Sandhya Raman contributed to this report.

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