Sanders: Republicans are acting like bullies on debt ceiling

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Monday Republicans were using the debt-ceiling debate to blackmail Democrats into forgoing tax increases on the wealthy as a tool toward balancing the budget. 

“Let us make it very clear that we will not be blackmailed … by the Republican leadership in Washington who are threatening to destroy the full faith and credit of the United States,” said Sanders. 

“That is their threat,” he said, adding that “Republicans here in Washington are acting like schoolyard bullies.”

Sanders, who spoke for nearly 90 minutes on the Senate floor on Monday afternoon, also encouraged President Obama to stand up against “extreme” Republican demands. 

“Instead of yielding to the incessant, extreme Republican demands … the president has got to get out of the beltway,” said Sanders. “He has to connect with the needs of working families and ordinary Americans.”

Sanders delivered his lengthy oration from the Senate floor in part to argue for the need to raise taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations, as well as to highlight a letter he wrote to Obama on the same subject. 

The Senate adjourned shortly after Sanders’s speech, and is set to return Tuesday at 10 a.m.