Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said that the U.S. needs an economic plan that benefits “not just the very rich” but all Americans.

“The sad reality of today’s America is that, while the wealthiest people and largest corporations are doing phenomenally well, the middle class is disappearing, and millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages,” Sanders said in a statement commemorating Labor Day.

{mosads}“Congress must start listening to the needs of ordinary Americans, not just the billionaire class and their lobbyists,” he said.

Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Senate Democrats, is considering challenging former potential Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in the hopes of taking advantage of fears among party members that she is too close for comfort with Wall Street.

To that end, he spoke at an AFL-CIO breakfast hosted in Manchester, N.H., on Monday and intends to trek to Iowa in mid-September, at the same time Clinton will be there attending a steak fry hosted by retiring Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).

Sanders said the U.S. could create “millions of new jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure and dramatically improve life for low-wage workers by raising the minimum wage,” popular issues among Democratic base voters.
 
He called for trade policies that would “prevent corporations from throwing American workers out on the street and running to China for cheap labor” and tax reform so that businesses “can’t stash their profits in foreign tax havens.”
 
Sanders also urged his colleagues to pass “real campaign finance reform so that the Koch brothers and other billionaires are no longer able to buy elections.”