伯尼·桑德斯周日回击了打电话的共和党人乔·拜登总统的联邦学生贷款免除计划不公平——桑德斯认为共和党对政府在其他领域的援助视而不见。
“当我们给亿万富翁大规模减税时，我没有听到任何共和党人的抱怨，”佛蒙特州的桑德斯说。，告诉美国广播公司“本周”主播乔治·斯特凡诺普洛斯。
“突然之间，当我们为劳动人民做一些事情时，这是一个可怕的想法，”他说。
虽然桑德斯同意拜登免除一些联邦贷款的决定-佩尔助学金获得者最高可达2万美元，个人联邦贷款获得者最高可达1万美元，收入上限均为12.5万美元-但这位立法者还表示，他将更进一步，让公立学院和大学免学费，以保持美国“在全球经济中的竞争力”。桑德斯长期以来一直在游说采取这样的举措。
拜登周三宣布了一项由三部分组成的学生贷款救助计划，他上任前就一直在考虑以某种形式实施该计划。该计划还延续了新冠肺炎暂停偿还联邦学生贷款的做法，将它推到12月，并于1月恢复支付。
在“本周”节目中，斯特凡诺普洛斯就公平和范围的论点向桑德斯施压。
“你的几位今年竞选连任的民主党同事也批评了[这项政策]，”他说，引用了那些说拜登的计划没有明确的资金支持，没有解决更大的学校负担能力问题，并忽略了没有贷款但仍然可以使用救济的人。
桑德斯同意，虽然不是每个需要帮助的人都会从贷款豁免中受益，但那些需要学生债务援助的人不应被忽视。
“也许，只是也许，我们希望有一个为所有劳动人民服务的政府，而不仅仅是为上层阶级服务的政府，”他说。
他再次呼吁提高最低工资，提供免费医疗，降低处方药的价格。
参议员伯尼·桑德斯在2022年8月28日接受美国广播公司新闻节目“本周”的乔治·斯特凡诺普洛斯采访。
美国广播公司新闻
斯特凡诺普洛斯指出，没有民主党参议院，桑德的任何提议都是不可能的，民主党参议院将在11月的中期选举中决定。桑德斯说，由于最高法院的裁决，他认为与他在大多数问题上投票的政党有“合理的机会”保留上议院在全国范围内禁止堕胎.
“我认为这个决定将会对那些认为女性没有权利控制自己身体的共和党人产生非常不好的反响，”他争辩道。
他说:“我当然希望我们在参议院获得超过50个席位，至少获得52个席位，这样我们就可以开始前进，以一种迄今为止我们还未能做到的方式保护劳动人民。”。
斯特凡诺普洛斯也问道关于证明联邦调查局搜查正当性的宣誓书本月早些时候，美国前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)在Mar-a-Lago的家，与政府称他离开白宫时带走的敏感和机密文件有关。(特朗普否认有不当行为;许多共和党人说这是一次政治攻击。)
上周晚些时候公布了一份经过编辑的宣誓书，显示美国国家档案和记录管理局(National Archives and Records Administration)在2月份从特朗普的遗产中找到了至少180份机密文件，其中一些被标为“绝密”。
“这对我来说是不可理解的，”桑德斯回应道。“但话说回来，当我们谈论特朗普总统时，有很多不可理解的事情。”
Sanders pushes back on 'Republicans squawking' over Biden's student loan forgiveness plan
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday pushed back on Republicans who calledPresident Joe Biden's federal student loan forgiveness planunfair -- with Sanders arguing the GOP turned a blind eye to government assistance in other sectors.
"I don't hear any of these Republicans squawking when we give massive tax breaks to billionaires," Sanders, I-Vt., told ABC "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos.
"Suddenly when we do something for working people, it is a terrible idea," he said.
While Sanders agreed with Biden's decision to forgive some federal loans -- up to $20,000 for Pell grant recipients and up to $10,000 for individual federal loan recipients, both with a $125,000 income cap -- the lawmaker also said he would go a step further by making public colleges and universities tuition-free to keep the U.S. "competitive in the global economy." Sanders has long lobbied for such a move.
Biden on Wednesday announced a three-part student loan relief plan, which he had been considering in some form since before he took office. The program also continues the COVID-19 pause on federal student loans repayments, pushing it through December, with payments resuming in January.
On "This Week," Stephanopoulos pressed Sanders on the arguments of fairness and scope.
“Several of your Democratic colleagues who are up for reelection this year have criticized [the policy] as well,” he said, citing those who say Biden's plan isn't clearly funded, doesn't address larger school affordability issues and left out people without loans who could still use relief.
Sanders agreed that while not everyone who needs help will benefit from the loan forgiveness, those in need of assistance with student debt should not be ignored.
"Maybe, just maybe, we want to have a government that works for all working people and not just the people on top," he said.
He renewed his longstanding calls to raise the minimum wage, provide free health care and lower the cost of prescription drugs.
Stephanopoulos pointed out that none of Sander's proposals will be possible without a Democratic Senate, which will be decided in November's midterms. Sanders said he thinks the party -- with whom he votes on most issues -- has a "reasonable chance" of retaining the upper chamber due to the Supreme Court's rulingstriking down nationwide abortion access.
"I think that decision is going to reverberate very poorly for Republicans who think that women do not have a right to control their own bodies," he contended.
"I certainly hope we get more than 50 [seats] in the Senate, that we get at least 52, so we can start going forward and protecting working people in a way we have not been able to do up to now," he said.
Stephanopoulos also askedabout the affidavit used to justify the FBI searchof former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home earlier this month in relation to sensitive and classified documents that the government says he took with him when he left the White House. (Trump denies wrongdoing; many Republicans say it is a political attack.)
A redacted copy of the affidavit was released late last week and shows that at least 180 classified documents were recovered from Trump’s estate by the National Archives and Records Administration in February, some of which were labeled as "top secret."
"It's just incomprehensible to me," Sanders said in response. "But then again, when we talk about President Trump, there's a lot of incomprehensible things."
