Friends -

In the next several months, with your help, we have the opportunity to make enormous progress in addressing the unprecedented set of crises facing working people in our country. And, as the new Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, I intend to be very active in that struggle.

Through a Senate process called "reconciliation" we can pass two major pieces of legislation which will appropriate trillions of dollars. The first bill will address the short-term emergency problems facing the working class of this country because of the pandemic. The second bill will deal with the long-term structural problems we face.

Given the reality that Democrats have only a one-vote margin in the Senate, the tie-breaking vote of the Vice President, passing these pieces of legislation will not be easy. So in this letter, I want to explain to you what reconciliation is, what is possible through this process, and then ask you to take action to make your voice heard as this debate begins.

The truth is, we are at a moment in time where this country is facing more simultaneous crises than at any point in modern history. We have a global pandemic which has claimed the lives of more than 450,000 people. We have an economic crisis that has left millions unemployed, with many facing hunger and eviction. Meanwhile, more than 90 million of our people are uninsured or underinsured. Systemic racism is eating away at the fabric of our society, comprehensive immigration reform is long overdue, and on top of all of that, climate change threatens to make our planet uninhabitable for future generations.

So given all that we face, now is not the time to think small. This is the time to think big. Very big.

Reconciliation gives us that opportunity. And as the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, we have a critical role in this process.

So what is reconciliation?

Reconciliation is a process that allows legislation to pass with a simple majority in the Senate and is not subject to a filibuster. Normally, Congress only gets one chance to pass a reconciliation bill each year, but because Congress did not pass a budget in 2020, that means we get two reconciliation bills this year.

The first reconciliation bill will deal with COVID relief. This week, I introduced a $1.9 trillion Budget Resolution allowing the Senate to provide critical relief to working people. After Tuesday's vote to proceed with the resolution, members of the Senate will debate what's in the resolution before voting on final passage.

And what this legislation would do is provide $1,400 in direct payments for every working person and their children. The $600 direct payment passed in December was not enough. We need to boost it to $2,000 for every working class adult and their kids. This legislation will also extend unemployment benefits with a $300 supplement for those out of work through September of this year. It will provide much needed aid for state and local governments struggling with massive budget shortfalls. It will greatly expand the Child Tax credit to substantially reduce child poverty. It will provide health care support for those struggling to afford care or who have lost their jobs. It will increase funding for nutrition programs for those struggling with food insecurity. It includes funding for homeless assistance and to help more than 16 million K-12 students who live in households without the internet, and it will provide funding to get kids back in the classroom. It will expand COVID testing, and it will help us get the vaccine in more arms which we need to help our country return to “normal.” And it will take the long overdue step of raising the minimum wage to a living wage of $15 an hour.

All good stuff. All critical.

Now, you have probably heard a number of Republicans moaning and groaning that Democrats are threatening to go at this alone without bipartisan support.

Many of them have very short memories.

Let us not forget that Republicans passed a $2 trillion tax cut for the wealthiest people in this country via reconciliation, and they did it without a single Democratic vote. They also tried to take away health care from millions of people in this country via reconciliation without a single Democratic vote, as well.

We are going to use reconciliation in a different way — one that helps the American people.

So, of course I want to work with Republicans in this process, and I would hope a number of them come along and recognize the incredible pain millions of families are experiencing. But we are not going to wait around for months and months to go from 51 votes to 53 votes, especially when so many people need help so desperately and they need it right now.

But we cannot stop there.

In the second reconciliation bill we must deal with the structural changes our country desperately needs by passing a number of programs that enjoy the overwhelming support of the American people.

We must end the international embarrassment of the United States being the only major country on earth not to provide paid family and medical leave to workers.

We must create millions of good-paying jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, constructing affordable housing and modernizing our schools.

We must lead the world in combating the existential threat of climate change by making massive investments in wind, solar, geothermal, electric vehicles, weatherization and energy storage.

We must make public colleges, universities, trade schools and HBCUs tuition-free and forcefully address the outrageous levels of student debt for working families in this country.

We have got to be bold in terms of jobs, health care, nutrition, education, racial justice, immigration, criminal justice reform, housing, climate change, and many other important issues. We must continue our collective struggle to create a government that works for all of us, not just the 1%.

Will this be easy?

Like I said, of course it will not be easy.

This is a process that will require massive amounts of public education and activism to get the job done.

And my intention is to mobilize the people that powered our presidential campaign in order to get it done. We are going to use the tools we deployed for voter contact to help win an election and put them to work educating and mobilizing our friends and our neighbors. But I cannot do that alone:

Can you make a $2.70 contribution to help us build the kind of organizing effort we’ll need to convince my colleagues in the Senate to pass reconciliation bills that will forcefully address the needs of our people during this unique moment in American history?

The hard truth is it’s not just Republicans who stand in our way. There may be some Democrats who oppose these basic human needs, even widely popular legislation to raise the minimum wage. But if we all make our voices heard, I think we can get a lot done over the course of the next few months.

We can transform this country.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders

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