Bernie Sanders: I Oppose The Bloated NDAA Budget

As a nation, the time is long overdue for fundamental changes to our national priorities.

by Bernie Sanders, The Guardian

The US Senate is now debating an $886bn defense authorization bill. Unless there are major changes to the bill, I intend to vote against it. Here’s why.

As everyone knows, our country faces enormous crises.

As a result of climate change our planet is experiencing unprecedented and rising temperatures. Along with the rest of the world, we need to make major investments to transform our energy system away from fossil fuels and into more efficient and sustainable energy sources, or the life we leave our kids and future generations will become increasingly unhealthy and precarious.

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, who is campaigning for a 2020 presidential bid, speaks to supporters at Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday March 23, 2019, Los Angeles, Calif.

Our healthcare system is broken. While the insurance companies and the pharmaceutical industry make hundreds of billions in profit, 85 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured, our life expectancy is declining, and we have a massive shortage of doctors, nurses, mental health practitioners and dentists.