Sanders: ‘I think we did everything we could’ to stop tax bill

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said lawmakers “did everything that we could” regarding the Republican tax overhaul, which Democrats spent weeks fighting. 

“Well, I think we did everything that we could,” Sanders told CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Sanders described the GOP legislation as a “massive attack on the middle class,” countering Republicans’ argument that the bill will help middle-class families through tax cuts.

{mosads}The Vermont senator’s comments come after Republicans on Friday revealed the final version of their tax bill from the House-Senate conference committee. The bill cuts the top individual rate from 39.6 percent to 37 percent and also slashes the corporate tax rate from 35 to 21 percent.

Sanders blamed the resulting legislation on the “priorities” of the individuals who wrote the bill. 

“Why weren’t the tax breaks for the middle class made permanent?” Sanders asked during the interview. “Because it has to do with the priorities of the folks who wrote that legislation.”

Those priorities are “multinational corporations and not working families,” Sanders said.

Both chambers are expected to vote on the final bill this week in an effort to send the legislation to President Trump before the Christmas holiday.

“The Democrats have their sound bite, the standard sound bite before they even know what the bill is all about. They talk about ‘for the wealthy,’ ” Trump told reporters Saturday.

“But this is going to be one of the greatest gifts for the middle-income people of this country that they’ve ever gotten for Christmas,” he said.