Sanders: We Must ‘Transform our Energy System’ to Solve Climate, $3.5 Trillion Bill’s Framework Says U.S. Leads World in Dealing with Climate

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-VT) stated that if we don’t “transform our energy system,” climate change will get worse, and that the $3.5 trillion spending bill has a framework that says the U.S. “will lead the world in dealing with the enormous threat to our country and the planet in terms of climate change.”

Sanders said that part of the bill’s framework is about saying that “the United States will lead the world in dealing with the enormous threat to our country and the planet in terms of climate change.”

Host Wolf Blitzer then asked, “Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia…he says he is, and I’m quoting him now, ‘very, very disturbed’ by provisions in the deal, he believes, that would eliminate fossil fuels, that’s a point you’re making. Are those provisions on the table if it means getting Manchin to support the whole package?”

Sanders responded, “Well, let me tell you, when you’re dealing with a bill as big as this, and with 50 senators from states all over this country, a lot of people are disturbed about a lot of things. There’s a lot of work that has to be done. But my own view is, climate change, I mean, we’re seeing what’s going on in the west coast of this country right now. And everything being equal, if we don’t get our act together and transform our energy system, what you’re seeing on the west coast, what you’re seeing, flooding in Detroit, in New York, it’s only going to get worse. So, we have to become very aggressive about combatting climate change. Obviously, we have to work with all 50 Democratic senators to pass this bill.”

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