Vermont's Sanders Filibusters on Tax Deal
Updated to note end of the filibuster.
WASHINGTON (
) -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, spoke for roughly 8 hours on the Senate floor on Friday, stalling debate about President Obama's tax-cut compromise.
"You can call what i am doing today whatever you want, you it call it a filibuster, you can call it a very long speech..."
just prior to starting his speech on the Senate floor at around 11:00 am ET. He ended the speech at roughly 7:00 pm ET, according to published reports.
Sanders is against passing the legislation, which extends Bush-era tax cuts set to expire on Dec. 31 for another two years for all Americans, including the provisions for wealthy Americans that Obama had pledged during his campaign to end.
"If we pass this agreement as written, it says we are going to continue the Bush policy of trickle down economics for at least two more years, and in my mind, that is absurd," Sanders was quoted by
The Associated Press
earlier in the day.
Sanders is
hosting a live stream of his speech on his Web site
, and he also provided a brief statement of his intentions there, saying: "I'm not here to set any great records or to make a spectacle. I am simply here today to take as long as I can to explain to the American people the fact that we have got to do a lot better than this agreement provides."
President Obama announced the compromise with congressional Republicans late Monday, acknowledging he didn't like having to accept some of the GOP's demands but saying the deal needed to be made in order to keep the country's slow economic recovery moving in the right direction.
Sen. Bernard Sanders (I., Vt.) speaks to reporters about the tax compromise, Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2010, on Capitol Hill in Washington.
(AP Photo)
Many Democrats have objected to the deal on grounds it is too generous to the rich, especially its provisions cutting estate taxes for the wealthiest Americans. House Democrats voted in a closed-door meeting Thursday not to allow the package to reach the floor for a vote without changes to scale back tax relief for the rich.
The tax cuts and other provisions of the new legislation, including a temporary reduction in payroll taxes, the extension of unemployment benefits and greater leeway in writing down investments for small businesses, are projected to cost about $855 billion, according to a preliminary congressional estimate.
Meantime, former president Bill Clinton spoke out in favor of the compromise in a White House press conference.
"I think this is a good deal, and I think it's a better deal than the one we'll get if we wait until January," said Clinton, noting the Republicans' majority in Congress will kick in the new year.
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Written by Michael Baron in New York.
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Disclosure: TheStreet's editorial policy prohibits staff editors, reporters and analysts from holding positions in any individual stocks. The Associated Press contributed to this report.