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Sanders tells new Democratic Congress to tax billionaires, pause AI and end Iran war
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday laid out what he says the incoming Democratic majority in Congress must do in January, from a 5% wealth tax on billionaires to a national moratorium on AI data centers. In a 16-minute video, he also called for ending the Iran war, cutting off funding for Israel's government and shrinking the $1.1 trillion Pentagon budget.
Sen. Bernie Sanders has handed the incoming Democratic majority in Congress a sweeping to-do list. In a roughly 16-minute video titled "Bernie Explains What's Next After the Midterms," posted to his YouTube channel on Thursday and also published as an essay by Common Dreams, the Vermont independent said winning both chambers on Tuesday was "a big deal" but "not enough."
"On Tuesday, Trump told us to vote as if he were on the ballot. And that is exactly what the American people did," Sanders said. He cited an AP poll in which, he said, 80% of registered voters want either "complete and total upheaval" or "substantial change" in how the country is run.
In this clip, Sanders says Democrats must enact a 5% wealth tax on billionaires and use the money to give every working-class family of four a $12,000 direct payment, or $3,000 for each person. The same tax, he says, could build 7 million units of low-income and affordable housing, make public colleges and universities tuition-free and provide universal free child care for 13 million children.
"Billionaires buying elections"
Sanders said the top 1% now owns more wealth than the bottom 93%, and accused Elon Musk "and his billionaire friends" of pouring a record $2 billion into the election. He called on Congress to overturn Citizens United and abolish super PACs.
His push comes as a state test of the idea stumbled. In California, Proposition 40, a one-time 5% levy on the net worth of residents worth more than $1 billion, was trailing 56% to 44% with votes still being counted, CNBC reported. Sanders had rallied for the measure.
Sanders saved some of his starkest warnings for artificial intelligence, which he called "the most transformational technology in the history of humanity."
Here Sanders says Democrats must enact a national moratorium on AI data centers, pause advanced AI development and ban superintelligence. Left unchecked, he argues, AI and robotics will destroy tens of millions of jobs, harm children's mental health, drive up electricity rates and strain water supplies. He noted that citizens in dozens of communities voted on Tuesday for moratoriums on building data centers.
Sanders introduced the Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act in March with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, though most lawmakers in both parties rejected the idea at the time, according to WCAX.
Medicare at 55 as a "first step"
On health care, Sanders said Medicare for All now has the support of 66% of Americans. As an immediate first step, he wants Democrats to lower the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 55, add dental, vision and hearing coverage, and guarantee coverage for every child through age 19. He is expected to chair the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in the new Congress, The Hill reported.
He also called for a federal minimum wage of at least $20 an hour and for applying the Social Security payroll tax to all income above $250,000.
"End this disastrous war"
Sanders reserved his harshest words for the Pentagon, saying the U.S. spends more on its military than the next six countries combined and that the department has repeatedly failed independent audits.
"Trump has dragged us into an illegal and unconstitutional war in Iran that will cost hundreds of billions of dollars," Sanders says in this clip. "We must end this disastrous war." The war has become a political liability for Republicans, and top administration figures, including Vice President JD Vance, have blamed it for the party's midterm losses.
Sanders also urged Democrats to rein in the $75 billion Republicans gave Trump for immigration enforcement and to pass comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship.
In this clip, Sanders says Democrats "must cut off all funding for the genocidal government in Israel" and substantially reduce military spending. Instead of "pouring $1.1 trillion into a bloated Pentagon and never-ending wars," he says, a Democratic Congress should build the best public education system in the world, with no teacher earning less than $60,000 a year. In September 2025, Sanders became the first sitting U.S. senator to describe Israel's campaign in Gaza as genocide.
Sanders insisted his agenda is "not radical" but "precisely what a strong majority of the American people want." Democrats take control of both chambers in January, but President Donald Trump keeps his veto, which could limit how much of the plan becomes law.
Videos: Bernie Sanders / YouTube via Clash Report. Photos: Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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