Two Hours of Tax Bill Complaints: Dem Senator Denounces Deal on Senate Floor

ABC News’ Matthew Jaffe reports: Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, who has vowed to filibuster the tax bill, today spent two hours on the Senate floor railing against the compromise deal. “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,” Sanders said at the start of his speech. He took to the floor at 10:24a. At the two-hour mark, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-OH, another opponent of the bill, ended Sanders’ lengthy stint on the floor.  Sanders today denounced the tax bill as “a bad deal for the American people” and promised to “take a strong stand” against it. His main beef is that the deal will extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars to the nation’s already-soaring deficit.  “How can I get by on one house?” Sanders said. “I need five houses, ten houses! I need three jet planes to take me all over the world! Sorry, American people. We’ve got the money, we’ve got the power, we’ve got the lobbyists here and on Wall Street. Tough luck. That’s the world, get used to it. Rich get richer. Middle class shrinks.” Sanders said his office has received over 5,000 calls and emails against the tax bill agreement. “Vote against this agreement because it is driving up the national debt and it is doing so by giving tax breaks to millionaires that don’t really need them,” he implored his fellow senators. Despite the opposition of Sanders, a handful of Republicans, and an even greater number of Democrats, the bill is still expected to pass the Senate next week. Sen. Harry Reid announced last night that the first procedural vote on the bill will take place Monday at 3p.