II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 818 

To expand the middle class, reduce the gap between the rich and the poor, 

keep our promises to veterans, lower the poverty rate, and reduce the 

Federal deficit by repealing tax breaks for the wealthiest one percent 

and eliminating unnecessary Cold War era defense spending, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 8, 2007 

Mr. SANDERS introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To expand the middle class, reduce the gap between the 

rich and the poor, keep our promises to veterans, lower 

the poverty rate, and reduce the Federal deficit by repealing tax breaks for the wealthiest one percent and 

eliminating unnecessary Cold War era defense spending, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Priorities Act 

5 of 2007’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 The Senate finds the following: 

3 (1) The United States has the highest rate of 

4 poverty and the highest rate of childhood poverty 

5 among 17 major countries in the Organization for 

6 Economic Cooperation and Development, including 

7 Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Can8 ada, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, 

9 Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, 

10 and Switzerland. 

11 (2) 36,950,000 Americans are living in poverty, 

12 an increase of 5,400,000 since 2000. 

13 (3) 12,896,000 children in the United States 

14 under the age of 18 lived in poverty in 2005, and 

15 the number of children living in extreme poverty 

16 rose by 87,000 from 2004 to 2005. 

17 (4) In 2005, an estimated 33 percent of the 

18 homeless population were children and an estimated 

19 1,350,000 children will experience homelessness in a 

20 year. 

21 (5) The number of uninsured Americans rose to 

22 46,577,000 in 2005, 1,272,000 more than in the 

23 previous year, and the number of Americans without 

24 health insurance has risen for 4 consecutive years. 

25 (6) The United States Government must pro26 vide the funding necessary to ensure that our NaVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:13 Mar 10, 2007 Jkt 059196 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S818.IS S818

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1 tion’s veterans receive the health care and other ben2 efits they deserve and have earned in a timely fash3 ion. 

4 (7) Millions of middle class American families 

5 are finding it increasingly difficult to afford the es6 calating cost of a college education with average tui7 tion and other costs increasing by more than $4,300 

8 at 4-year public universities and over $8,000 at 4- 

9 year private colleges since 2001. 

10 (8) The Surgeon General of the United States 

11 has reported that tooth decay has become the single 

12 most common chronic childhood disease—5 times 

13 more common than asthma and 7 times more com14 mon than hay fever. 

15 (9) Surveys have shown that dental problems 

16 cause children to miss more than 51,000,000 hours 

17 of school and adults to miss more than 164,000,000 

18 hours of work each year. 

19 (10) In 42 States, child care fees are higher 

20 than tuition at a 4-year public university. 

21 (11) Seriously investing in renewable energy, 

22 energy efficient appliances, public transit, and high 

23 speed rail would create millions of decent-paying 

24 jobs, reduce our dependence on dirty fossil fuels, and 

25 reduce global warming. 


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1 (12) The Department of Defense’s increasingly 

2 large budget provides for total defense spending that 

3 is greater than that of the other 192 countries in the 

4 world combined. 

5 (13) The Government Accountability Office es6 timated in 2003 that the Department of Defense 

7 could not account for over $1,000,000,000,000 in 

8 funds appropriated to the Department of Defense. 

9 (14) The United States has the largest gap be10 tween the rich and the poor of any major industri11 alized country. 

12 (15) The wealthiest 400 Americans saw their 

13 combined net worth increase by $120,000,000,000 

14 from 2004 to 2005. 

15 (16) The richest 400 Americans have a com16 bined net worth of $1,250,000,000,000 equaling the 

17 annual income of over 45 percent of the entire 

18 world’s population or 2,500,000,000 people. Of the 

19 world’s 793 billionaires, over 400 are Americans. In 

20 1989, we only had 66 billionaires in this country. 

21 (17) According to a December 2006 report by 

22 the Congressional Budget Office, the average after23 tax income of the richest 1 percent of households 

24 rose from $722,000 in 2003 to $868,000 in 2004, 

25 after adjusting for inflation, a one-year increase of 


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1 nearly $146,000, or 20 percent. This represents the 

2 largest increase in 15 years, measured both in per3 centage terms and in real dollars. 

4 (18) Median household income for working age 

5 families has declined for 5 years in a row. 

6 (19) During the presidency of George W. Bush, 

7 the United States has experienced the 3 largest Fed8 eral deficits in history, and the national debt has 

9 skyrocketed, attributable in large part to tax breaks 

10 to the wealthiest 1 percent. 

11 (20) The United States has a moral responsi12 bility to expand the middle class, reduce the gap be13 tween the rich and the poor, keep our promises to 

14 veterans, lower the poverty rate, and reduce the 

15 Federal deficit by repealing tax breaks for the 

16 wealthiest 1 percent and eliminating waste, fraud, 

17 and abuse at the Pentagon. 

18 SEC. 3. RECISION OF 2001–2004 TAX CUTS FOR TOP ONE 

19 PERCENT OF INCOME EARNERS. 

20 With respect to any individual whose gross income 

21 for taxable year 2008 exceeds $400,000— 

22 (1) section 901(a)(1) of the Economic Growth 

23 and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (relating 

24 to sunset of provisions of Act) shall be applied by 

25 substituting ‘‘after December 31, 2007, and before 


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1 January 1, 2009’’ for ‘‘after December 31, 2010’’, 

2 and 

3 (2) section 303 of the Jobs and Growth Tax 

4 Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 (relating to sunset 

5 of title) shall be applied by substituting ‘‘after De6 cember 31, 2007’’ for ‘‘after December 31, 2008’’. 

7 The Secretary of the Treasury shall provide such forms 

8 as necessary to carry out the purposes of this section. 

9 SEC. 4. REDUCTION IN WASTE, FRAUD, AND ABUSE AT THE 

10 PENTAGON. 

11 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, Federal 

12 funding appropriated for the Department of Defense for 

13 fiscal year 2008 shall be reduced by $60,000,000,000. The 

14 Secretary of Defense is authorized to make such reduc15 tions by eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse, and weapon 

16 systems and other programs that are determined not to 

17 be a priority for current national security needs since the 

18 end of the Cold War. None of these reductions shall be 

19 made that harm the basic needs of United States military 

20 personnel or their quality of life, including necessary pay 

21 increases and health care. 


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1 SEC. 5. EXPANSION OF INVESTMENTS FOR MIDDLE CLASS, 

2 VETERANS, SENIOR CITIZENS ON FIXED IN3 COME, AND LOW-INCOME FAMILIES WITH 

4 CHILDREN, AND DEFICIT REDUCTION. 

5 From amounts made available under sections 3 and 

6 4, for fiscal year 2008— 

7 (1) $575,000,000 shall be made available for 

8 consolidated health centers under section 330 of the 

9 Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254b); 

10 (2) $140,000,000 shall be made available to the 

11 Secretary of Health and Human Services for the 

12 workforce, capital, and equipment needed to estab13 lish or expand oral health services at community 

14 health centers and other community-based sites pur15 suant to subsequent authorization; 

16 (3) $15,000,000,000 shall be made available to 

17 carry out State child health plans under title XXI 

18 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1397aa et 

19 seq.); 

20 (4) $4,000,000,000 shall be made available to 

21 the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to ensure that vet22 erans receive the health care and other benefits that 

23 such veterans were promised without being put on a 

24 waiting list pursuant to subsequent authorization; 


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1 (5) $2,200,000,000 shall be made available to 

2 carry out the Child Care and Development Block 

3 Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858 et seq.); 

4 (6) $7,200,000,000 shall be made available to 

5 carry out the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9831 et 

6 seq.); 

7 (7) $14,900,000,000 shall be made available to 

8 carry out the grant program under part B of the In9 dividuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 

10 1400 et seq.); 

11 (8) $16,200,000,000 shall be made available for 

12 the Secretary of Education to increase the maximum 

13 Pell Grant pursuant to subsequent authorization; 

14 (9) $500,000,000 shall be made available to the 

15 Secretary of Education to carry out the Federal 

16 TRIO programs and Gaining Early Awareness and 

17 Readiness for Undergraduate Program under the 

18 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 et 

19 seq.); 

20 (10) $27,085,000,000 shall be made available 

21 to the Secretary of Energy, Secretary of Transpor22 tation, and the Administrator of the Environmental 

23 Protection Agency for programs to increase energy 

24 efficiency and conservation and to increase invest25 ment in sustainable and renewable energy alterVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:13 Mar 10, 2007 Jkt 059196 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S818.IS S818

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1 natives, public transit, and high speed rail pursuant 

2 to subsequent authorization; 

3 (11) $5,000,000,000 shall be made available to 

4 the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to 

5 establish a national affordable housing trust fund 

6 for the construction, preservation, and rehabilitation 

7 of at least 150,000 affordable housing rental units 

8 in mixed-income locations in order to create 180,000 

9 jobs pursuant to subsequent authorization; 

10 (12) $7,200,000,000 shall be made available to 

11 the Secretary of the Treasury to expand the earned 

12 income tax credit under section 32 of the Internal 

13 Revenue Code of 1986 pursuant to subsequent au14 thorization; and 

15 (13) $30,000,000,000 shall be made available 

16 to reduce the Federal deficit. 

Æ 


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