Sanders: My views on working with GOP ‘a little bit different’ from Biden’s

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) knocked former Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday over his comments in their Democratic presidential primary debate about working with Republicans.

During an interview with SiriusXM radio following the Miami debate, Sanders said his views on the issue “differ” from the former Delaware senator’s.

“Well, look, all that I can tell you is, my views are a little bit different. I do work with Republicans when I can. For example, I’m very proud of the fact that for the first time in 45 years, we used the War Powers Act to get a majority vote in the Senate to end the horrible war in Yemen led by Saudi Arabia. So, you work with Republicans when you can,” Sanders said.

{mosads}”But I think everybody understands that [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell and the Republicans today have evolved into an extreme right-wing party. They are intimidated by Donald Trump,” he added.

“They are controlled by big money, and the only way we beat them is by creating the kind — an unprecedented grass-roots movement of young people and working people and people who believe in justice.”

His remarks followed comments Biden made Thursday during the second night of Democratic debates this week, where the former vice president defended his compromise with McConnell (R-Ky.) in 2012 that led to an extension of tax cuts passed under the George W. Bush administration while raising the pre-income tax rate for wealthy Americans.

“I’ve seen it happen,” Biden said of working with the GOP. “We needed to be able to keep the government from shutting down and going bankrupt, I got Mitch McConnell to raise taxes $600 billion by raising the top rate.”

His comments were immediately seized upon during the 2020 debate by Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.).

“The deal that he talked about with Mitch McConnell was a complete victory for the Tea Party,” Bennet said Thursday night. “That was a great deal for Mitch McConnell. It was a terrible deal for Americans.”