On Friday’s edition of CBS Evening News, Democratic presidential candidate Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders admitted that he has no idea how much his package of progressive programs would cost the American taxpayer.
“Your agenda has promised free health care for everybody, free college tuition, and to pay off peoples’ college loans. The price tag for that is estimated to be $60 trillion dollars over ten years. Is that correct?” asked Norah O’Donnell of CBS Evening News.
“Well look, we have political opponents…” Sanders began before being cut off and pressed on the question.
“You don’t know how much your plan costs?” O’Donnell responded.
“You don’t know. Nobody knows. This is impossible to predict,” Sanders conceded, leaving O’Donnell stunned.
“You’re going to propose a plan to the American people and you’re not going to tell them how much it costs?” O’Donnell exclaimed.
“You don't know how much your plan costs?"@BernieSanders: "You don't know. Nobody knows. This is impossible to predict."
“You're going to propose a plan to the American people and you're not going to tell them how much it costs?"pic.twitter.com/XZlrrt7ONL
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) January 25, 2020
Sanders’ comments follow previous statements he made last October, in which he argued that he doesn’t have to explain how to pay for socialized medicine.
When asked by then-CNBC’s John Harwood – who unsurprisingly now works at CNN – how a Sanders administration would generate the required revenue for the program, Sanders dismissed the question.
“You’re asking me to come up with an exact detailed plan of how every American – how much you’re going to pay more in taxes, how much I’m going to pay. I don’t think I have to do that right now,” Sanders responded.
Given Sanders’ latest interview, it doesn’t seem as if the Vermont senator has given Harwood’s question much thought.
