Bernie Sanders Speaks In Opposition To Mayor Kenney's Proposed Soda Tax
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Just days before the Pennsylvania Primary, presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders made a stop in Philadelphia on Friday.
Sanders addressed an invitation only crowd in Philadelphia about his national platform and what it means for us.
Sanders had a one-on-one, wide ranging conversation with Eyewitness News.
Faith and the moral economy were topics that drove the conversation on Friday in West Philadelphia.
"I will, if elected president, demand that corporate America invest in this country," Sanders told Eyewitness News.
During the conversation, Sanders addressed issues both national and local, including Mayor Jim Kenney's plan of a soda tax to fund youth educational initiatives.
"My disagreement is how he proposed to fund it," Sanders said. "I think that taxing soda is a regressive way to fund it. That tax burden will likely come down on low-income and working families, many of which are struggling right now to make ends meet."
How would Sanders fund it?
"The way I would fund it is you ask the wealthiest people in this country, who are doing phenomenal well, to start paying their fair share of taxes," he explained.
On guns, he wants Pennsylvanians to know he's tough by countering claims made by the Clinton camp and others, touting his stance on assault weapons dating back nearly 30 years.
"I have a D minus voting record, D minus, from the NRA," Sanders said. "In 1988, long time ago, came out and said that assault weapons in this country are not for hunting. They should not be sold. They should not be distributed. They are designed to kill human beings."
From breaking up big banks, to reinvesting in U.S. infrastructure, the contender told crowds, under a Sanders White House, the city, state and nation, could start looking very different.
Despite the odds against him, Sanders said that he does see a way to a Pennsylvania primary win; a win he says will come by the people and not through special interests.