The Burlington, Vermont office of Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT) was evacuated just before noon on Thursday after a suspicious package was discovered there, Breitbart reported.
A police and bomb squad responded to the scene and indicated that the package would be removed with a robot. It was not immediately known why the package was considered suspicious.
Sanders was in New York on Thursday to tape The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, CBS News reported. His 2020 campaign said it does not comment on matters involving security.
The evacuation was the second one in September for Sanders’ offices. His St. Johnsbury office also reported that it received a suspicious package on Sept. 11, but it was a false alarm.
Bernie’s bid for the White House
Police told reporters on the scene that it was Sanders’ Senate office — not campaign office — that was evacuated.
As for his campaign, Sanders is still trucking along in hopes of winning the White House, but the Vermont senator hasn’t managed to break out in the polls. He has held steady at about 8% in most national and statewide polls, slightly ahead of Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), but quite a bit behind former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
As a candidate, Sanders has advocated a plan of “Medicare for All” and has pledged to raise taxes on the wealthy and the middle class to pay for his plan.
But polls have shown that only 13% of Americans think a plan like Medicare for All, which would get rid of private health insurance, is a good idea, according to The Hill.
Steering clear of Sanders
More recently, Sanders has said that he wants to eliminate all medical debt as part of his Medicare for All plan. He has not yet said how he plans to pay for that and other initiatives, however.
Indeed, Sanders likes to say that although taxes would go up under his plans for America, the average middle-class family would actually pay less for health care and other expenses. It seems like most Americans are seeing through his claims, however, as his support continues to slip in early voting states like Iowa.
What Bernie Sanders ignores is the fact that every single major government program has cost much more than originally estimated. His plans may seem generous to those with lower and middle incomes, but they have every likelihood of far surpassing promised levels, causing reduced services and increased prices.
Voters would be smart to steer clear of Bernie’s optimistic promises come November.
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