Sanders: Trans-Pacific Partnership bad for middle class

Within hours of Hillary Clinton saying in Iowa that she wants the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership deal to move forward, Bernie Sanders told a crowd in Indianola the agreement would be bad for the country's middle class.

"Since 2001 we have lost almost 60,000 factories in America and millions of decent-paying manufacturing jobs. Not all of that is attributed to trade, but much of it is," said the 2016 Democratic presidential hopeful. "Our view has got to be that trade should work not only for CEOs of large corporations, but for the workers of this country."

Sanders spoke to a crowd of more than 100 at the Warren County Democrats' annual picnic in Indianola. Those in attendance enthusiastically applauded his ideas to tax Wall Street and rebuild the middle class.

Sanders said it would cost about $70 billion to provide higher education to all, and that could be paid for with a speculation tax on Wall Street.

Not allowing bright, energetic students to go to college because they can't afford it, Sanders said, is like removing the ladder to the middle class.

He said it's time to take the power back from the wealthiest and spread it to the middle class. To do that, Sanders said, the Citizens United Supreme Court decision must be overturned.

He said the decision allowed the top 10 percent to buy the U.S. government by donating to candidates who want to make the rich richer.

"I want a political system where working people, middle class people, young people … can run for office without having to beg for money," Sanders said.

He later and said he could put 13 million people to work by creating jobs to fix the country's crumbling infrastructure.