"Stagnant incomes, prices rising, a weak economy. What's Bernie Sanders' answer?" the narrator in the ad asks. | AP Photo Sanders attacked by super PAC funded by Republican billionaires

A Republican super PAC has begun airing a new ad questioning how Sen. Bernie Sanders would pay for his proposals to raise the minimum wage and provide "free college and health care for all."

"And just how would he pay for it?" the narrator in the 30-second spot asks before showing a clip of Sanders saying, "We will raise taxes, yes we will."


The ad is produced by the Republican Future 45 super PAC, which is run by Republican operative Brian O. Walsh to prevent former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from making it to the White House.

"Stagnant incomes, prices rising, a weak economy. What's Bernie Sanders' answer?" the narrator in the ad asks. "A $15 minimum wage that hurts small businesses. Higher taxes on banks and corporations that will kill jobs across the country. And free college and health care for all."

Two Republican-aligned billionaires are the primary backers of the super PAC: Paul Singer and Ken Griffin, according to The Intercept. Each has donated $250,000 to the organization, and both back Sen. Marco Rubio in the Republican presidential primary.

The ad is the group's first to focus on Sanders. Its previous ads have attacked Clinton.

"We are running this ad because Sanders is now a credible candidate in the Democratic primary, yet he has a record way outside of the mainstream," Future 45's Scott Sloofman said in an email.

Walsh issued a similar statement with the ad's release.

"It’s hard to believe, but Bernie Sanders has become a viable candidate for the Democratic nomination,” Walsh said. “Given Sen. Sanders’ rise, it’s time to start educating Americans about his out-of-touch record. After eight years of Barack Obama’s soft socialism, the American economy can’t afford four more years of the real thing. Bernie Sanders says he will go to war with the capitalist system that has made the American economy the envy of the world. It would be dangerous not to take him at his word."

