Bernie Sanders, Mick Mulvaney Spar Over The Estate Tax (Watch)

WASHINGTON, DC — Sen. Bernie Sanders, an Independent of Vermont, is planning to fight the Trump administration's proposal to cut taxes, as he made clear in a tense exchange with White House budget director Mick Mulvaney over the estate tax.

During the exchange, Sanders asks Mulvaney Thursday why the Walton family, which owns Wal-Mart, should get a tax cut; in particular, they would receive billions of dollars worth of tax breaks if the administration eliminates the estate tax, as it has promised to do. The federal estate tax, which critics call a "death tax," imposes a tax on wealth in excess of $5.49 million that a person leaves behind after they die. (For more information on this and other political stories, subscribe to the White House Patch for daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

"The wealthiest family in America gets a $52 billion tax break as a result of the repeal of the estate tax," Sanders said.

"That's correct," Mulvaney said.

"Tell the American people why you think that's good when you cut Medicaid and programs for kids?" Sander said.

"We don't cut Medicaid," Mulvaney said. "We're talking about repealing Obamacare." However, this answer is very misleading, since a major expansion of Medicaid was a central part of the Affordable Care Act, which is called Obamacare. Repealing Obamacare entirely entails cutting Medicaid.

"I'm asking you why the wealthiest family in America is getting a $52 billion tax cut," said Sanders.

Eventually, Mulvaney denied that the proposals the White House has laid out imply any specific cut. "I think it's mathematically impossible to take those general principles and assume a direct impact on a particular family."

At the end of the back-and-forth, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said: "That was borderline interesting."

Sanders put a clip of the exchange on Facebook which was viewed over 7 million times. Watch the discussion below.

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