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Today's news from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.):
Sanders Opposes Treasury Nominee: President Obama announced Thursday that he was nominating his chief of staff, Jacob L. Lew, to be his new Treasury secretary. Sen. Bernie Sanders announced he... would not vote for Lew. Sen. Sanders criticized Lew's role in budget negotiations where the White House agreed to consider changes in Social Security cost-of-living increases and reductions in Medicare benefits, The Associated Press reported. “I am really tired of the president, and I support the president, continuing to appoint people who come from Wall Street. We need people… who are going to have the guts to stand up to Wall Street,” Sanders said on MSNBC.
Income Inequality: Are you optimistic that income inequality will be addressed in a meaningful way during a second term with the Obama administration? Ed Schultz asked Sen. Sanders. “Am I confident? No. Do I believe that is the moral issue of our time? Yes. Do I believe that that is what the American people overwhelmingly want? I do. The statistics that you have brought forth, where you have a handful of people on the top owning tremendous amounts of wealth, and the vast majority of the American people owning very little … is not only morally wrong, Ed. It is very, very bad economics,” Sanders said on MSNBC.
Economic Justice: “In recent years, the middle class and working families of our country have seen a significant decline in their standard of living. At the same time, the wealthy and large corporations have done phenomenally well. Now, as we struggle to lower deficits and create new jobs, the largest corporations in this country and the wealthiest people must be asked to play a significant role,” Sen. Sanders wrote in a column published Friday by The Caledonian-Record.
Shumlin Inaugurated: “I am … humbled to be joined today by the best congressional delegation in America. Senator Leahy, Senator Sanders, and Congressman Welch, we welcome you to the Statehouse and thank you for your service to our great state,” Gov. Peter Shumlin said in his inaugural address printed by the Times Argus.
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VIDEO: Sen. Sanders talks on The Ed Schultz Show about his column in The Huffington Post: http://youtu.be/RWpR2wYs83g Read the column here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-bernie-sanders/the-soul-of-america_b_2439576.html- LikesSee All
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Sen. Sanders will be on msnbc's The Ed Schultz Show at 8:30pmET talking about his recent column in the The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-bernie-sanders/the-soul-of-america_b_2439576.html- Sanders Opposes Lew for Treasury Secretary: http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=45c55149-ee51-4444-8119-87cf9bc90dd3
- Sen. Sanders will be on the Ed Shultz radio show at 12:30pmET. Listen live here: http://www.wegoted.com/listen/
ed-audioA.asp Bernie Sanders shared a link.
Today's news from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.):
Treasury Secretary: President Obama this afternoon will nominate White House Chief of Staff Jacob Lew for treasury secretary. Sen. Bernie Sanders voted against Lew’s nomination in 2010 to head... the Office of Management and Budget after Lew testified that he did not think deregulation of the financial industry was a “proximate cause” of the 2008 financial crisis, The Hill and Bloomberg reported.
Fed Conflicts: An outspoken Senate critic of the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday that he would reintroduce legislation to ban bankers from the boardrooms of the 12 regional Fed branches. Citing potential conflicts of interest and using JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon to illustrate his point, Sen. Sanders called for a prohibition on all financial industry executives serving as regional Fed directors, Reuters, Bloomberg, United Press International, the Washington Examiner, The Hill and Law 360 reported.
A.I.G.: Afraid of looking like a world-class ingrate, AIG on Wednesday decided against suing the federal government over the $182 billion bailout that saved the giant insurance company from collapse, The Washington Post reported. A public uproar had erupted over reports that the company was even considering whether to join the $25 billion lawsuit. Sen. Sanders told the Rutland Herald that it a lawsuit by A.I.G. would have been “preposterous”.
Global Warming: Ramping up calls to take on global warming in the new session of Congress, Sen. Sanders is floating legislation to impose fees on greenhouse gas emitters, The Hill and truthdig reported online.
The Soul of America: “The great debate taking place in Washington now has relatively little to do with financial issues. It is all about ideology. It is all about economic winners and losers in American society … It is all about the soul of America,” Sanders wrote in The Huffington Post.
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Fox Guarding the Chicken Coop:
With the departure of JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Sen. Bernie Sanders announced on Wednesday that he will reintroduce legislation that would prohibit financial i...ndustry executives from sitting on the 12 regional Fed boards of directors. “Jamie Dimon was the poster child for why we need to end the serious conflicts of interest at the Fed, but he was not alone. Two-thirds of the directors at the New York Fed are hand-picked by the same bankers that the Fed is in charge of regulating,” said Sanders, who had called for Dimon’s resignation. “Allowing Wall Street CEOs to serve as Federal Reserve directors and hand-pick its members and staff is a clear example of the fox guarding the henhouse.”
Continue reading here: http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=4ADC0D3B-67DE-4C2E-8F5A-30635241EAFBSee More- The Soul of America - By Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-bernie-sanders/the-soul-of-america_b_2439576.html
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Today's news from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.):
New York Fed: JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has left the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, more than six months after lawmakers called for his resignation because of JPMorgan's m...ultibillion-dollar trading scandal. Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced a bill that would prevent bank executives from serving on the boards of regional Fed banks, the American Banker and Bloomberg News reported. Sanders had also pushed for a 2011 study from the Government Accountability Office that called on the Fed to take steps to prevent conflicts of interest on the boards of its regional banks. "This is not just a perception problem - the problem is real," Sanders said.
McConnell is ‘Dead Wrong’: Sen. Sanders said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was “dead wrong” when he said that the tax debate is over and now it’s time to cut spending. “Sen. McConnell is dead wrong when he rules out additional revenue as part of the solution to our deficit crisis,” Sanders said in a statement Monday. “He is also wrong when he suggests the solution to the deficit situation is to cut Social Security, veterans’ benefits, Medicare and Medicaid,” The Hill reported online.
Hottest Year on Record: 2012, the year of a surreal March heat wave, a severe drought and a massive storm that caused broad devastation in the mid-Atlantic states, turns out to have been the hottest year ever recorded in the contiguous United States, The New York Times reported. Scientists expressed doubt that such a striking new record would have been set without the backdrop of global warming caused by the human release of greenhouse gases.
Flu Outbreaks: U.S. emergency rooms have been overwhelmed with flu patients, turning away some of them and others with non-life-threatening conditions for lack of space. Forty-one states are battling widespread influenza outbreaks, ABC News reported.
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The 113th Congress:
Bernie, the longest serving independent in congressional history, is embarking on his second term in the U.S. Senate. He was sworn into the 113th Congress on Thursday by Vice President Joe Biden. Sen. Patrick Leahy acc...ompanied Bernie to the well of the Senate chamber for the ceremony.
"I want to thank the citizens of Vermont for sending me to the Senate for a second term," Bernie said. "In these very difficult economic times, I will continue my efforts to fight for the working families of our state and country. We need to create millions of good-paying jobs, health care for all and deficit reduction which is done in a way that is fair – and not on the backs of vulnerable Americans. I also intend to bring forward sweeping legislation to transform our energy system and address the crisis of global warming.” As the incoming chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, Bernie will be working with the veterans’ community to make sure that all veterans receive the benefits to which they are entitled.
Read the latest Vermont Bernie Buzz here:
http://sanders.enews.senate.gov/mail/util.cfm?gpiv=2100098013.308730.313&gen=1
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Today's news from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.):
Sanders: McConnell is ‘Dead Wrong’: Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday called Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell “dead wrong” for declaring that the “tax issue is over” after last week’s fisc...al agreement. Added Sanders: “Revenue is very much the issue. The American people have been very clear. They do not want to cut Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. They do want to ask the wealthy and corporations to pay more in taxes,” Sen. Bernie Sanders said on MSNBC. “Sanders has a point. Polls show not just Democrats and liberals but independents and moderates and even majorities of Republicans oppose making big cuts, or making any cuts to Social Security and Medicare. So that is a position on which Sanders is correct.” Michael Tomasky of Newsweek magazine said on MSNBC.
Defense Secretary: President Obama on Monday nominated former Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska to be defense secretary, and top White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan to be CIA director. Obama pressed the Senate to confirm them quickly. Sen. Bernie Sanders said he looks forward to confirmation hearings, Seven Days reported. Sen. Patrick Leahy backed both of the president’s picks. Democrats have 55 votes in the Senate including independents Sanders and Angus King. Republicans have 45. Sixty are needed for confirmation, Yahoo News reported.
Dimon Out at NY Fed: JPMorgan Chase chairman Jamie Dimon has quietly left the New York Federal Reserve board of directors Critics last year saw at least an appearance of a conflict of interest after JPMorgan, despite the Fed’s oversight, suffered an embarrassing $6 billion loss in a risky bet. “This is a clear example of the fox guarding the henhouse," Sen. Sanders said. Elizabeth Warren, now a senator from Massachusetts who will sit on the Senate Banking Committee, also called on Dimon to step down, the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune reported.
Gas Prices: Sen. Sanders last summer asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate gas prices in Northwestern Vermont. Sanders said consumers were being ripped off, and he blamed the area's gas retailers for keeping prices artificially high simply. The FTC has since reported that prices were higher than its projections, but told Sanders no further investigation is planned, Vermont Public Radio reported.
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Mitch McConnell is Wrong: http://youtu.be/DqPxZzfyrDUBernie Sanders shared a link.
Today's news from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.):
Media Monopolies: According to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders – an independent from Vermont and a leading opponent of media consolidation – 50 companies owned 90 percent of the American media in 198...3. Today, that same 90 percent is controlled by six companies: GE, News Corp., Disney, Viacom, Time Warner and CBS. “In short, it amounts to a monopoly on what we hear, and what we view, on TV and radio,” Jim Martin wrote in a Denver Post column critical of a Federal Communications Commission proposal to relax rules on media ownership.
Fiscal Cliff Bill Falls Short: The so-called fiscal cliff legislation signed into law by President Obama is not a good bill. But it was better than the alternative, which is why I voted for it. The alternative — doing nothing — would have thrown this country back into a recession with nearly $4 trillion removed from the economy,” Sen. Sanders wrote in a column published Monday by the Rutland Herald.
Sanders is Right: In an e-mail to constituents, Vermont’s own Sen. Sanders vowed to continue to protect Social Security and resist efforts to change how the program’s cost-of-living adjustments are calculated. Not surprisingly, his approach to balancing the budget centers on the revenue side. He says it’s high time for corporations to start paying their fair share of taxes. After seeing the fact sheet Sanders distributed, we couldn’t agree more,” concluded a Brattleboro Reformer editorial published Monday by the Bennington Banner.
Battle Lines Drawn on Budget: Republicans won't accept further tax increases in coming budget and debt negotiations, the party's Senate leader said Sunday, putting GOP lawmakers on a collision course with Democrats over raising the government's borrowing limit, according to The Wall Street Journal.
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Watch Sen. Sanders discuss the issues of the week on Brunch with Bernie: http://youtu.be/l0L8F_6llCABernie Sanders shared a link.
Today's news from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.):
Social Security: Sen. Bernie Sanders was disappointed that President Obama wasn't more aggressive during the budget negotiations in standing up to what he calls a "right-wing, extremist Republ...ican Party." His advice to the president for his second term is to stand firm on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, as well as to push for corporations to start paying their fair share in taxes. "If the president stands firm ... he will have the overwhelming majority of Americans behind him," Sanders told National Public Radio.
Social Security: "We've got to make the president and Republicans and any Democrats that want to cut Social Security an offer they can`t refuse, and that is tens of millions of people have got to make it very clear to Congress -- Social Security has nothing to do with the deficit," Sanders said Friday night in an interview with MSNBC's Ed Schultz, The Hill blogged.
Progressives: “What being a progressive is about right now is standing up and fighting for working families,” Sen. Sanders told NPR. Is Obama a progressive? “No,” Sanders said. “[H]e is kind of a centrist somewhere in the middle of the Democratic Party but no I don’t think he is a progressive.
Tax Breaks for the Rich: In a column published Sunday by the Burlington Free Press, Sanders criticized tax breaks for the wealthy included in the year-end budget agreement. He cited an inheritance tax break for the richest 0.3 percent of Americans and the extension of Bush-era tax cuts on income, capital gains and dividends for households making between $250,000 and $450,000 a year. “The wealthiest Americans, whose effective tax rates are very low, are going to have to take much more responsibility for deficit reduction than this agreement provides.”
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Coming up at 7pmET: Sen. Sanders will be on NPR's All Things Considered talking about what it means to be a progressive. http://www.npr.org/2013/01/05/168696568/obamas-on-again-off-again-relationship-with-progressivesBernie Sanders shared a link.
Today's news from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.):
Media Monopolies: The Federal Communications Commission has proposed rule changes that would allow greater media consolidation in big cities. “More media consolidation … would result in less ...local control, fewer outlets offering differing viewpoints, and less ownership diversity,” Sen. Bernie Sanders wrote in a column published Saturday by The Boston Globe.
Corporate Tax Evaders: “Mitch McConnell was on the floor of the Senate saying the revenue discussion is over. Well, not for me. The truth of the matter is that right now you have one out of four profitable corporations in America paying zero in federal taxes … So the question is whether or not we cut programs that working families and lower income people desperately depend upon, or whether we ask the wealthiest people and largest corporations all of whom are doing very, very well to start paying their fair share of taxes,” Sanders said Friday on The Thom Hartmann Program.
The Soul of America: “What the Republicans want to do is destroy the social safety net that has existed in this country since the 1930s. They want to give more tax breaks to people who don`t need it and decimate the programs that working families and the middle class desperately depend upon. This is a fight for the soul of America,” Sen. Sanders told Ed Schultz Friday on MSNBC. Will President Obama stop cuts in Social Security benefits? Sanders was asked. “I am not confident that the president will protect Social Security,” the senator answered.
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VIDEO: Sen. Sanders talks with Ed Schultz about the fiscal cliff and the budget: http://youtu.be/ZpWBXM60lN8- Coming up at 8pmET: Sen. Sanders will be on The Ed Schultz Show talking about the budget and his fight to protect Social Security.
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The Week in Review:
The Senate and House were in session on New Year’s Day for roll call votes on an agreement to roll back income tax increases that were set to take effect this year on the vast majority of Americans. The bill also raise...d taxes for the first time in two decades on the wealthiest Americans, but not by as much as President Obama and Sen. Bernie Sanders and the vast majority of Americans had wanted. Sanders said the final product wasn’t a good bill, but doing nothing would have been worse. After months of negotiations over how to avoid a so-called fiscal cliff, Obama signed the measure on Wednesday. At noon on Thursday, a new session of Congress opened with swearing-in ceremonies. Sanders took the oath of office for a second term extending his record as the longest serving independent in congressional history.
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Happening now: Sen. Sanders is taking calls on the Thom Hartmann program. Watch live here: http://www.sanders.senate.gov/- Must Read: Fiscal Cliff: What's next? - By Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.): http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=4f2af1cf-8cf0-43f6-ba67-4dff3154127c
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Today's news from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.):
113th Congress: Vice President Joe Biden administered the Senate Oath to Sen. Bernard Sanders during a swearing-in ceremony Thursday on Capitol Hill in Washington, The Associated Press and WPT...Z-TV reported.
Senate Progressives: The progressive movement sees the 2013 class of liberal senators as a historic opportunity to shift the Democratic Party to the left. Four progressive incoming senators join Sherrod Brown, Sheldon Whitehouse, Sanders, Jeff Merkley and Al Franken, CBS News reported online. Elizabeth Warren is “left of Bernie Sanders on some issues,” Politico’s Jonathan Allen said on MSNBC.
Fiscal Fallout: Sen. Bernie Sanders was critical of the compromise despite voting in favor of it. “It’s not a good piece of legislation by any means,” he said. “I gave some thought to voting against it, but upon reflection, it’s clear to me that the alternative would have been a lot worse.” At the very least, Sanders said, the compromise spared middle-class Americans from tax increases and continued unemployment benefits for those who are out-of-work, as well as veterans’ benefits for those who have served in the military, while putting off for at least two months potential cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, the Valley News reported.
Fiscal Cliff: What’s Next?: “Making the wealthy and large corporations pay a few dollars more in taxes is not the moral or economic equivalent to cutting Social Security benefits for a senior citizen trying to stay alive on $15,000 a year, throwing elderly people off Medicare, or cutting benefits for disabled veterans,” Sen. Sanders wrote in a column in the Times Argus.
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Video: Sen. Sanders is sworn in for his second term in the U.S. Senate: http://youtu.be/Bsd3jwHm-tYBernie Sanders shared a link.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has been sworn in for his second term in the U.S. Senate.
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=EAB9C88C-A81C-4592-844F-3D4812D78342Bernie Sanders shared a link.
Today's news from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.):
Fiscal Fallout: When negotiations begin in coming weeks to reduce the deficit, the lack of spending cuts in the legislation that averted the fiscal cliff will put pressure on Social Security, ...Medicare and Medicaid, analysts said Wednesday. Key backers in Congress said will not give in to pressure to cut benefits. “If we are going to protect programs that working families desperately need and create the millions of jobs our economy needs we need more revenue,” Sen. Bernie Sanders told The Boston Globe. He noted that government revenue is now 15.4 percent of gross domestic product, the lowest in 60 years. He argued that the wealthiest Americans and corporations should be paying more taxes. “We need more revenue from the wealthy and large corporations, so what I will do as part of this process is make sure we close these loopholes and ask corporations to start paying their fair share,” Sen. Sanders told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell.
Protect Social Security: “Republicans — and some Democrats — want to curtail Social Security, veterans’ benefits, Medicare and Medicaid — that’s not a secret — and some of us are going to be fighting to say no,” Sen. Sanders told Politico. He is the author of a letter sent by 29 Senate Democrats in September demanding Obama back off Social Security cuts by changing the index for inflation. “It is absolutely imperative the president and Democratic leadership stay strong on this issue. If they do, we will win,” added Sanders.
Protect Veterans: Sen. Sanders led seniors and veterans groups in stopping retirement and disability benefits from being cut in the year-end fiscal deal, according to The Ed Schultz Show. This legislation defeated efforts to cut benefits for Social Security recipients and disabled veterans, something I've been working very hard on,” Sanders said on ABC 22 and Fox 44. “I will continue fighting to make sure cuts in Social Security and benefits for disabled veterans are not part of any future budget deal,” Sanders said on WPTZ-TV.
Tough Call: “The ‘fiscal cliff’ agreement was not a good piece of legislation, but not passing the bill would have been much worse," Sanders said in the Brattleboro Reformer, Seven Days and vtdigger.org. “It was a tough vote. I would not be honest with you if I didn’t tell you I gave some serious thought to voting no,” Sanders told Elliot Spitzer on Current TV.
Continue reading here: http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=457DC5C0-B14F-430B-9EBB-06C8CEC8AD38See More- Fiscal Bill Fallout: http://youtu.be/iGRPcLVxf0g
“This agreement preserves incentives for the development of clean energy by encouraging companies that are creating jobs in America and helping reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. That is a win-win for our economy and our environment. In Vermont and across the country, hundreds of wind manufacturing plants already are pro...ducing wind turbines, and the industry is providing jobs for 75,000 American workers. The fact that we have doubled wind generation since 2008 is an American success story. Extending the Production Tax Credit means we can continue the tremendous growth in wind and other safe, clean, renewable sources energy that must be developed if we are to reverse global warming.
Continue reading here: http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/ ?id=935A90B9-B704-484E-B46D-406 3D6C0F998See More Bernie Sanders shared a link.
The American people understand that the middle class in this country is disappearing, poverty is at an all-time high, meanwhile, the wealthiest and largest corporations are doing phenomenally well and the gap between people on top and everyone else is growing wider.
- Sen. Bernie Sanders on msnbc's Andrea Mitchell Reports
Congress Should Listen to the People: http://youtu.be/f-lUCZEcW2M- Coming up at 1:30pmET: Sen. Sanders will be on msnbc's Andrea Mitchell Reports talking about the budget agreement.
- Today's news from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.):
Congress Sends Fiscal Deal to President: The House late Tuesday sent President Obama a Senate-passed bill that raises taxes on individuals who make more than $400,000 and locks in tax cuts for income below that level. The measure was approved 257 to 167, with 85 Republicans joining 172 Democrats in voting to allow income taxes to rise for the first t...ime in two decades for the wealthiest Americans. The agreement was “a small step forward,” Sen. Bernie Sanders told The Boston Globe. “At a time when we have gross inequality, we can and should do a lot more in bringing more revenue into the government.”
Vermonters Vote Yes: Vermont Sens. Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders both voted in favor of the measure that passed 89-8 in the Senate early New Year’s Day. In a television interview on Sunday, Sanders said the deficit reduction debate boiled down to asking the wealthiest people to help with the nation's debt at a time when “we have a middle class that is in significant decline,” the Bennington Banner reported.
Renewable-Energy Tax Breaks Pass: The fiscal deal included a $12 billion extension of a wind-power tax credit and other support for renewable energy. The package’s tax provisions give relief to renewable energy companies from manufacturers building wind turbines to refiners developing facilities to make fuel from wood, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Dairy Fix: The fiscal bill that cleared Congress Tuesday includes a provision to avert a sharp rise in consumer prices for milk that could have been triggered by the expiration of the 2008 farm bill. A nine-month extension of the farm bill was added to the fiscal-cliff package. Sen. Leahy took credit. “Thanks to Leahy’s efforts, the bill will continue the MILC safety net,” the Burlington Free Press reported.
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Today's news from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.):
Senate Avoids ‘Fiscal Cliff’: The agreement primarily targets taxpayers who earn more than $450,000 per year, raising their rates for wages and investment profits. At the same time, the deal w...ould protect more than 100 million households earning less than $250,000 a year from income tax increases that were scheduled to take effect in 2013, according to The Washington Post.
Farm Programs Extended: The budget package also would extend most U.S. farm support programs for a year and end fears that the retail price of milk could double. The extension rankled some farm-state lawmakers who had pushed for an overhaul of dairy support programs as part of a five-year agriculture bill, Bloomberg News reported.
Senate Votes to Raise Taxes on Wealthy: The Senate early on New Year’s Day overwhelmingly approved legislation that would allow tax rates to go up on the wealthiest Americans while putting off, for now, sweeping spending cuts. Voting before dawn on Tuesday, the Senate passed the measure 89-8. Sen. Bernie Sanders voted yes. The bill to avert the so-called fiscal cliff now goes to the House.
Vermonter of the Year: Environmentalist Bill McKibben has been among the most effective voices raising the alarm about the threats of climate change, the Burlington Free Press said in naming and Ripton, Vt., resident its ‘Vermonter of the Year” for 2012.
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Today's news from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.):
A Standoff for the Middle Class: The Senate was set to reconvene Monday with hours to go before big tax and spending changes were to take effect on New Year’s Day. “I hope that we can avoid g...oing over the cliff,” Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday on MSNBC, but he added that Democrats must not give in to Republican demands in what Sanders called “a standoff for the middle class.” He also said “the world does not collapse” if no agreement is reached. Taxes and spending cuts still could be addressed by Congress early in 2013, he said. “We have time to work that out.”
Republicans: Cut Social Security: A Republican demand to cut Social Security benefits put negotiations at an impasse for much of Sunday. Senate majority leader Harry Reid told the Senate Sunday evening that Republicans dropped their call for Social Security benefit cuts. “Social Security has nothing to do with deficit reduction,” Sen. Bernard Sanders told The Christian Science Monitor after the talks stalled on Sunday. “The idea of Republicans asking for cuts for Social Security and cuts for programs for disabled veterans while at the same time protecting the wealthiest people in this country is totally outrageous and I'm glad that Senator Reid said no.”
Sanders Defends Seniors: For leading liberals in the Senate, such as Sens. Sanders and Tom Harkin, changing the way annual cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security recipients are calculated is “nothing more than a benefit cut to pay for more tax cuts,” Roll Call reported.
Military Academies: An annual ceremony for young adults nominated by Vermont's congressional delegation to attend military academies was held Saturday at the Statehouse in Montpelier. Rep. Peter Welch and Sens. Patrick Leahy and Sanders nominated 20 young adults this year, the Times Argus reported.
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Sen. Sanders Talks 'Fiscal Cliff': http://youtu.be/NX6dWRnUBB0- Coming up at 6:15pmET: Sen. Sanders will be on msnbc talking with Chris Jansing about the budget and so-called fiscal cliff.
Bernie Sanders shared a link.
Today's news from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.):
Cautious Optimism: Senate leaders worked Sunday on a last-minute compromise to avoid middle-class tax increases and possibly prevent deep spending cuts on Jan. 1. Sen. Bernie Sanders said the...re is “a reasonable chance to get a short-term fix through the Senate. The problem that [Speaker] Boehner will have in the House is that his caucus is dominated by right-wing extremists who … do everything they can to prevent the wealthiest people in this country and the largest corporations from paying a nickel more in taxes,” Sanders said Saturday on MSNBC.
House Extremists: “President Obama has been willing for weeks to get a deal done … [H]e even at one point offered a concession on how Social Security benefits would be adjusted for inflation, possibly cutting billions in future expenditures. Many on his side of the aisle, including Sen. Sanders, thought this was too much and spoke out against it. But it shows where the real fault for the lack of an agreement lies -- with the GOP House extremists who won't let Speaker John Boehner make any type of reasonable agreement,” the Bennington Banner editorialized.
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Sen. Sanders talks with TJ Holmes about the budget and so-called fiscal cliff: http://youtu.be/PDqYNWZokO4Bernie Sanders shared a link.
Today's news from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.):
Down to the Wire: Congressional leaders met at the White House Friday trying to come up with a deal to avoid big tax increases and big cuts to social programs and the Department of Defense th...at take effect on Tuesday if there's no deal. Adding to the urgency: two million unemployed Americans lose their benefits Saturday. “Clearly, if something does not happen, a lot of people are going to be hurting so I think we all want to make sure that a deal can be reached," Sen. Bernie Sanders told WCAX-TV.
Fiscal Cliff: While Sanders said he wants to prevent the country from going over the so-called fiscal cliff, he would not say if he would vote for a deal if there is one. He said he has to see what is in it first. “I hope at the very least we can deal with the unemployment issue. I hope we can prevent the middle class from seeing any tax increase. I hope we can prevent any cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid,” Sanders told WCAX-TV.
Continue reading here: http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=ce2cebda-bf8c-478b-bcdc-4dfdb804bb94See More- The Week in Review:
The Senate and House planned to work through the weekend after a Friday meeting of congressional leaders and President Obama at the White House. The talks were aimed at reaching agreement on a plan to keep taxes from rising for working families and to protect some 2 million unemployed Americans. The Senate was scheduled to meet on Sunday. The House, too, was returning to Washi...ngton on Sunday after a week-long absence. Sen. Bernie Sanders late on Friday said he hopes an agreement is reached to keep taxes from going up on working families. The president has proposed preserving tax cuts for families that make less than $250,000 a year while ending Bush-era tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. A continuation of expiring unemployment benefits is another key element Sanders wants in any final package. “If something does not happen a lot of people will be hurting,” he told WCAX-TV in a live interview.
Continue reading here: http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/ ?id=D6023AE2-DDC2-4E5D-9DDA-63C 87A224F4CSee More - 3-4pmET today: Sen. Sanders will be taking calls on the Thom Hartmann show. Watch live here: http://sanders.senate.gov/
- Today's news from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.):
Budget Talks at White House — President Obama summoned congressional leaders to a Friday summit at the White House in a last-ditch effort to protect taxpayers and unemployed workers from severe austerity measures set to hit in just four days.Some 2.1 million Americans face an immediate loss in federal unemployment insurance. “We must not fail the une...mployed workers of this country now. If Congress does not act, it will mean that some 2 million people and their families will really be at a loss as to how to survive economically,” Sen. Bernie Sanders said on MSNBC.
Dental Crisis — Low-income and minority families experience more oral disease, yet they receive less care, according to a 2012 Senate report prepared for Sen. Sanders on the dental care crisis in America. Sanders advocates dental therapists, the dental equivalent of a nurse practitioner, to substantially increase access to dental services and provide high quality, lower-cost care, according to a report in the Deseret News in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Winter Storm — Northern New Englanders are digging out following the first major storm of the season that dropped more than a foot of snow across much of the region. In Vermont, the National Weather Service says the Sugarbush ski resort got 20 inches of snow, while Killington got 15 inches, The Associated Press reported. The Northeast is now bracing for more snow over the weekend.
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http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/ ?id=7AC51134-B1BB-4BAA-B366-B75 358C4F350See More Bernie Sanders shared a link.
A Debacle:
President Obama and members of the Senate began returning to Washington on Thursday. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid warned that time was running out to pass budget legislation before the new year. With no resolution in sight,... Reid faulted the failure of House Republicans to even consider a Senate-passed measure that would extend lower tax rates on household income up to $250,000. Reid called the House performance a “debacle.” “Chaos” was the word Sen. Bernie Sanders had used to describe the House Republican caucus. “There is a great deal of concern that the Republican Party failed to do anything and that it seems that in the House now [Speaker John] Boehner has no control over his extreme right-wing faction,” Sanders told NBC’s Luke Russert.
Continue reading here: http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=A64CD2EA-3484-4D6F-936B-CADA02D149F4See MoreBernie Sanders shared a link.
Today's news from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.):
Budget Deadline: President Obama returns from Hawaii Thursday with even a stopgap solution now in doubt to avoid spending cuts and tax hikes set to kick in on Tuesday, according to The Associa...ted Press. “There is a great deal of concern that the Republican Party failed to do anything; that it seems that in the House now [Speaker John] Boehner has no control over his extreme right-wing faction,” Sen. Bernie Sanders said on MSNBC, NBC Radio News, ABC News online and on the Washington, D.C. all-news radio station WTOP-AM.
House Republicans: House Speaker John Boehner “is being controlled, unfortunately, by the right wing. I agree with Bernie Sanders,” Rep. Elijah Cummings said on MSNBC. “It’s very sad … [Boehner] wants to get a deal done, but it becomes impossible with these folks,”
Progressive Honor Roll: Two Vermont elected officials have been named to The Nation magazine's 2012 progressive honor roll, AP reported. Sen. Sanders was chosen as the weekly magazine’s most-valuable progressive. Sanders was cited for his defense of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid against cuts being talked about in Washington. Gov. Peter Shumlin gets The Nation's nod as the most valuable governor in the country. It cites Shumlin's work on budget issues, and his support for a single-payer health care system in Vermont, WPTZ-TV, Fox 44 and ABC 22 reported.
AIDS Drugs: The pharmaceutical giant Gilead just released a new once-daily AIDS drug called Stribild. They're selling it for $28,500 per year. HIV/AIDS groups criticized the drug-maker's pricing and high drug prices are being fought by some in Congress, like Sanders, who has proposed prizes for AIDS drug discoveries in exchange for keeping costs low, the Huffington Post blogged.
Continue reading here: http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=992B403A-829B-4719-8C0F-411D291737FDSee MoreBernie Sanders shared a link.
Progressive Honor Roll:
The Nation magazine’s Progressive Honor Roll of 2012 includes two Vermonters. Sen. Bernie Sanders is the “most valuable progressive.” Gov. Peter Shumlin is the “most valuable governor.”
Continue reading here: http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=E74A4FD2-293D-464D-9585-FE7424CAB3C0Bernie Sanders shared a link.
VIDEO: Sen. Sanders talks with msnbc's Luke Russert about the budget and so-called fiscal cliff: http://youtu.be/SucSnX2cbZcBernie Sanders shared a link.
Today's news from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.):
Budget Talks: Lawmakers returning to Washington on Thursday will renew talks aimed at limiting the impact of $500 billion in tax increases and spending cuts set to begin next week. Sen. Berni...e Sanders said on MSNBC that the House should take up a Senate-passed bill that extends tax cuts for working families but ends tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. He also said expiring unemployment benefits must be extended and Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits must not be cut.
‘Fiscal Cliff’: President Obama will cut short his traditional Christmas holiday in Hawaii, planning to leave for Washington on Wednesday evening as he and lawmakers consider how to prevent the economy from going over the so-called fiscal cliff. Obama was expected to arrive in Washington early Thursday, The Associated Press reported.
Fossil Fuel Subsidies: “Last year we saw a bill proposed in Congress from Sen. Sanders and Rep. Ellison which identifies over $10 billion annually going to the fossil fuel industry in subsidies,” Stephen Kretzman, executive director of Oil Change International, told a Fox Business News anchor. Big oil, gas and coal are much more heavily subsidized than wind and solar, he added.
C-SPAN Heroes: Mitch from Tennessee called into C-Span’s “Washington Journal” on Christmas Day to say, “My political hero has to be Bernie Sanders. He started talking about not paying taxes on the high end. I say Bernie Sanders got it right. Ask anybody about the rich paying taxes. That's the problem right there. We need to take our fight to the top like it is supposed to be. Obama should stand his ground.”
Continue reading here: http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=9A5A8D57-48AA-4C14-9DE8-ADE59161DA3FSee More- Coming up at 9am: Sen. Sanders will be on msnbc's The Daily Rundown talking with Chuck Todd about the budget and fiscal cliff.
Bernie Sanders shared a link.
At an annual holiday dinner for seniors in Burlington, Vt., Sen. Bernie Sanders explained how some in Washington are trying to take benefits away from seniors and disabled Americans.
Video: http://youtu.be/x6nRbgXcgdoBernie Sanders shared a link.
Today's news from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.):
Global Warming: West Antarctica has warmed much more than scientists had thought over the last half century, new research suggests, an ominous finding given that the huge ice sheet there may ...be vulnerable to long-term collapse, with potentially drastic effects on sea levels. A paper released Sunday by the journal Nature Geoscience reports that the temperature at a research station in the middle of West Antarctica has warmed by 4.4 degrees Fahrenheit since 1958. That is roughly twice as much as scientists previously thought and three times the overall rate of global warming, making central West Antarctica one of the fastest-warming regions on earth, The New York Times reported.
Senate Now Focus on Budget Deal: With little more than a week for lawmakers to avert huge tax increases and spending cuts, attention is turning from the gridlocked House to the Senate, where some Republicans on Sunday endorsed President Obama’s call for a partial deal to insulate most Americans from the tax increases but defer a resolution on spending. Speaker John A. Boehner’s failed attempt on Thursday to attract enough Republican support in the House for legislation that would have prevented tax increases on income below $1 million left little chance for a “grand bargain” on deficit reduction, The New York Times reported.
Inaugural Parade: The Norwich University Regimental Band will march in President Obama's inaugural parade next month in Washington. The 55-member unit is among 40 groups that so far have accepted an invitation to march down Pennsylvania Avenue past the White House on Jan. 21, AP reported.
Continue reading here: http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=DF9907B9-D013-47F9-8370-657587C30480See MoreBernie Sanders shared a link.
VIDEO: Sen. Sanders discusses the issues of the week on Brunch with Bernie: http://youtu.be/NciXANFJb4cBernie Sanders shared a link.
Today's news from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.):
Obama Presses for Stripped Down Fiscal Plan: President Obama sharply curtailed his ambitions for legislation to avert the year-end “fiscal cliff” on Friday, urging Congress to adopt a stopgap... measure to keep benefits flowing to unemployed workers and prevent taxes from rising on income under $250,000 a year, The Washington Post reported. The plan should also “lay the groundwork” for action next year to spur economic growth and rein in the national debt, Obama said at a White House news conference.
House Caucus in Chaos: “The Republican caucus is in chaos,” Sen. Bernie Sanders said Friday after a humiliating setback for House Speaker John Boehner. Facing a conservative revolt within his caucus, the speaker on Thursday night cancelled a vote on his own plan to extend Bush-era tax cuts for all incomes up to $1 million. Sanders commented during his weekly national radio and Internet appearance on The Thom Hartmann Program.
Social Security: The reaction of liberal lawmakers to President Obama’s plan to squeeze savings from Social Security benefits was swift and strong: Sen. Tom Harkin called it “a bad deal,” Sen. Sherrod Brown said, “I don’t like it,” and Sen. Sanders declared it “a significant benefit cut,” Congressional Quarterly reported.
Continue reading here: http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=e2c3096f-d810-4625-acad-62cab3817f8eSee More
