Opinion

WASHINGTON, May 7 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today welcomed a federal appeals court ruling that the National Security Agency does not have the legal authority to collect and store data on all U.S. telephone calls.

“Clearly we must do everything we can to protect our country from the serious potential of another terrorist attack, but we can and must do so in a way that also protects the constitutional rights of the American people and maintains our free society,” Sanders said. “We can do that without living in an Orwellian world where the government and private corporations know every telephone call that we make, every website we visit, everyplace we go.”

WASHINGTON, May 7 – Citing Nike’s low wages for foreign workers, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) yesterday asked President Obama to cancel a planned meeting on Friday with executives of the athletic shoe maker at its headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon.

Nike has taken advantage of free-trade agreements – similar to proposed new pact which Obama is touting – to offshore tens of thousands of American jobs to Vietnam and other low-wage countries.

“Nike epitomizes why disastrous unfettered free-trade policies during the past four decades have failed American workers, eroded our manufacturing base and increased income and wealth inequality in this country,” Sanders wrote in a letter he sent to the president yesterday.

WASHINGTON, May 6 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today introduced legislation to break up the nation’s biggest banks in order to safeguard the economy and prevent another costly taxpayer bailout. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) proposed a companion bill in the House.

“No single financial institution should have holdings so extensive that its failure could send the world economy into crisis,” Sanders said. “If an institution is too big to fail, it is too big to exist.”

The biggest banks in the United States are now 80 percent bigger than they were one year before the financial crisis in 2008 when the Federal Reserve provided $16 trillion in near zero-interest loans and Congress approved a $700 billion taxpayer bailout.

Mike Huckabee has announced his intention to become president.

“I am a candidate for president of the USA,” and, “I never thought of using a firearm to murder someone.”

Ben Carson announced his intention of running for president.

“I’m willing to be part of the equation and, therefore, I’m announcing my candidacy for president of the United States of America.”

Carly Fiorina announced her intention to become president.

“I am running for president.”

Bernie Sanders has announced his intentions to run for the presidency.

“I am running for president.”

Vermont Energy Efficiency Leaders Gather to Discuss Latest Initiatives to Save Money, Create Jobs, and Protect the Environment

MONTPELIER, VT. At Blodgett Supply in Montpelier today, Rep. Peter Welch met with a broad cross-section of Vermont energy efficiency leaders to outline his efficiency priorities for the new Congress and learn about the latest energy efficiency innovations in Vermont. The roundtable discussion comes on the heels of House approval this week of Welch-authored energy efficiency legislation which President Obama will soon sign into law.

WASHINGTON, April 22 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today opposed an effort to rush legislation through a Senate committee in order to hurry congressional approval of a controversial trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Sanders invoked a Senate rule to stop a morning meeting of the Finance Committee to mark up the so-called fast-track bill.

“This job-killing trade deal has been negotiated in secret. It was drafted with input by special interests and corporate lobbyists but not from the elected representatives of the American people. Instead of rubber stamping the agreement, Congress and the public deserve a fair chance to learn what’s in the proposal,” Sanders said.

WASHINGTON, April 22 – As the nation marked Earth Day, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) introduced legislation to close tax loopholes and eliminate other subsidies for the oil, gas and coal industries.

Subsidies for polluters now in place are projected to cost taxpayers more than $135 billion in the coming decade.

Sanders’ Senate bill and Ellison’s companion measure filed today in the House would remove tax breaks for fossil-fuel industries and ensure that taxpayers receive a fair return for energy resources owned by the American people and make research into renewable energy a national priority. The measures also would prevent companies from escaping liability for spills or deducting cleanup costs from their taxes.

WASHINGTON, April 20 – Protesting a trade deal that would throw Americans out of work, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today planned to march with leaders of the AFL-CIO and other labor organizations to a rally outside the U.S. trade representative’s office.

“One of the key reasons why the middle class in America continues to decline and the gap between the very rich and everyone else is growing wider is because of disastrous trade agreements which have sent millions of decent-paying jobs to China and other low-wage countries,” Sanders said.

Trio of bills address safety of spent fuel storage and decommissioning plans

Washington (April 15, 2015) – Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) reintroduced three bills today aimed at improving the safety and security of decommissioning reactors and the storage of spent nuclear fuel at nuclear plants across the nation.

When spent nuclear fuel is removed from the part of the reactor that generates electricity, it continues to produce significant quantities of heat and radiation for years. Spent nuclear fuel is too dangerous to be removed from the spent fuel pools for five to seven years. Studies conducted by the National Academy of Sciences, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and independent experts have shown that partial draining of the water from a spent fuel pool caused by an accident or terrorist attack could result in a spontaneous fire, the release of large quantities of radiation, and widespread contamination. However, NRC regulations allow spent fuel to remain stored in spent fuel pools until the reactor completes decommissioning, which can take as long as 60 years. Current NRC regulations also allow the NRC and the nuclear plant operator to adopt a decommissioning plan without considering the concerns of nearby states and communities. The three bills introduced today will address all of these problems.

WASHINGTON, April 14 – At the urging of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the Department of Health and Human Services inspector general has agreed to investigate how sudden price hikes by generic drug makers are driving up the cost of taxpayer-supported health care.

“It is unacceptable that Americans pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Generic drugs were meant to help make medications affordable for millions of Americans who rely on prescriptions to manage their health needs. We’ve got to get to the bottom of these enormous price increases,” said Sanders.