Politics

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 – A group of senators today urged President Barack Obama to spare Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid in the budget blueprint that he will submit to Congress on March 4. 

A  written by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and signed by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and 14 other senators praised the president for improving the economy and creating jobs while reducing the deficit. In making the case against cutting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, however, the senators expressed concerns about retirement insecurity, growing income inequality and rising poverty.

Brattleboro Citizens’ Breakfast is hosting a Selectboard Candidates Forum on Friday, February 21, 2014 at 8:00am at the Gibson-Aiken Center, 207 Main Street.

The forum is not a Selectboard meeting and is not intended for the purpose of taking action on any Town of Brattleboro Selectboard business. While individual candidates may express their opinions on Town business, the purpose of the forum is to elicit candidates’ views.

Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
(802) 251-8100

Spending levels at 16 intelligence agencies are currently treated as classified information

WASHINGTON DC (February 12th, 2014)— Led by Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) and Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), a bipartisan group of 62 House lawmakers sent a letter today to President Obama calling on him to disclose in his fiscal year 2015 budget the top line spending levels at the 16 federal agencies known to conduct intelligence activities. The President is expected to deliver his budget to Congress on March 4.

According to the lawmakers, “The current practice of providing no specificity whatsoever regarding the overall budget requests for each intelligence agency falls woefully short of basic accountability requirements… As you develop your fiscal year 2015 budget, we strongly urge you to take a simple step toward much needed transparency by including the total amount requested for each of the sixteen intelligence agencies. We believe the top line number for each agency should be made public, with no risk to national security, for comparative purposes across all federal government agencies.”

WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today praised President Barack Obama for signing an executive order raising the minimum wage for workers employed by federal contractors.

“President Obama is taking a very important first step by giving a raise to hundreds of thousands of low-wage workers for federal contractors,” said Sanders, who was invited to this afternoon’s White House signing ceremony. “The president’s action adds momentum to the push in Congress to raise the minimum wage for every worker in this country to at least $10.10 an hour,” Sanders added.

Sanders last Sept. 25 sent Obama a letter, signed by 14 other senators, urging the president to issue an executive order setting a minimum wage at $10.10 an hour for federal contractors.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who serves on the Senate energy and environment committees, issued the following statement today after The Solar Foundation reported that Vermont employs more workers in solar power jobs per capita than any other state:

“We have a bold vision in Vermont for an energy transformation phasing fossil fuels out as quickly as possible in favor of clean, renewable energy. Solar energy is a central part of that vision. A dramatic expansion of solar power is a clean and economical way to help break our dependence on foreign oil, reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming, and create good-paying manufacturing and installation jobs in Vermont and across the United States.”

Early/absentee ballots for Annual Town and Town School District election to be held on March 4, are now available in the Brattleboro town clerk’s office. Anyone wishing to vote prior to March 4, may apply for an early/absentee ballot until 5:00 p.m. on Monday, March 3.

Early/absentee ballots may be voted in person in the clerk’s office, mailed to the voter by the clerk’s office, picked up by the voter or delivered to the voter’s residence by two justices of the peace. All voted ballots must be received by the clerk before the polls close on election day in order to be counted. Early/absentee ballots remain sealed until election day. Absentee ballot envelopes are opened at the polling place and ballots are processed through vote tabulators in the same manner as those voted in person that day. For more information or to request an early/absentee ballot call 251-8157.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) congratulated Vermonters who are among the world’s top athletes competing in the Winter Olympics that formally open today in Sochi, Russia.

“Vermont has a long tradition of excellence in winter sports that we owe partly to our state’s cold climate and mountainous terrain, but also to an outdoor spirit that dates back generations. I would like to acknowledge these athletes individually and wish them the best of luck in pursuing the gold,” Sanders said in the statement printed in today’s Congressional Record.

WASHNGTON, Feb. 4 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today issued the following statement after the Senate voted 68-32 to pass and send to President Barack Obama a new five-year farm bill:

“This was a difficult vote on a bill which has some positive provisions but also some very negative ones.

“This bill will bring greater stability to Vermont dairy farmers by helping them to manage risks and produce products more efficiently. It also is good news that a successful MILC program will stay in place until new insurance provisions for dairy farmers are implemented.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 – Leaders of more than 20 veterans’ service organizations today joined Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) at a news conference to support the most comprehensive legislation for veterans in decades.

The bill (S. 1982) is backed by the American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and many other organizations.

BURLINGTON, Vt., Jan. 31 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will hold a town meeting tomorrow on privacy rights and the National Security Agency’s increasing violations of our constitutional rights. Two of the nation’s preeminent authorities on civil liberties — Georgetown Law School Professor David Cole, and Heidi Boghosian, executive director of the National Lawyers Guild — will join Sanders and U.S. Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) at Montpelier City Hall to address government surveillance and corporate attacks on our privacy rights.

Who: Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Peter Welch and two of the nation’s preeminent authorities on civil liberties: Georgetown Law School Professor David Cole, and Heidi Boghosian, executive director of the National Lawyers Guild

WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to provide a stronger role for states in the process of decommissioning nuclear power plants like Vermont Yankee.

Entergy, the Louisiana utility that owns Vermont Yankee, plans to shut down the reactor by the end of this year but it could take decades to deal with nuclear waste at the Vernon, Vt., site and other matters related to decommissioning the plant.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement tonight after President Barack Obama delivered his fifth State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress:

“I welcome President Obama’s focus on reducing inequality and helping working families in America. The American economy is not sustainable when so few have so much and so many have so little. It’s a moral issue and it’s an economic issue.

“The American people, no matter what part of the country they are from or what political party they support, want us to put millions of people back to work. They want to deal with income and wealth inequality. They want us to raise the minimum wage.

in case you missed it (icymi), fyi:

Three lawmakers (via vtdigger; 1/27/2014):

BURLINGTON, Vt., Jan. 23 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement today after the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board urged President Barack Obama to shut down the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of phone data:

“This report underscores that the collection of records on virtually every phone call made in the United States is an unconstitutional violation of the privacy rights guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment. The president’s recommendations last week did not go far enough to rein in the out-of-control National Security Agency‎. Congress must pass strong legislation to protect the privacy and civil liberties of the American people.”

BURLINGTON, Vt., Jan. 22 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, told reporters today that the Senate is expected to soon take up legislation to restore pensions for military retirees as part of the most comprehensive veterans’ legislation to come before the Senate in decades.

The measure that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has called a top priority for the Senate also would address a host of other programs for veterans, including expanded health care and dental care and improved education benefits.

Sanders (I-Vt.) told a news conference that the measure would rescind a 1 percentage point cut in the annual adjustment for benefits for military retirees under age 62.  There has been a groundswell in Congress to undo that provision in the bipartisan budget deal that Congress approved late last year. 

Congressman Peter Welch,United States House of Representatives
Official Appearance Schedule, Tuesday, January 21st, 2014

10:00 a.m.
Business Visit: Sovernet
5 Rockingham Street, Bellows Falls

11:30 a.m.
Visit with Brattleboro Fire Department
103 Elliot Street, Brattleboro

BURLINGTON, Vt., Jan. 17 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement after President Barack Obama announced new measures on the oversight of government surveillance programs.

“I appreciate the president’s willingness to examine this important issue but I think that his remarks did not go far enough. There is no question in my mind that the collection of data on every phone call made in the United States is unconstitutional and a violation of the Fourth Amendment and that the government has engaged in massive violations of civil liberties and privacy rights.

WASHINGTON, DC (January 17th) – Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) made the following remarks after the President’s speech on intelligence surveillance reforms:

“While I appreciate the President’s effort to strike a better balance between the twin imperatives of protecting Americans from harm and ensuring their civil liberties, the steps he announced today fall short of reining in the NSA,” said Welch. “Under his plan, the unconstitutional bulk collection of Americans’ emails and phone records will continue. Congress should pass the Leahy-Sensenbrenner legislation so that the American people do not have to worry about the government monitoring their activities. And it should pass my legislation to shine a light on the taxpayer-financed budgets of America’s intelligence agencies.”

[Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on Friday responded to President Obama’s announcement that he will work with Congress to improve oversight of government surveillance programs. Leahy is the lead Democratic coauthor of the bipartisan USA FREEDOM Act, and earlier this week presided over a hearing featuring all five members of the President’s Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies to discuss their recent recommendations to overhaul the government’s surveillance authorities.]

WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 – A group of senators today asked network television executives why there has been “shockingly little discussion” about global warming on Sunday morning broadcast network news and interview programs.

Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) cited a new Media Matters for America  which found that only 27 minutes of air time was devoted to discussions about climate change during all of last year on Meet the Press, This Week, Face the Nation and Fox News Sunday – combined.