Opinion

PHILADELPHIA, July 25 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today addressed the annual convention of the National Association of Letter Carriers and drew standing ovations for opposing cuts in sevices and jobs at the U.S. Postal Service at a time of rising revenue.

Sanders is the chief sponsor of legislation to modernize the U.S. Postal Service, save Saturday mail and prevent other unnecessary cuts in services provided by one of the most popular and important institutions in America.

WASHINGTON, July 24 – Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today detailed compromise legislation that he offered to House negotiators that would reform the VA and give it the tools to provide quality, timely health care to veterans.

The proposal () would address the need for short-term, emergency access to care while strengthening VA’s capacity to address veterans’ needs in the long term. It also includes a provision to allow for the removal of incompetent officials at the VA.

The Windham County Democratic Committee is organizing meetings for the public to meet and hear the four Democratic candidates for State Senate.

The first forum will be held tomorrow, July 24, 2014, at 6:30 PM, at the Townshend Town Hall.

WASHINGTON, July 17 – In joint remarks before the U.S. Senate today, Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) honored former Vermont Gov. Phil Hoff, who just turned 90 years old.

Hoff served three terms as governor. First elected in 1962, he was the first Democrat to hold the state’s highest office in more than a century.

“We rise today to celebrate Philip Hoff, the 73rd governor of the state of Vermont, for his extraordinary contributions to the state of Vermont, and to our nation,” Leahy and Sanders said in a joint statement submitted for the Congressional Record.

I hadn’t heard of this before today:

In 2008, Vermont senator Patrick Leahy was traveling in a car 125 miles south of the U.S.-Canada border in the state of New York.

They came to a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint, which stopped the U.S. senior senator, and an agent ordered him to get out of the car.

WASHINGTON, July 16 – The Department of Veterans Affairs needs $17.6 billion to hire 10,000 doctors, nurses and other health care providers and make other reforms in order to meet the needs of a growing number of veterans and reduce long waiting times for health care, Acting Secretary Sloan Gibson told the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs today.

Gibson was responding to a question by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the committee chairman, about what the VA needs to address a large influx of veterans needing treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and other health care needs.

Without the resources to deal with veterans returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Gibson said, “the wait times just get longer.”

In what is the first ever conviction of its kind anywhere in the world, the former US President and seven key members of his administration were today (Friday) found guilty of war crimes.

Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and their legal advisers Alberto Gonzales, David Addington, William Haynes, Jay Bybee and John Yoo were tried in absentia in Malaysia.

The primary election is upon us. According to the Vermont Secretary of State website “Your town clerk will receive ballots for the Primary election by Friday July 11, 2014 and early voting may begin. You can vote at the town clerk’s office during normal business hours or request that an absentee ballot be sent to you. If voting absentee, ballots must be returned to the clerk before the close of the polls on election day August 26th.”

With Early Voting in the town clerk’s office or on Primary Election Day you must select a voting ballot envelope from one of three political parties: Progressive, Democrat, or Republican. In the 2012 election we had 76, 263 voters who Voted Early, not on Election Day itself.

WASHINGTON, July 9 – Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement today after meeting on Tuesday with Robert McDonald, President Barack Obama’s nominee to be secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs:

“I enjoyed the opportunity to meet with Mr. McDonald and was impressed by what he brings to the table. I believe that his years of military service will make him a very strong advocate for veterans, and that his corporate leadership gives him the experience to bring about the management changes – in terms of accountability and transparency – that the VA needs.

BURLINGTON, Vt., June 30 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement today after the Supreme Court ruled that some home health care workers cannot be required to pay fees to cover the costs of collective bargaining:

“Today’s Supreme Court decision by Justice Alito and four other extreme right-wing Republicans is another attack on the rights of workers to collectively bargain for higher wages and decent benefits. Make no mistake: this decision will lead to an increase in income inequality, a further decline in the wages of middle-class workers and an increase in poverty.

Washington, DC (June 30th) – Congressman Peter Welch made the following statement after the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Hobby Lobby Stores v. Sebelius:

“The Supreme Court got it wrong today. A woman’s access to health care should not depend on the religious views and conscience of her employer,” said Welch. “Decisions about the use of contraceptives should be between a woman and her doctor. The Court’s misguided decision in this case is a good example of why Congress should have included a public option in the Affordable Care Act, which would have removed employers from the equation of health care coverage.”