Politics

MIDDLEBURY, Vt., May 16 – U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz spoke at a Vermont Energy Summit today as part of a first-hand look at how Vermont is on the cutting edge of transforming its energy systems from fossil fuels to sustainable energy.

In remarks at Middlebury College, Moniz focused on the need to reduce the cost of clean energy. Vermont, he added, “really looks unique” in terms of public and private cooperation on energy issues.

New FDA rule threatens mutually beneficial and environmentally sound partnership between brewers and farmers

Waterbury, VT (May 14th) – At the Alchemist Cannery today in Waterbury, Rep. Peter Welch unveiled a two-prong bipartisan effort to block a proposed Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rule that would likely end the longstanding practice of Vermont brewers providing nutritious and cost effective spent grain to farmers to feed their livestock. The spent grain would otherwise be dumped in landfills or composted at a significant cost to brewers.

Commissioner Recchia to Testify at U.S. Senate Hearing

WASHINGTON, May 13 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today introduced legislation to give states a greater role in decommissioning nuclear power plants.

Vermont and neighboring states should have more input in the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission process for determining what happens after the shutdown later this year of the 42-year-old Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, Sanders said. Aging plants also are projected to be mothballed in the next decade in Florida, Wisconsin, New Jersey, New York and Ohio.

BURLINGTON, Vt., May 12 – Flanked by Vermont college students and graduates who are deep in debt, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said today he will introduce legislation to help students earn college credits in high school in order to cut the cost of earning a college diploma.

Sanders said he supports a separate bill to lower interest rates on student loans. And, as a member of the Senate education committee, he also is working on ways to bring down college costs.

BURLINGTON, Vt., May 9 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will hold a press conference Monday in his Burlington office to announce legislation to help children from working families go to college. Sanders will be joined by Vermonters who will share how carrying heavy student debt loads has affected their lives.

Sanders plans to introduce legislation in the Senate early next week to help students earn college credits while still in high school. That would cut the time and the cost of earning a college diploma.

WASHINGTON, May 6 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called for Congress to act on proposals to curb greenhouse gas emissions after a major new report today warned that global warming could exceed 10 degrees Fahrenheit in the United States by the end of this century.

“This important report is another loud and clear warning that greenhouse gases are rising faster than ever and our refusal to recognize and deal with the crisis could have catastrophic consequences,” said Sanders, a member of the Senate energy and environment committees.

“It is no longer acceptable for a majority in Congress to ignore the overwhelming scientific evidence. It is no longer acceptable that coal and oil companies spend millions of dollars to defeat efforts to protect the planet,” Sanders added.

WASHINGTON, May 5 – Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement today after the American Legion called for the resignation of Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki:

“Serious allegations have been made regarding waiting lists at the Phoenix VA. Secretary Shinseki has done the right thing by calling for an immediate investigation of those allegations by the independent Office of Inspector General. I have promised to hold hearings on this issue as soon as we have the facts. While it might be temporarily satisfying to call for firing someone, it doesn’t get us any closer to the truth or solve problems that may exist.

Legislation increases tax credit and removes barrier for purchasers

Montpelier, VT (April 28th) – At a charging station in Montpelier this morning, Rep. Peter Welch unveiled new legislation that makes electric vehicles more affordable for middle-income Vermonters and easier to purchase. Welch arrived at a Statehouse electric vehicle charging station driving a 2014 Ford Fusion Hybrid Energi provided by Lamoille Valley Ford.

BURLINGTON, Vt., April 24 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and the senior Obama administration official responsible for improving access to health care met here today with representatives from 11 community health centers throughout Vermont.

Mary Wakefield, who heads the Health Resources and Services Administration at the Department of Health and Human Services, joined Sanders at a news conference to discuss what the senator has called a crisis in primary care in the United States.

“We have made some good progress in Vermont and across the nation in the last few years but clearly we still have a long way to go,” Sanders said.

BURLINGTON, Vt., April 23 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today congratulated the Vermont Legislature for passing a bill making Vermont the first state in the nation to require labels on food containing genetically-modified ingredients.

“I am very proud our small state stood up to Monsanto and other multi-national food conglomerates and is taking the lead in a movement to allow the people of our country to know what is in the food that they eat,” Sanders said. “Working with Vermonters, I will continue my efforts in Washington to pass national legislation on this important issue.”

BURLINGTON, Vt., April 22 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a member of the Senate environment and energy committees, said today’s observation of Earth Day is a reminder that dramatic action is needed to curb the carbon and methane emissions responsible for the planetary crisis of global warming.

Sanders cited a warning this month by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, made up of the world’s leading climate scientists, which reported that emissions of greenhouse gases have gone up nearly twice as fast so far in the 21st century as they did in the last decades of the 20th century.

BURLINGTON, Vt., April 16 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today welcomed a Vermont Senate vote to require labels on food containing genetically-modified ingredients.

“I am very proud that Vermont is taking the lead in a growing national movement to allow the people of our country to know what is in the food they eat. GMO labeling exists in dozens of countries around the world and should exist in the United States,” Sanders said.

“I will continue my efforts in Washington – against Monsanto and other multi-national food industry corporations – to pass national legislation on this issue. In the meantime, it is extremely important that Vermont and other states lead the way,” Sanders said.

Voting on the town-wide referendum is Thursday 4/17 at the Municipal Center from 9 am to 7 pm in the Selectboard Meeting room on the second floor.

Ample parking in the back of the Municipal Center, in the area that is normally permit parking only, will be available for voters and there are handicapped parking spaces next to the entrance.

There is an elevator located just inside the back entrance.

WASHINGTON, April 9 – A Senate panel heard today from the founder of an organization that stages medical clinics for patients who wait day and night in long lines for basic health care in parts of the world with severe doctor shortages – not in a Third World country in Africa or Latin America but right here in the United States.

“Health care in America is a privilege of the well-to-do and the well-insured that leaves about 50 million people flat out of luck,” said Stan Brock, president of Remote Area Medical. People travel hundreds of miles and wait for days to see a doctor or dentist or to get their eyes checked at clinics Brock’s organization has held in communities like Los Angeles and Knoxville, Tenn.

Early/absentee ballots for the special Town wide vote to be held on April 17, are now available in the Brattleboro town clerk’s office. Anyone wishing to vote prior to April 17, may apply for an early/absentee ballot until 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 16. 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.

WASHINGTON, April 7 – More than two dozen senators have called for a significant funding increase for Older Americans Act programs like Meals on Wheels in order to keep up with the increasing needs of a growing population of elderly Americans.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chairman of a Senate subcommittee that oversees seniors’ programs, was joined by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and 25 of other colleagues in urging the chairman and ranking member of a Senate appropriations panel to provide at least a 12 percent increase in funding for the coming year.

WASHINGTON, April 2 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today blasted a Supreme Court ruling that voided legal limits on contributions by individual donors to political campaigns.

“Freedom of speech, in my view, does not mean the freedom to buy the United States government,” Sanders said.

The ruling gives wealthy donors like the billionaires Charles and David Koch more power to influence elections. An earlier ruling in Citizens United vs. FEC resulted in a record $7 billion being spent in the 2012 election cycle, including at least $400 million by the Koch brothers alone.

WASHINGTON, April 1– Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today welcomed significant progress by the Department of Veterans Affairs in reducing a disability claims backlog.

The VA announced today that its current backlog of claims pending more than 125 days is at its lowest point in three years. The backlog was reduced from 611,000 one year ago to 344,000 claims pending today, a 44 percent reduction. The VA also said the accuracy of the decisions on disability claims has improved.

(cross-posted from Green Mountain Daily, ; originally posted to Vermont Watch, here)

Although one is left to wonder about whether or not it is merely fool’s gold or the real thing, there have been recent rumors about how, on condition of anonymity, a top administration official is reported to have disclosed that Governor Peter Shumlin‘s plan to fund his single payer health care initiative could potentially include instituting taxes on what currently is non-taxable food and clothing purchases.

If you’re not a Town Representative, you might not know that there is an initiative happening right now to gather enough signatures to put the 2014-15 Town budget up for a referendum.

I support this initiative because the Town Representatives (elected representatives to Town Meeting) are not the be-all and end-all of Town politics … the people of Brattleboro ourselves are. The possibility of a referendum exists for this precise purpose; for a process to be invoked where the Town’s voters can over-rule the Town Representatives.