Press Releases

For the first time, a bill calling for mandatory limits on greenhouse gases was approved by a Senate panel. The Environment and Public Works Committee voted 11 to 8 for legislation to cap emissions of heat trapping gases. The measure was strengthened by provisions added by Senator Bernie Sanders, including a $300 billion commitment over the next four decades to encourage the development of renewable sources energy like solar, wind and geothermal power.

Snow blanketed Washington on Wednesday, as if on cue, setting the stage for the lighting ceremony for this year’s Capitol Christmas Tree. The 55-foot balsam fir harvested from the Green Mountain National Forest stands on a Capitol Hill slope overlooking the National Mall and the Washington Monument. Highlighting the lighting ceremony: the Mount Anthony Union High School Chamber Singers from Bennington, and Bradley Young, a 6th grade student from Randolph Elementary, joining House Speaker Nancy P

As Vermont dug out from the season’s first major winter snow storm and temperatures plunged below freezing, emergency legislation to provide $1 billion for home heating assistance was introduced today in the Senate by Senators Bernie Sanders and Patrick Leahy and in the House of Representatives by Congressman Peter Welch. “Skyrocketing home heating bills already are stretching household budgets,” Sanders said. “In the richest country on earth, we have a moral responsibility to make sure that n

Senator Bernie Sanders made the following statement on a United State-Peru trade agreement the Senate approved today:

“What
the overwhelming majority of the American people understand is that our
trade policy has been a complete failure, it has been bad for the U.S.
economy, and it has caused the loss of millions of decent-paying jobs.

Congress returns this week to take up a long to-do list that includes financing nearly every federal agency, and dealing with major questions on surveillance, the farm bill, Pentagon spending and energy policy. The energy bill would increase fuel economy standards for the first time in more than a decade. A critical Senate comittee vote on global warming is set for later in the week. Meanwhile, as the season’s first major storm blanketed Vermont with several inches of snow and temperatures were