Press Releases

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 – The Senate set a vote for late tonight on a Department of Defense bill that would authorize $625 billion for the military. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said he will vote “no” and issued the following statement: “At a time when the United States has a $17.2 trillion national debt and when we spend almost as much on

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 – Vermont today won a $37 million federal grant to develop a statewide, pre-kindergarten program at public schools. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a member of the Senate education committee, worked closely with federal officials and Gov. Peter Shumlin’s administration to secure the grant for early childhood education. Sanders said, “Psychologists tell us that, in terms of human

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 – The Senate tonight passed and sent to President Barack Obama a budget that averts another government shutdown, eases sharp spending cuts known as sequestration and spares Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid from proposed cuts in benefits. In what he called a difficult decision, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) voted with the 64 – 36 majority to pass

WASHINGTON, Dec. 17 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) voted today to advance a House-passed budget agreement that averts another government shutdown and rejects proposals to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits. “This was a difficult vote for me. The bill achieves the bare minimum that Americans expect of Congress but does not address the most important problems that our

WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement today after a federal judge declared that the bulk collection of Americans’ telephone records by the National Security Agency is likely to violate the Constitution’s ban on unreasonable searches and probably is not effective in fighting terrorism: “I applaud the D.C. District Court’s ruling today on the NSA surveillance

WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 – The Department of Veterans Affairs has reduced a disability claims backlog but more work remains to be done, according to testimony today before the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the committee chairman, cited “good news about significant progress” in addressing “one of the major challenges confronting the VA.” He spoke at the