Sanders Statement on Payroll Tax

WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 – Congress today passed a $150 billion package extending a cut in the Social Security payroll tax and continuing benefits for the long-term unemployed. The House vote was 293-132. The Senate voted 60 to 36. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) voted no and issued the following statement: “I very strongly believe the middle class needs a tax break and clearly we must extend unemployment

Read More »

Senators Support Saving the Postal Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 – A group of 27 senators called today for “significant improvements” in a bill to modernize the U.S. Postal Service. In a letter to a Senate panel that oversees the Postal Service, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and 26 other senators suggested specific measures to preserve first-class and Saturday mail delivery, stop wholesale closings of rural post offices and mail processing centers, and

Read More »

Sanders Says Highway Bill Would Begin to Address ‘Infrastructure Crisis’

BURLINGTON, Vt., Feb. 13 – As the U.S. Senate gears up to debate a transportation funding bill this week, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) told a press conference in Vermont that the measure would provide $408 million for the state over the next two years. Sanders was joined at the press conference by Vermont Transportation Secretary Brian Searles. Stressing the importance

Read More »

Leahy, Sanders, Welch: Vermont Veterans Home Makes Short List For Likely VA Funding For E-Medical Records

WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 – Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) Friday announced that the Vermont Veterans Home (VVH) in Bennington is on a high priority list to receive federal funding for an electronic medical records system from the Department of Veterans Affairs.  If approved, more than $790,000 would be awarded for the project, through

Read More »

State Department IG Finds Flaws in Pipeline Review

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 – A special internal review by the State Department inspector general faulted aspects of the department’s handling of a proposal to build a crude oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) last Nov. 7 asked Howard W. Geisel, the acting inspector general, to examine apparent conflicts

Read More »

USPS Watchdog Says Retirement Reserves Already Are ‘Astonishingly High’

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 – At a time when the U.S. Postal Service is considering deep cuts in services and jobs, an internal watchdog today told Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that a big funding cushion already has been built into the mail service’s retirement and health benefit funds. Billions of dollars owed to the funds have been cited by Postal Service

Read More »