The Senate voted to expand services for veterans. The legislation includes a provision by Senator Bernie Sanders for a national veterans outreach program. Also on Capitol Hill, safety concerns about the aging Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant were aired at a Senate oversight hearing. At the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, President Bush made good on his threat to veto a children’s health insurance program, a move Sanders called “beyond comprehension.” There was good news. A 101-year-old Vermonter was honored in the nation’s capital as “America’s Oldest Worker.”
Veterans Outreach The Senate approved $10 million for a national outreach program to assist returning service members and their families. The program, proposed by Senator Sanders, is modeled on a first-of-its-kind program in Vermont. “We have a moral responsibility to reach out to these soldiers and their families and to help them,” Sanders said.
Vermont Yankee “I would hope the people of Vermont would have confidence in the NRC,” Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Dale Klein told Senator Bernie Sanders at a Senate hearing on Wednesday. “They don’t,” Sanders interjected. Seated before a dramatic photograph of a cooling tower that collapsed on August 21 at the power plant in Vernon, Vt., the senator also mentioned a recent reactor shutdown at Vermont Yankee. “Because of the very real feeling that the NRC functions as a rubber stamp for the nuclear industry, Sanders has introduced legislation that would give states the right to ask for independent safety assessments,” the Brattleboro Reformer noted in an editorial. “The NRC has dismissed this idea [but] we frankly do not trust Entergy nor the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to make decisions with the safety of this region in mind.”
Children’s Health Care Vermont’s Congressional Delegation condemned President Bush’s veto of legislation renewing the Children’s Health Insurance Program. “We are the only country in the industrialized world that does not provide health care for all people. The idea that Bush would veto this legislation to provide health care for children is beyond comprehension. The bill would undo a Bush administration rule change that could cut coverage more than 2,000 Vermont children.
Vermonter Honored as America Values Ray Jenkins, a 101-year-old Colchester resident, was honored at a dinner ceremony on Friday as “America’s Oldest Worker.” Sanders, who started a new job when he was 65 years old, presented the award at a press conference on Thursday. Mr. Jenkins “is a model for people who are capable of being productive as they get older. Congratulations on a life well lived,” the senator said. The award is sponsored by Experience Works, which helps low-income seniors get the training they need to find good jobs in their local communities.
