Bernie Sanders

Senate Committee Adopts Sanders Proposal on Oil Price Speculation

WASHINGTON, June 9 – A Senate panel on Tuesday adopted a proposal by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to make big oil traders divulge reserves held in offshore tankers to skirt reporting requirements, distort supply records and artificially drive up prices.

As crude oil rose above $70 a barrel and gasoline climbed to an eight-month high, Sanders also announced that he will introduce legislation to require the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to use emergency powers to stem oil price manipulation.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, June 5 – Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced today a major step toward establishing Vermont’s ninth Federally Qualified Health Center in Addison County.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services yesterday designated five Addison County towns as underserved in terms of access to health care. The towns are Bristol, Lincoln, Monkton, Starksboro and Buels Gore. The designation is needed before federal funds may be sought to establish and run a health center to provide primary health care, dental care, mental health counseling and low-cost prescription drugs.

A community group, the Five Town Health Alliance, was formed two years ago to assess the area’s health care needs. It is leading the effort to establish a health center.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, July 3 – Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a member of the Senate health committee, made the following statement following a meeting he arranged between single-payer health care advocates and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.):    » read more »

Vermont Delegation Announces $39 Million In Economic Stimulus Funds for Statewide Clean Water Projects At St. Albans Press Conference

ST.ALBANS, June 1, 2009 – Senator Bernie Sanders, Congressman Peter Welch and a representative of Senator Patrick Leahy announced today the release of $39 million in economic stimulus funds during a press conference at the St. Albans Bay Village Pavilion.    » read more »

ST.ALBANS, JUNE 1 – Senator Bernie Sanders, Congressman Peter Welch and a representative of Senator Patrick Leahy announced today the release of $39 million in economic stimulus funds during a press conference at the St. Albans Bay Village Pavilion.

The grants and low-interest loans, to be distributed through the Environmental Protection Agency, will go to 41 wastewater clean-up projects and 42 drinking water projects throughout Vermont. The funds, which were made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, will help municipalities finance overdue improvements to wastewater and clean drinking water projects essential to protecting public health and the environment, while creating new jobs in Vermont.    » read more »

BURLINGTON, Vt., May 29 – As crude oil prices jumped to the highest level in six months, Senator Bernie Sanders urged federal regulators yesterday to stop speculators from artificially driving up prices.

Sanders said the Commodity Futures Trading Commission should use its emergency powers – which include the authority to impose speculation limits, increase margin requirements, and suspend trading – in order to ensure that oil prices accurately reflect supply and demand.

“I hope you will seize this opportunity to redefine the CFTC as a strong regulator that will do everything within its power to benefit consumers,” Sanders said in a letter to Gary Gensler, the commission’s new chairman.    » read more »

BURLINGTON, May 27 – Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced today that he secured $500,000 for Vermont public schools to install solar panels, the latest development in the senator’s ongoing campaign to transform Vermont’s energy system.

“We must move, as aggressively as possible, to become energy independent, to address the crisis of greenhouse gas emissions and global warming and, in the process, create millions of new jobs over a period of years in the clean-energy field,” Sanders said. “In my view, this is one of the transformational issues of our time and I very much hope that Vermont will be a national leader in this area.”    » read more »

BURLINGTON, May 26, 2009 – Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement on the announcement today by President Obama that he will nominate federal appeals court Judge Sonia Sotomayor for a seat on the Supreme Court.

“In nominating Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, I very much appreciate that President Obama is attempting to address the gender and ethnic imbalance that currently exists in the highest court in our land.

"As the nominating process unfolds, I look forward to hearing Judge Sotomayor’s views on the most important issues that the Supreme Court will be addressing.    » read more »

WASHINGTON (Friday, May 22, 2009) – The U.S. Senators from Vermont and New Hampshire have introduced the Upper Connecticut River Partnership Act of 2009, legislation that would help conserve the largest ecosystem in New England.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, May 18, 2009 – Senator Bernie Sanders today welcomed reports that President Barack Obama will make all cars and small trucks sold in America meet strong anti-pollution rules first adopted by Vermont, California and other states.

The states had been blocked by the Environmental Protection Agency during the administration of President George W. Bush from enforcing laws that were tougher than national standards.    » read more »

BURLINGTON, May 18, 2009 – As the nation prepares to observe Memorial Day, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today highlighted two important new benefits for veterans in Vermont and across the country.

A new GI Bill will dramatically boost education benefits for veterans who enlisted after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Another reform Sanders fought for as a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee will reopen the doors of VA hospitals and clinics to many middle-class veterans knocked off the eligibility rolls six years ago.    » read more »

Sens. Menendez and Sanders Appload Inclusion of $300 Million in Appropriations Bill; Grant program would support energy efficiency and renewable energy efforts for municipal and county governments

08/01/2008 -- WASHINGTON – Last night, the Senate Appropriations Committee released details of a supplemental appropriations bill providing $24.1 billion in infrastructure, housing, natural disaster recovery and energy assistance.

It includes a $300 million competitive grant program to help communities invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy. The program is based on a proposal championed by U.S. Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and will help communities struggling with higher energy costs and will help combat global warming.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, June 6 – Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) commented on today’s report that the jobless rate in May jumped to 5.5 percent. He also reacted to a Senate filibuster that blocked legislation on global warming.

The Labor Department reported that employers last month shed 49,000 jobs resulting in the biggest jump in the jobless rate in more than two decades.

Sanders said, “The news about increased unemployment is obviously not good. In my view, what we need to do as soon as possible is to put increased funds into rebuilding our crumbing infrastructure – that’s our roads, our bridges, our culverts, our wastewater plants – and then we deal not only a serious national problem, but we put many people to work.”    » read more »

BURLINGTON, June 2 – Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said today that excessive speculation on oil futures by Wall Street hedge funds and such major financial investment houses as Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Chase are driving oil and gas prices much higher than they should be based on supply and demand fundamentals.

Gas prices in Elmont, New York, June 2, 2008: Photo by scarlatti2004 (CC)    » read more »

WASHINGTON, May 22 – The Senate today approved legislation that includes support for veterans and for people who need help paying spiraling home heating bills. Both provisions were championed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

Sanders played a pivotal behind-the-scenes role in securing an additional $1 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. “At a time when the cost of oil is soaring, it is important to expand the home heating assistance program to make certain that no Vermonter goes cold next winter.”    » read more »