Todays news from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.): Veterans: The Senate this week could take up a bill by Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Bernard Sanders to expand veterans’ health care and also repeal a 1 percentage point cut to the annual adjustment for military retirees included in the new budget deal. Supporters say it would be paid for with cuts in overseas contingency operations funds for the Pentagon and other agencies, Congressional Quarterly and National Journal reported. Farm Bill: The Senate today is expected to draw closer to clearing a new House-passed farm bill that was nearly three years in the making. “This is a huge and complicated bill which has some very positive provisions but also some negative ones,” Sen. Sanders said in a Bennington Banner editorial. “The good news is that this legislation provides support for family-based dairy farmers in Vermont and throughout the country. The bad news is that it makes harmful cuts in nutrition programs.” NSA Spying: The National Security Agency is collecting everything from text messages to Google map pins and cell phone records without probable cause from millions of Americans who have never committed a crime, vtdigger.org reported. Sen. Sanders asked. “How do we protect people from a terrorist attack, but do it in a way that does not undermine our democracy and the privacy rights that make us a free country?” Climate Change: “Sen. Sanders is a vocal advocate in the push to combat climate change. He has introduced … legislation that aims to lower greenhouse gas emissions and reduce our reliance on dirty fossil fuels … [He] is willing to take on the special interest polluters and work with his peers to protect our health and preserve our planet for future generations,” Brian Shupe, the Vermont Natural Resource Council executive director, wrote in a letter to the editor of the Burlington Free Press. Continue reading here: sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/newswatch/020314
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 14:24:03 +0000
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