Senate Approves Veterans Outreach Program

The Senate approved $10 million for a national outreach program to assist returning service members and their families. The program, proposed by Senator Bernie Sanders, is modeled on a first-of-its-kind program in Vermont funded with $1 million previously secured by Sanders. “We have a moral responsibility to reach out to these soldiers and their families and to help them,” Sanders

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Reaching Out to Veterans

“Retired Vermont National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Michael Currier heads out looking for service members who are having trouble readjusting to civilian life. Some days, he meets with members of the clergy, soldiers’ wives, parents, employers, sometimes the police. And of course, he meets with the soldiers themselves. Based in Springfield, he’s looking for soldiers having trouble resuming a routine after having spent time in Iraq or Afghanistan,” began an Associated Press article on a first-of-its-ki

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Commission on Wartime Contracting

The Senate on Monday approved a major Department of Defense policy bill that includes a provision cosponsored by Senator Bernie Sanders to create a commission to investigate U.S. wartime contracting abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan. “There is already a lot of evidence that they have overcharged the taxpayers of this country. Money that should’ve been going to our soldiers has been going to make very wealthy people even wealthier,” Sanders told Vermont Public Radio.

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Vt. Delegation Reacts to President Bush’s Veto of Children’s Health Insurance Program

Vermont’s Congressional Delegation – Sen. Patrick Leahy (D), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I), and Rep. Peter Welch (D) – issued the following reaction to President Bush’s veto of legislation renewing the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The legislation protects insurance coverage for 6.6 million children currently enrolled in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and pro

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2005 Incomes, on Average, Still Below 2000 Peak

By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON Correction Appended Americans earned a smaller average income in 2005 than in 2000, the fifth consecutive year that they had to make ends meet with less money than at the peak of the last economic expansion, new government data shows. While incomes have been on the rise since 2002, the average income in 2005 was $55,238,

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