BARRE, Vt.– The Old Labor Hall in Barre was built by Vermonters who worked in the local quarries and carved granite slabs more than a century ago. The hall was designed as a place to meet, organize, and fight for better lives for working families. The historic building was a fitting place for Sen. Bernie Sanders to begin a week-long series of town meetings which focused on the ailing economy and the budget battle under way in Washington, D.C. 

When the hall was built on Granite Street in 1900, Sanders said Vermonters understood the need to unify in order to improve wages and working conditions. Eugene Debs -- who formed the American Railway Union, led the Pullman strike of the 1890s, fought for women's suffrage, workmen's compensation, pensions and Social Security, founded the Socialist Party of America and ran for president five times --  spoke in the Old Labor Hall, Sanders said, calling the site “hallowed ground.”

The historic importance of the location resonated with some of the attendees, as well.  Roberta McLaughlin, 63, of East Montpelier, Vt., said some of her ancestors, including her grandfather who was a blacksmith in Barre, helped build the hall.  Like the generations that preceded her, McLaughlin said, “There is a lot we can do. We can stand up and be united.”

More than a century after the Labor Hall was built, working families in Vermont and throughout country are facing a similar struggle. Poverty is increasing, the middle class is shrinking and the gap between the rich and poor continues to grow.  With essential programs for families under attack by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, Sanders said, there is an opportunity for middle-class families to stand their ground and fight for a fair way to reduce the debt.

The town meeting in Barre was the first in a series of four held last week throughout Vermont. On Monday evening, a capacity crowd met with Sanders at the St. Albans Historical Museum. Roughly 300 more joined Sanders in Bennington Wednesday night. Another 250 joined attended the final town meeting on Thursday in South Burlington.  In all, roughly 1,000 people attended the meetings which addressed how the recession, which has lasted more than three years, has affected the lives of countless Vermonters. Sanders also addressed how to reduce the $14 trillion national debt in a fair and responsible way.

“This is your meeting,” Sanders told the more than 200 people who filled the Labor Hall on March 19, including Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) who joined Sanders as a special guest.

“When you turn on the TV today, you hear, ‘The recession is over. Everyone is doing just fine,’” Sanders said. “Does anyone believe that?”

Cries of “No!” poured from the audience.

Some people who attended spoke about the difficulty of finding good-paying jobs, others expressed concern about the hundreds of Vermont children that would be forced from Head Start under the Republican House budget, while others wanted to learn how best they could work together to fight back.

“We are all in this together and, ultimately, there are a lot more of us than them,” Sanders said.

Sue Davis, 51, of West Berlin, Vt., is one of hundreds of Vermonters that wrote a letter to Sanders which was included in “Struggling Through the Recession: Letters from Vermont,” a booklet published by the senator. Davis attended Saturday’s meeting to thank Sanders for listening and state that, as far as she is concerned: the recession is far from over.

The Republican House Budget

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a budget that is filled with cuts to programs relied upon by children, students, seniors and working families.  The Senate voted down the House budget earlier this month, but Republicans are threatening to shut down the government on April 8 unless their draconian budget passes. Sanders voted against the House budget because it made devastating cuts to Head Start, Pell grants, community health centers, LIHEAP, the Social Security Administration and many other programs that are vitally important to millions of middle-class families. 

Sanders believes the deficit crisis is extremely serious, but that deficit reduction cannot be solely based on cutting programs desperately needed by working families. Specifically, he has introduced legislation that would create a 5.4 percent surcharge on income over $1 million.  A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found that 81 percent – more than four of every five people – support such a tax to help reduce the debt. The surcharge would generate up to $50 billion each year and would prevent nearly all of the $61 billion of draconian cuts included in the House budget.

A Special Guest

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) joined Sanders’ panel on Saturday afternoon and expressed his concern about information flow on the Internet and the importance of “net neutrality,” which would eliminate the possibility of corporations gaining more control over what Americans see and read. Corporations, he said, are pushing for a “pay prioritization” model that would ensure faster Internet downloads for their content, giving them undue influence over what Americans read.

“That is my biggest fear,” Franken said.

Franken credited Sanders with fighting for the interests of working families in Vermont and throughout the country.  “You have a great senator in Bernie Sanders,” he said. “This man is fighting for you with every core ounce of his body.”

To highlight the impact of one of the proposed cuts, Marianne Miller, the Head Start director at the Central Vermont Community Action Council served on Sanders’ panel and said 336 of Vermont’s 1,500 slots in the education and nutrition program for low-income children would be lost if the budget passed the Republican House is enacted. That would mean that 25 classrooms would close and 121 Vermont jobs would be lost.  Nationally, roughly 220,000 children would be forced from the program. “The situation is severe,” she said, adding “and we are seeing childhood poverty increase, not decrease.”

“When people are hurting, we as a nation are going to be there for them. That’s what our country should be about,” Sanders said.

Hal Cohen, the executive director of Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity, Heather Weinstein of the Community College of Vermont, and Leslie Mathews of the Vermont State Employees' Association addressed how the cuts passed by the House would affect low-income Vermonters, including 13,000 Vermont college students.

Mathews called upon Vermonters to work together and fight for efforts such as a single-paying health care plan. “When we get together, we can create change.  And Vermont can be an example for the rest of the country,” she said.

“The reason that I do these meetings is that I want people to know that they are not alone, that there are tens of millions of Americans that are hurting today," Sanders told the Bennington Banner. "My job is to represent the people of Vermont and I can’t do that very well unless I hear what they have to say."