Senator Sanders

Sanders Takes on Emanuel Sen. Bernie Sanders took White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel to task on Tuesday for suggesting that a public option with triggers could be a potential compromise on health care reform. "Emanuel is dead wrong," Sanders said. "The triggers are meaningless,” he told The Huffington Post. Seeking to quell a firestorm, Emanuel reassured House Democrats on Tuesday night that President Obama strongly backs a government-run health insurance plan. LINK

Drug Prices The chief lobbyist for brand-name drug makers said he has heard reassuring words from White House officials about the longstanding issue of allowing re-importation of prescription drugs from other countries. Sen. Bernie Sanders told The Wall Street Journal he disagrees with any move to drop the re-importation idea. He has pushed to import drugs from Canada, where they are cheaper because of price controls. "I will fight for this," said Sen. Sanders, adding that he intends to raise the matter with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel "first thing in the morning." LINK

Oil Prices U.S. regulators say they may clamp down on oil and gas price speculators by limiting the holdings of energy futures traders, including index and exchange-traded funds. Sen. Sanders has introduced legislation that would force the CFTC to invoke emergency authority to stop oil speculation, Bloomberg and The Boston Globe reported.  Sanders and Rep. Peter Welch have been vocal critics of hedge funds and investment banks, accusing both of driving up oil prices, the Rutland Herald reported. “You'll never hear this from anybody else except for maybe Bernie Sanders…” CNBC’s Jim Cramer asserted. LINK, LINK, LINK and VIDEO

Climate Change Democrats in the Senate on Tuesday began a drive to advance climate change legislation. Some Democrats and environmentalists oppose new help for the nuclear industry. "Nuclear waste is highly toxic," said Senator Bernard Sanders, an Independent. "To the best of my knowledge, no state in the union wants it," Reuters reported. LINK

Renewable Energy Sen. Sanders is backing renewable energy. At an environment committee hearing Tuesday on major climate change legislation, Sanders highlighted a recent trip to Middlebury College, WCAX reported. "I went to a plant that they have on campus which is using wood chips replacing oil. They're saving $700,000 a year, creating local jobs and cutting greenhouse gas emissions." Sanders said the rest of the country should look to Vermont for more examples of how to use alternative energy sources. LINK and VIDEO

Senator Franken “What you will see in Al Franken as he enters the Senate is an intelligent guy, a serious legislator and a very progressive member of the United States Senate,” Sanders said on WPTZ. Franken exchanged hugs with most of his Democratic colleagues and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent, The Associated Press and The Washington Post reported. LINK, LINK and VIDEO

International

G-8 Summit President Obama joined world leaders in Italy Wednesday for critical talks on threats to global security and stability at a summit where climate change, a continuing global economic crisis and world hunger took top billing, The Associated Press reported. Chinese President Hu Jintao canceled plans to attend the summit and flew home early Wednesday after reports that chaos and panic had spread throughout the capital of China's far western region of Xinjiang. Clashes that erupted Sunday left more than 150 dead. LINK and LINK

National

Leaders Press Case for Unity Senate Democratic leaders have stepped up the pressure on their rank and file to unify on procedural votes after finally gaining a filibuster-proof majority, but centrists who have long been headaches for the leadership are so far refusing to commit to the strategy. Majority Whip Dick Durbin said Tuesday that he and Senate Leader Harry Reid will be asking the 60-member Democratic caucus to “stick together” on procedural votes that would allow the chamber to begin or end debate on legislation, Roll Call reported. LINK

Reid Loses Patience on Health Bill Senate Majority Leader Reid on Tuesday strongly urged Finance Chairman Max Baucus to drop a proposal to tax health benefits and stop chasing Republican votes on a massive health care reform bill. Reid offered the directive to Baucus through an intermediary after consulting with Senate Democratic leaders during Tuesday morning’s regularly scheduled leadership meeting, Roll Call reported. LINK

Corruption Cases A former executive of a Pennsylvania defense firm with close ties to Rep. John P. Murtha has agreed to plead guilty to taking bribes from a partner defense company and is cooperating in a federal investigation of Pentagon contracting, records show. Meanwhile, a federal jury in Alexandria, Va., watched video of a former Louisiana congressman William Jefferson accepting a suitcase filled with $100,000 in cash outside a northern Virginia hotel, The Washington Post and AP reported. LINK and LINK

Vermont

Health Care For most of the 47,000 Vermonters without health insurance, the biggest obstacle is its cost, according to newly released details from a household health insurance survey by the state health care agency.  The survey findings were presented Tuesday to the Legislature’s Health Care Reform Commission, The Burlington Free Press reported. LINK

Recession A Vermont Business Roundtable survey shows chief executives at Vermont's major companies are cautious about capital spending and employment levels for the summer and fall. Twenty-one percent of respondents said they expected to increase employment over the next six months, about the same as in the first quarter. Twenty-nine percent expected to have fewer employees, compared with 40 percent in the first quarter, according to The Associated Press. LINK