News June 11
Senator Sanders
Oil Prices Sen.
Bernie Sanders introduced legislation Wednesday to force federal
regulators to invoke emergency powers to stop oil speculation, The
Fed Secrecy The Federal Reserve yesterday started disclosing a wider range of
information about its lending programs, aiming to stanch growing
concerns among lawmakers that it is too secretive. Sen. Bernie
Sanders, who sponsored a Senate resolution that urged the Fed to
identify borrowers of more than $2 trillion, called Chairman Ben
Bernanke’s latest effort “completely insufficient,” The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press, Bloomberg and the Bureau of National Affairs reported. LINK, LINK, LINK and LINK
Flood Maps The federal government is mapping out flood zones across the
Health Care An
ABC News/Washington Post poll showed that 62 percent of Americans would
prefer a universal health insurance program, but Sen. Max Baucus, who
chairs the Finance Committee, is not open to the idea. The
Minneapolis-based MinnPost.com noted that Sen. Sanders said on C-SPAN that Baucus wouldn't be open to a single-payer plan "in a million years." LINK
War Funding “Congress is now voting on funding the wars in
Shenanigans As Mayor Bob Kiss fights Democrats on the city council, Seven Days columnist Shay Totten said today’s “shenanigans” are reminiscent of a 1981 clash involving another Democratic-controlled council trying to block appointments by a new independent mayor. “Their power ploy catapulted Sanders all the way to the U.S. Senate,” Totten wrote. John Franco, Sanders’ city attorney, said history is repeating itself. “I’m watching the Democrats make the same mistakes now as they did then.” LINK
Sanders Alumna Bethany Kosmider is challenging 14-year Republican Supervisor Dale French for the job of
International
Rallies Close Out Iranian Campaign President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged his supporters Wednesday not to
resort to violence as Iran’s presidential election campaign wound to a
close with massive, competing demonstrations in the streets of the
capital, The Washington Post reported from Tehran. LINK
National
Obama Takes Health Care Agenda on Road President Barack Obama, facing challenges to his ambitious health care
overhaul from Congress, is visiting supporters outside the capital and
turning to them to muster up momentum for one of his top legislative
priorities. Obama on Thursday readied to fly to
Doctors’ Group Opposes Public Insurance Plan The American Medical Association is letting Congress know that it will
oppose creation of a government-sponsored insurance plan, which
President Obama and many other Democrats see as an essential element of
legislation to remake the health care system. The opposition, which
comes as Obama prepares to address the powerful doctors’ group on
Monday in
All Eyes on the CBO Since Douglas W. Elmendorf took the helm of the Congressional Budget
Office in late January, he delivered a skeptical analysis of a stimulus
package intended to rescue the U.S. economy, forecast
bigger-than-expected losses from a $700 billion bailout of the U.S.
financial system and poured ice water on President Obama's claims that
his policies would stabilize the exploding national debt. Now Elmendorf
faces the toughest task of his brief tenure: attaching a price to a
monumental overhaul of the nation's health-care system, The Washington Post reported. LINK
Savings for Small Business in Health Plan Many
small businesses are vehemently opposed to the idea of requiring
employers to help pay for their workers’ medical coverage, but an
analysis by the nonprofit Small Business Majority, to be released
Thursday, concludes that the changes would be better for small
employers than continuing the current system, which leaves many of
those businesses struggling to afford health benefits for their
workers, according to The New York Times. LINK
Treasury to Set Executives’ Pay at 7 Ailing Firms The Obama administration’s proposal to restrict executive pay is likely
to be a humbling exercise for seven of the nation’s largest companies,
which have received billions of dollars in federal assistance to
survive the economic crisis, The New York Times reported. The Treasury Department appointed a well-known
At a
Senate to Vote on Tobacco A tobacco control bill set to win Senate approval would give the
federal government broad new powers to monitor and change a toxic
substance that contributes to some 400,000 deaths every year. The
legislation, heading for a vote Thursday, would for the first time give
the Food and Drug Administration legal authority to regulate the sale,
manufacturing and marketing of tobacco products, AP reported. LINK
Lawmakers Invested in Bailed-Out Firms Top House lawmakers had considerable holdings in major financial
institutions that took billions of dollars in taxpayer bailouts at the
end of last year, according to annual financial disclosure reports
released yesterday. From stock holdings to retirement funds to
mortgages, more than 20 House leaders and members of the House
Financial Services Committee had large personal stakes in the Wall
Street powerhouses whose collapse last year led to an unprecedented
government intervention in the marketplace, The Washington Post reported. LINK
Trade Stimulus The
U.S. Department of Labor released more than $450 million -- including
$558,082 for Vermont -- in trade adjustment assistance to help
displaced workers whose jobs were lost because of outsourcing and
foreign competition.
Schools Stimulus Leaders from area schools have begun to apply for federal grants under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, The Rutland Herald reported. At
Green Jobs A new national study says jobs in
Sales Tax Holidays
