Senator Sanders

Highways A transportation bill making its way through the Senate would give Vermont more than $1.3 billion for road work. Sen. Bernie Sanders helped draft the bill. It would give all 50 states a total of $278 billion in federal highway aid from 2016 through 2021. Sanders also included a provision that would lower the cost of borrowing federal money for rural projects, WVNY-TV reported. VIDEO

Voting Rights Congressional Democrats on Wednesday introduced legislation to restore the Voting Rights Act. The landmark law was gutted by a Supreme Court ruling two years ago.  “We should do everything possible to guarantee the right to vote, not make it harder for people to cast ballots,” Sen. Sanders said in The Nation.  LINK

Income Inequality In an interview on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition,” Sen. Sanders discussed the disappearing American middle class, the grotesque level income and wealth inequality in the United States and the need for a jobs program to address high unemployment. LINK

Guns In the wake of last week's Charleston church shootings, Sen. Sanders said gun control “is an issue that needs to be discussed. I think that urban America has got to respect what rural America is about, where 99 percent of the people in my state who hunt are law abiding people,” Sanders told NPR. LINK 

Trade A long legislative battle ended Wednesday in a Senate vote giving President Obama new powers to negotiate trade agreements. “Both Obama and his trade critics, including Bernie Sanders and, to a lesser degree, Hillary Clinton, insist that protecting American workers is their top priority,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

Senior Income Sen. Sanders claimed that 1 in 5 seniors “live on an average income of $7,600 a year.” The source for the statistic has revised it to $8,263, using more up-to-date figures and adjusting for a minor mistake. Still, these seniors still face incredible hardship, Fact Check concluded. LINK  

National

Officials Masked Severity Of Hack The Obama administration for more than a week avoided disclosing the severity of an intrusion into federal computers by defining it as two breaches but divulging just one, The Wall Street Journal reported. That approach has frustrated lawmakers as they probe the administration’s handling of one of the biggest-ever thefts of government records. LINK

Trade Victory for Obama President Obama won new powers from Congress on Wednesday to bring home an expansive Pacific Rim free-trade deal that analysts said could boost U.S. economic standing in Asia and ultimately burnish his foreign policy legacy, The Washington Post reported. LINK

Obama to Attend Funeral in Charleston President Obama will travel to Charleston, S.C., on Friday to deliver the eulogy for the pastor who was gunned down along with eight other worshipers at his church last week, the White House said. First lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Biden are also scheduled to attend the funeral for the Rev. Clementa Pinckney of the Emanuel AME Church, the historic sanctuary where last week's killings took place, USA Today reported. LINK

Vermont 

Vermont Health Connect The Legislature has adjourned for the year. But the work of one House committee isn’t over yet. A panel of lawmakers will meet this summer to determine whether the state should pursue an alternative to Vermont Health Connect, Vermont Public Radio reported. LINK