Senator Sanders

Depressed and Disgusted on Day 14 With no deal in sight on Capitol Hill, the government on Monday entered the 14^th day of a partial shutdown and the United States moved closer to defaulting on its debts later this week.On WPTZ-TV on Monday, Sanders noted the ramifications if the country defaults. “It is likely that interest rates will spike for home mortgages, car loans, student loans and credit cards. This must not be allowed to happen.” On the gridlock in Washington, Sanders told anchor Joey Chen, “I am frustrated. I am depressed. I am disgusted.” His comments came in an interview broadcast Sunday on Al Jazeera America. VIDEO, VIDEO 

Citizens United and the Shutdown “Freedom of speech, in my view, does not mean the freedom to buy the United States government,” Sen. Sanders said outside the Supreme Court last week after justices heard oral arguments in a case that Sanders and others condemned as another step toward rule by the richest. Many political analysts trace at least one root of the current federal shutdown to the high court’s Citizens United decision which permitted massive donations by corporations and other outside groups that help sustain the congressional contingent of extreme Republican conservatives, KCBS-AM in San Francisco and other CBS Radio News affiliates reported on Sunday. AUDIO 

Obamacare The shutdown began Oct. 1 over House Republican demands to defund Obamacare. Asked about the health care law, Sen. Sanders said the Affordable Care Act “is a good, moderate, Republican proposal which does important things. It expands health insurance to another 20 or 30 million very important. It puts some restriction on what private insurance companies can do. But if we're serious about providing health care to all people in a cost-effective way, what you have to do so is move to a Medicare-for-all, single-payer program,” Sanders added in an interview broadcast on Sunday on Al Jazeera America. VIDEO, VIDEO

Medicare for All “Medicare is really quite a remarkable program that has been successful on a lot of fronts. It has very low overhead, compared to private insurance companies, so more dollars are actually spent on delivering health care. And it covers a population that nobody wants to cover, seniors. You know, every year Bernie Sanders proposes just expanding Medicare to everyone,” Dr. Ryan Simon said in a discussion of the Affordable Care Act in Sunday’s Dayton (Ohio) Daily News. 

Agent Orange Garry DuFour, a disabled veteran who served with the Army from 1968 until 1970 later went on to work for Sen. Alan Cranston on legislation to help soldiers hurt by the defoliant Agent Orange. DuFour assembled letters and other public records related to the soldiers sickened by the chemical agent. He recently opened his personal archive, inviting Sen. Sanders in his capacity as chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs to see the records, the Rutland Herald reported. LINK

World

World Leaders Press the U.S. on Fiscal Crisis Leaders at World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings on Sunday pleaded, warned and cajoled: the United States must raise its debt ceiling and reopen its government or risk “massive disruption the world over,” as Christine Lagarde, the fund’s managing director, put it. The fiscal problems of the United States overshadowed the official agendas for the meetings, with representatives from dozens of countries — including two of Washington’s most important economic partners, Saudi Arabia and China — publicly expressing worries about what was happening on Capitol Hill and in the White House, The New York Times reported. LINK

National

Debt Crisis Stalemated Senate leaders waited nervously to see whether financial markets would plunge Monday morning and drive the other side toward compromise. Republicans cobbled together a plan to end the government shutdown — now entering its third week — and raise the $16.7 trillion debt limit. But with the Treasury Department due to exhaust its borrowing power in just four days, Democrats wielded that leverage to maximum advantage. Rather than making concessions that Republicans at first demanded, Democrats are now on the offensive and seeking to undo deep agency spending cuts known as the sequester, The Washington Post reported. LINK

Banks Dump T-Bills Large financial firms have been unloading investments once considered pristine, suggesting a wild week ahead for markets. Banks are dumping short-term government debt, usually one of the most plain-vanilla investments available, amid fears that Congress and the White House won't reach an agreement by Thursday to raise the debt ceiling, The Wall Street Journal reported. LINK

Social Security For the second straight year, millions of Social Security recipients, disabled veterans and federal retirees can expect historically small increases in benefits come January. Preliminary figures suggest an increase of 1.5 percent, among the smallest since automatic increases were adopted in 1975, according to The Associated Press. The exact cost-of-living adjustment won't be known until the Labor Department releases the inflation report for September. That was supposed to happen Wednesday, but was delayed indefinitely because of the partial government shutdown. LINK

Veterans March on the Memorials Hundreds of veterans descended on Washington on Sunday for the “Million Vet March on the Memorials.” Frustrated with the government shutdown, protesters tore down barricades from closed monuments and memorials and piled them outside the White House. It was the latest burst of public outrage over lawmakers’ inability to compromise over the budget, leading to a shutdown that has crippled government services and left tens of thousands of federal employees furloughed, The Washington Post reported. LINK

Vermont

F-35s Vermont’s largest city has purchased an insurance policy for protection against potential lawsuits in connection with its airport. While exploring the legal possibility of banning F-35 fighter jets from the Burlington International Airport, city attorney Eileen Blackwood discovered Burlington wasn’t insured against lawsuits stemming from airport-related issues. That city changed that on Friday when it purchased a policy that insures the city for up to $5 million in the event of a lawsuit, The Associated Press reported. LINK