Senator Sanders

House in Disarray, Senate Scrambles, Default Looms, Government Stays Shuttered, Sanders Says it’s ‘Frightening’ With the federal government on the brink of default, Senate leaders resumed talks on a deal to reopen the government and extend the Treasury Department’s debt limit. Senate leaders were blindsided Tuesday by news that House Republicans were moving forward on competing legislation, but that effort fizzled when Speaker John Boehner failed to pick up enough votes from right-wing Republicans. “In the Republican House these guys cannot agree on anything so it is a bit of a frightening situation,” Sen. Bernie Sanders told Vermont Public Radio. Sanders doesn’t like it that the Senate compromise that was in the works would solve the problem for only a few months, but he told VPR, “I am willing to back off of that and say, 'Alright, we have to avert the crisis right now in front of us.’” LINK

Sanders Sees a Way Out “Let’s take a deep breath,” Sen. Sanders told CNN on Tuesday. "What I hope and expect happens is in the 12th hour, Boehner looks his right-wing extremists in the eye and says, 'Look guys, I have gone as far as I can with you. I cannot allow a default to take place. I cannot allow this entire world's economy to go into recession. We're going to work with the Democrats. We're going to pass what the Senate has brought us.’ And that's the way out.” VIDEO

Budget Conference Whenever the dust settles on the debt and government shutdown crises, the House and Senate appear likely to embark on a new round of budget talks under the auspices of a now-rare bicameral conference committee. Sen. Sanders is on the Budget Committee and could be among the negotiators pushing for new tax money. “One out of four corporations in this country does not pay any federal income taxes,” Sanders told Roll Call. “Clearly, that’s an absurdity that has to be addressed and be part of that negotiation.” LINK

Border Crossing Delays Sen. Sanders hosted an August meeting with Vermont state officials and business interests to urge Customs and Border Protection management to address staff shortages that have resulted in long lines and frustrating delays entering the United States. “It’s from both an economic point of view and a security point of view not a good situation,” Sanders told the Burlington Free Press. LINK

Health Care Sen. Sanders hosted a forum to press the case that repealing the health care law — which has become the key point of contention in the debate over funding the government — would be a “death sentence” for thousands of Americans without health insurance, Congressional Quarterly reported. The government shutdown, now into its third week, took hold because of Republican insistence that the 2010 overhaul be defunded or delayed. “For all of those folks who are saying, ‘We have to repeal the Affordable Care Act,’ what they are doing is passing a death sentence on many of our fellow Americans,” Sanders said. LINK

World

China Rails at U.S. China has become shrill in its criticism of the fiscal train wreck in the United States, arguing that the answer to a potential government default is to begin creating a “de-Americanized world.” Beijing is the world’s largest investor in American public debt, with at least $1.3 trillion in holdings. But China does not have many options. Despite efforts to steer its economy away from exports and toward domestic demand, China generates billions of dollars of excess cash that it needs to park somewhere. And for all the chaos in Washington, Treasury bonds remain a safer investment than most alternatives. Nevertheless, that dependence may explain the stridency of a recent commentary published by the official Xinhua news agency calling for the replacement of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency “so that the international community could permanently stay away from the spillover of the intensifying domestic political turmoil in the United States.” LINK

Iran Proposes Nuclear Deal Iran's foreign minister on Tuesday outlined a diplomatic proposal that would constrain the country's nuclear program in return for an easing of economic sanctions, The New York Times reported.  LINK

National

Debt Talks in Disarray A House Republican effort to end the shutdown and extend the Treasury’s borrowing authority collapsed Tuesday night as a major credit agency warned that the United States was on the verge of a costly ratings downgrade. In the House, a bitter fight that begun over stripping money from the president’s signature health care law had essentially descended into one over whether lawmakers and their staff members would pay the full cost of their health insurance premiums, unlike most workers at American companies, and how to restrict the administration from using flexibility to extend the debt limit beyond a fixed deadline. After the failure of the House Republican leadership to find enough support for its latest proposal, Senate leaders immediately restarted negotiations to find a bipartisan path forward. A spokesman for Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, said Reid was “optimistic that an agreement is within reach” with Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader. With so little time left, chances rose that a resolution would not be approved by Congress and sent to President Obama before Thursday, when the government is left with only its cash on hand to pay the nation’s bills. LINK

Fitch Puts U.S. on Credit Watch List Fitch Ratings announced Tuesday it was accelerating its timetable for a potential downgrade of the United States' credit rating due to political brinksmanship, The Washington Post reported. LINK

Obama’s Debt Ceiling Gamble More than two years ago, President Obama called senior advisers into his office. He did not ask their advice, one said. Rather, he told them, in a way that brooked no discussion: From now on, no more negotiating over legislation so basic and essential to the economy and the country. “I’m not going through this again. It’s bad for democracy. It’s bad for the presidency,” Obama said. To make his message on the debt ceiling stick, he had to deliver it, repeatedly, not only to Republicans convinced that he would “cave,” as many often have said, but also to business groups, the broader public and even to Democrats in Congress. Failure could shake not only the economy, but also Obama’s presidency, given his reputation, fair or not, for drawing red lines and then watching foes cross them. LINK

Obamacare Fiasco The number of visitors to the federal government’s HealthCare.gov website dropped 88 percent between Oct. 1 and Oct. 13, according to a new analysis of online use, while less than half of 1 percent of the site’s visitors successfully enrolled for health insurance the first week. The new numbers provide a snapshot of how the federal health care exchange has fared since it launched at the start of the month. Obama administration officials challenged the independent assessment but did not release any specific enrollment figures, The Washington Post reported. LINK

Supreme Court to Hear EPA Challenge The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a major challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency's regulations concerning greenhouse gases, The New York Times reported. The case would review whether the EPA's authority to limit emissions from automobiles extends to stationary sources such as power plants. LINK

GAO Finds Uneven Enforcement by NRC at Nuclear Plants The number of safety violations at U.S. nuclear power plants varies dramatically from region to region, pointing to inconsistent enforcement in an industry now operating mostly beyond its original 40-year licenses, according to a congressional study awaiting release. Nuclear Regulatory Commission figures cited in the Government Accountability Office report show that while the West has the fewest reactors, it had the most lower-level violations from 2000 to 2012 - more than 2½ times the Southeast's rate per reactor. The Southeast had the fewest such violations, according to the report, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press. LINK

Medal of Honor Awarded Capt. William Swenson on Tuesday became the first Army officer since the Vietnam War to be awarded the Medal of Honor, The Christian Science Monitor reported. In one of the toughest battles of the Afghanistan War, Swenson continuously placed his life in danger as he moved to rescue his fellow American soldiers and bring the injured to safety. LINK

Vermont

VA Hospital Looks for New Patients The Veterans Administration Medical Center in White River Junction is looking for more patients, WCAX-TV reported. The medical center held an open house Tuesday morning informing veterans of their services and how to sign up for them. "Obviously veterans are able to choose whatever medical services they want, but the VA feels that we provide the best veterans-centered care out there. We have experts who are familiar with veteran health issues, women's health, PTSD, military sexual trauma," said Naaman Horn of the VA Medical Center.

Air Guard to Resume Training Vermont's Air National Guard will resume flight training with its F-16 aircraft in order to maintain military readiness during the federal government shutdown, according to The Associated Press. LINK

700 Vie for 10 Jobs More than 700 people registered to compete for just 10 job openings in the medical coding field at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. After a two-week screening process, 10 people will be selected to be trained as medical coders. They analyze medical documentation and assign the correct codes used in medical insurance claims. Dartmouth-Hitchcock will employ the successful candidates, AP reported. LINK

Bennington Hospital Scrambles to Save Federal Funds Funding for most of a Bennington hospital’s budget could be in jeopardy after an investigation found two nurses failed to provide proper care for a patient who died in the emergency room, hospital officials said. The hospital, Southwestern Vermont Medical Center, is moving quickly to correct the problems identified after the patient’s death in hopes the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services won’t cut off the funding, which accounts for about 75 percent of its budget, the Rutland Herald reported. LINK

Farmland Conservation The Vermont Housing and Conservation Board on Tuesday awarded over $1.6 million in state and federal funding to conserve six farms totaling nearly 700 acres, AP reported. LINK

Affordable Energy Upgrades Applications are now open for long-term, low-interest financing for Vermont homeowners looking to improve home energy efficiency, the Burlington Free Press reported. Participants in the federally assisted Property Assessed Clean Energy Program ("PACE") will be able to apply for funds to purchase insulation and improve sealing against drafts. LINK