Senator Sanders

Sanders Named to Budget Conference Committee The deal that ended the government shutdown set up a conference committee to reconcile budget issues between the House and Senate. Sen. Sanders is on the panel, WCAX-TV and The Nation reported. “There`s nobody else I`d rather have sitting across from Paul Ryan during this fight,” Ed Schultz said on MSNBC. “It gives Bernie Sanders a platform, not that Bernie has ever failed to find a platform on his own … but his voice will be heard on this committee,” Jon Margolis said on Vermont Public Television’s Vermont This Week. Writing for The Huffington Post, Jason Linkins said Sanders’ appointment ensures Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries will have “one strong, supportive voice in the room." Jason Easley at Politicususa said Sanders “has long been an outspoken critic of the Ryan budgets, and the Wisconsin Republican’s borderline obsession with privatizing Social Security and voucherizing Medicare.” LINK, LINK, LINK, LINK, VIDEO, VIDEO

Sanders Goes South On a four-day swing through Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, Sen. Bernie Sanders told MSNBC that progressives in the South "are tired of being abandoned" by the national Democratic Party. "They believe, that with some help, they can start winning in these conservative states," Sanders said. VIDEO 

Sanders: Global Warming More Serious than al Qaeda In a wide-ranging interview with Playboy magazine, Sen. Sanders says global warming poses "a far more serious problem than al Qaeda," The Hill, Politico, National Journal and The Daily Caller reported. "Big business is willing to destroy the planet for short-term profits," Sanders said. LINK, LINK, LINK, LINK

White House ’16 Sen. Sanders' was asked about a potential 2016 presidential candidacy. "I realize running for president would be a way to shine a spotlight on these issues that are too often in the shadows today," Sanders said, according to USA Today, Seven Days and Fishbowl DC  "But I am at least 99 percent sure I won't." LINK, LINK, LINK

Court Throws Out Anti-Obama Suit Vermont's Supreme Court on Friday threw out a case against President Barack Obama's eligibility to run for president. The lawsuit was filed by H. Brook Paige, who  challenged Sen. Sanders for his seat in 2012, the Burlington Free Press reported. LINK

PolitiFact was Wrong A large number of PolitiFact readers disagreed with its ruling on a claim by Sen. Sanders that Texas Republicans "believe in abolishing Social Security, abolishing VA health care." LINK

Shutdown Salary Sen. Sanders was one of 251 members of Congress who volunteered to refuse their pay during the government shutdown, according to WVYN-TV, WFFF-TV and My Champlain Valley. LINK, VIDEO, VIDEO 

Shutdown Farce America became "the laughing-stock of the world," Sen. Sanders says, because tea party Republicans shut down the U.S. government in a senseless attempt to kill the Affordable Care Act and revoke health insurance for 30 million less-privileged Americans,” according to an editorial in The Charleston (W. Va.) Gazette. LINK  

World

Saudis Reject Security Council Seat Saudi Arabia turned down a coveted seat on the United Nations Security Council on Friday in protest of the international community's inaction in the war on Syria, Reuters reported. LINK

National

Homeland Security President Barack Obama on Friday nominated Jeh Johnson to head the Department of Homeland Security, CBS News reported. Johnson must be confirmed by the Senate. LINK

Thomas Foley, 84 Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Thomas Foley died on Friday in Washington, The New York Times reported. LINK

Vermont 

Moose Season Vermont's moose hunting season begins this weekend. Just over 350 hunters will take to the woods during the six-day season. They are the lucky winners chosen from more than 12,000 hunters who entered the annual moose permit lottery, WCAX-TV reported. LINK