Senator Sanders

Budget Committee Sen. Bernie Sanders was named to a committee to try and create a long-term budget plan by Dec. 13 and prevent another government shutdown. “It’s important to have Sen. Sanders on that committee to make certain they make the right choices going forward and we don’t end up in this mess all over again in January,” Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin told WPTZ-TV on Saturday. “I look forward to working with my Democratic and Republican colleagues to end the absurdity of sequestration and to develop a budget which works for all Americans,” Sanders said in a report posted byvtdigger.org.  VIDEO, LINK

Sanders in the South Sen. Sanders' visit Saturday to St. Helena's Island resulted in something rare in the conservative Lowcountry: a self-described socialist receiving a standing ovation. Sanders told more than 150 people at the S.C. Progressive Network fall retreat that "white, working-class people in the South" have a tendency "to vote against themselves." The longest-serving independent in Congress visited South Carolina after stops in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi in an effort to unite progressives and working- and middle-class conservatives, The Beufort Gazette, The Associated Press and Raw Story reported. LINK, LINK, LINK

Obama Wins Standoff with Congress President Obama trounced the Republicans last week with a strategy of holding firm and winning an argument, not by finding common ground. Obama has proved better at the messy business of helping hold together his own party's congressional caucus than President Bill Clinton did. “For all the talk of Obama's distaste for schmoozing, he was the one who finally passed a health care law by holding together every single Senate Democrat, from Bernie Sanders on the left to Ben Nelson on the right,” according to The New York Times. LINK

National

Lobbyists Ready for a New Fight on U.S. Spending With automatic cuts to the military set to take effect by January and a separate round of cuts scheduled for Medicare, lawmakers will have to decide who gets hit the hardest. Washington’s lobbying machine — representing older citizens, doctors, educators, military contractors and a wide range of corporate interests — is gearing up to ensure that the slices of federal money for those groups are spared in new negotiations over government spending., The New York Times reported. LINK

JP Morgan in $13 Billion Deal with Justice J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. has reached a tentative deal with the Justice Department to pay a record $13 billion to settle a number of outstanding probes of its residential mortgage-backed securities business, according to The Wall Street Journal. The deal, struck Friday night, doesn't resolve a continuing criminal probe of the bank's conduct, which could result in charges against individuals or the bank itself and possibly increase the penalty tab. LINK

Vermont

Vermont Veterans National Guard Adjutant Gen. Steven Cray spoke to an event on Saturday in Burlington to highlight services available to 52,000 veterans are living in Vermont. Cray also announced that The Fort Ethan Allen Community Based Outpatient Clinic in Colchester is relocating to a larger facility on Lakeside Avenue scheduled to open Monday, the Burlington Free Press reported. LINK

Leahy Highlights 'Women's Economic Opportunity' Women from around Vermont attended a conference devoted to economic opportunities for them. Sen. Patrick Leahy hosted the event Saturday at Vermont Technical College in Randolph Center. He said on Friday that about 400 women had pre-registered for the event, AP reported. LINK

Red Sox in World Series Shane Victorino's seventh-inning grand slam propelled Boston to a 5-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers. The Red Sox are going back to the World Series for the third time in 10 seasons and will face the Cardinals.