Senator Sanders

NSA Spying Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President François Hollande of France on Friday called for talks with the United States on new rules for their intelligence relationship after reports that the National Security Agency monitored Merkel’s cellphone and collected data about millions of French citizens. “We've got a real problem. I think we've got an agency that's a bit out of control,” Sen. Bernie Sanders said on WCAX-TV. On The Thom Hartmann Program on Friday, Sanders said spying on allies undermines the fight against international terrorism. A Saturday rally on Capitol Hill was planned to protest NSA spying on U.S. allies and American citizens, WPTZ-TV said in a report that cited Sanders’ letter to President Barack Obama voicing his concerns. VIDEO, VIDEO, AUDIO

Save Social Security “Despite the fact that poll after poll shows that the American people overwhelmingly do not want to cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid, very powerful Big Money interests and campaign contributors are pushing Congress and President Obama to do just that … As a member of a Senate and House committee that meets for the first time on Wednesday to begin work on a new long-term budget, my job is to represent the needs of ordinary Americans, not powerful special interests,” Sanders wrote in a column published Saturday by the Brattleboro Reformer. LINK

Sanders Foresaw Obamacare Problems Sen. Sanders accurately predicted complications with President Obama's signature health care law when the measure was being debated in Congress three years ago, Think Progress reported. Under the Affordable Care Act, those seeking health care must go to a website to decide between insurance plans. Those logging on to the Healthcare.gov website in the past month have reported sluggishness and glitches. Sanders said in a 2010 interview on CNN that he would prefer a "Medicare-for-all system so you don't have to go through all of that complicated stuff." LINK

Sanders in the South Sen. Sanders tour of Dixie, and particularly the early presidential primary state of South Carolina, has sparked murmurs that the longest-serving independent in Congress might be planning a 2016 run for the White House. Sanders has said he’s 99 percent sure he won’t do that. What he is doing is bouncing around the South trying to help progressives counter a conservative narrative he believes has been leading working-class Americans to vote against their own economic self-interests, the Charleston (S.C.) City Paper reported on Friday. Sanders' plans to aid progressive and independent candidates at the state level in conservative Southern states, The Raw Story reported. LINK

Outlaw Animal Fights Twelve Democrats, four Republicans and independent Sen. Sanders signed a letter to Senate members of the farm bill conference committee urging them to outlaw attendance at animal fights The Washington Times reported. LINK

‘Dollarocracy’ “Bernie Sanders writes the introduction to our book. Sanders is a guy who I think goes against both parties a lot. There are Republicans who are honorable players that go against their own party at times,” John Nichols said in a book-tour interview on The Tavis Smiley Show on PBS. “We have such a narrow debate in this country, if we want to change it, we cannot just look for the perfect candidate or the perfect party, we have to make structural reforms and get serious about it and say we are going to shape a democracy where the vote matters more than a dollar.” VIDEO

The Fed Sen. Rand Paul is shrewd to attempt to delay the confirmation of Janet Yellen to head the Federal Reserve until the Senate agrees to vote on his Federal Reserve transparency bill, according to an online essay for Forbes. The column noted that Sen. Sanders exposed shenanigans involved in the New York Fed. LINK

Vermont Concert Sen. Sanders is hosting a concert Saturday at Montpelier High School to highlight the importance of the arts in public education, the Waterbury Record reported. The meting will featured 10 Vermont schools and organizations, including Harwood's High School Chorus. Sanders told WCAX-TV he is hosting the event for music students to provide “recognition for the wonderful things they and their teachers are doing.” LINK, VIDEO

World

Allies Want New Intelligence Rules Germany and France on Friday proposed the creation of new cooperation agreements between United States and European intelligence services in order to resolve a diplomatic crisis caused by reports of U.S. spying on allied leaders, The Washington Post reported. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is planning to send the heads of Germany’s foreign and domestic intelligence agencies to the United States to discuss the issue on “relatively short notice,” a spokesman said. LINK

National

HealthCare.gov Fixed by November Jeffrey Zients, President Barack Obama's appointee to oversee the fixing of problems with the health care exchange website, announced Friday that the site's major problems would be fixed by the end of November, USA Today reported. "By the end of November, HealthCare.gov will work smoothly for the vast majority of users," Zients said Friday. "The HealthCare.gov site is fixable. It will take a lot of work, and there are a lot of problems that need to be addressed." LINK

Conservatives Push House GOP on Immigration A coalition of business executives, Republican Party activists and evangelical leaders will head to Capitol Hill next week to pressure House Republicans to act on comprehensive immigration reform legislation, The New York Times reported. “The Republican Party has gotten hurt significantly over the past six years, with this demographic,” one GOP leader said, referring in part to Hispanic-Americans. “Getting this resolved would definitely help.” LINK

FDA Moves to Regulate Food for Animals The Food and Drug Administration on Friday proposed new regulations that would help prevent food-borne illness rooted in pet food and farm animal feed, The New York Times reported. LINK

JP Morgan Mortgage Settlement Regulators intend to announce another $4 billion settlement with JP Morgan Chase, The Wall Street Journal reported. The pact would end a lawsuit waged against the company for allegedly misleading Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac about the quality of mortgages sold ahead of the recession. LINK

Vermont

Clean Air Vermont has not had one unhealthy air quality day in the last two years, according to a new Environmental Protection Agency report cited by The Associated Press. National clean air policies over the last generation have led to clearer skies in the state. LINK

UVM Students Protest Fossil Fuel Investments A spirited student protest rally interrupted and enlivened a University of Vermont trustees meeting Friday before suddenly going silent, in a mock die-in. The demonstrators were demanding that the UVM endowment divest from fossil-fuel holdings. They marched into the trustees’ budget committee session, in a Davis Center ballroom, chanting “Hey hey, ho ho, fossil fuels have got to go."

VA Open House The Veterans Affairs Medical Center in White River Junction is hosting a free open house and information fair Thursday. The event will run from 5 to 8 p.m. in the research building (building 44) at 163 Veterans Drive, theTimes Argus reported. LINK

F-35s Burlington City Council will vote Monday on measures that would attempt to block the basing of Air Force F-35 jets at Burlington International, the Burlington Free Press reported. LINK