Senator Sanders

Food Stamp Cuts More than 47 million Americans who receive food stamps will see their benefits cut starting Friday. Sen. Bernie Sanders told radio host Ed Schultz that the cuts will have a “horrendous impact” and send more people to already-overwhelmed volunteer food banks. A family of four receiving food stamps will get $36 less a month now that the program intended to help people during the recession has run out. AUDIO

Jobs The Food Stamps cuts will not only make it harder for millions of Americans to feed their families but dampen economic growth as well. “Our Republican friends talk about the dignity of work. Well, I agree with that. And that`s why in this country we need to create millions and millions of decent-paying jobs. Unfortunately … every one of those efforts to create jobs has been beaten back and filibustered by the Republicans,” Sen. Sanders told the Rev. Al Sharpton on MSNBC. VIDEO 

Democrats Vent at White House on Health Website Senate Democratic leaders summoned the White House chief of staff, Denis R. McDonough, on Thursday along with the official most responsible for the troubled health insurance website, Marilyn Tavenner, and the person entrusted to fix it, Jeffrey D. Zients, for a closed-door venting session. “They’re working hard. They recognize the problems. They’re putting a lot of resources into it,” Sen. Sanders told CNN afterward. LINK

Dental Care for Veterans “Our nation’s veterans should not be forced to rely on expensive private insurance, out-of-pocket funds or visits to the emergency room for their oral health needs,” Sen. Sanders said this week during a Veterans Affairs Committee hearing. As chairman, Sanders is making a strong case for expanding dental care for veterans beyond treatment of service-connected problems, the Army Times reported. LINK

VA Budget Legislators and several veterans' service organizations called for VA programs to be funded one year in advance to improve planning and avoid service disruptions in any future government shutdowns. "As we saw earlier this month, in the event of a prolonged shutdown, VA would not have been able to issue disability compensation, pension payments or education benefits," Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Sanders said at a news conference on Wednesday. "That outcome would have been reprehensible," he added, according to International Business Times. LINK

War Casualties The United States has likely reached a grim milestone in the war on terror with 1 million veterans injured from the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the number is unclear because in March VA abruptly stopped releasing publicly statistics on non-fatal war casualties, according to an International Business Times article that buried information from a Sanders aide that VA would release the statistics. LINK

Social Security With Congress renewing budget talks Wednesday, Sen. Sanders has been outspoken, saying he fears a budget deal will contain a proposal in Obama’s budget to reduce cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security and other benefit programs, according to an AP article in Friday’s Brattleboro Reformer. LINK

Social Security “We must not balance the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable people in our country: working families, the elderly, children, the sick and the poor. We must not cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid,” Sen. Sanders wrote in a USA Today editorial response reprinted by the Green Bay (Wis.) Press Gazette, the Marshfield, Wis. News Herald, Freemont (Neb.) Tribune and other Gannett newspapers. LINK, LINK, LINK

Budget Conference “Poll after poll shows that Americans overwhelmingly do not want to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid,” Sen. Sanders wrote in a column for the Los Angeles Times  published Thursday by the Athens (Ga.) Banner Herald. “Thank goodness for Sen. Sanders' simple and lucid spending summary of … how we quickly erased the $236-billion annual surplus that Bill Clinton left us Larry Yarchever of Carlsbad, Calif., wrote in a letter to the editor of the Los Angeles Times. LINK, LINK

Bernie and Booker Sen. Cory Booker was sworn in Thursday. Environment & Energy Daily reported that Sen. Sanders said he was looking forward to working with Booker, an environmental advocate, on climate change legislation. "We can use all the allies we can find,” he said. LINK

World

Syria Meets Deadline Syria has destroyed or rendered inoperable all of its declared chemical weapons production and mixing facilities, meeting a major deadline in an ambitious disarmament program, Reuters reported. LINK

Israel Strikes Syria Israeli warplanes struck a military base near the Syrian port city of Latakia this week, an Obama administration official told CNN. LINK

National

Senate Republicans Block Nominees Senate Republicans on Thursday thwarted the confirmation of two of President Obama’s nominees, one to a powerful appeals court and another to a home-lending oversight post, setting up a confrontation with Democrats that could escalate into a larger fight over limiting the filibuster and restrict how far the minority party can go to block a president’s agenda, The New York Times reported. LINK

Sebelius Subpoenaed A day after apologizing and taking responsibility for the problem-plagued HeathCare.gov website, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius was subpoenaed by House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa of California. Issa told CNN that the subpoena demands documents and information relating to the HealthCare.gov website that his committee previously requested from Sebelius, adding she "answered some questions but evaded a great many." LINK

Fannie Mae Sues Banks Fannie Mae sued nine major banks over allegations their manipulation of the London interbank offered rate cost the mortgage financing company about $800 million, Bloomberg reported. LINK

Stop-and-Frisk A federal appeals court on Thursday blocked a judge's order requiring changes to the New York Police Department's stop-and-frisk program and removed the judge from the case, CBS News reported. LINK

E-Devices in Flight Soon American airline passengers soon will be able to use electronic devices during takeoff and landing, the Chicago Tribune reported.  On Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration announced it will clear gadgets for takeoff “very soon” by permitting their use in “airplane mode” during all phases of flight. Wireless phone calls will remain prohibited. LINK

Vermont

Health Connect Deadline Extended Gov. Peter Shumlin announced Thursday that Vermonters will be able to extend their current insurance policies until March 31, the Burlington Free Press reported. This announcement comes after unsuccessful tests of system changes Wednesday evening on the new online insurance marketplace. LINK

Leahy on Farm Bill Sen. Patrick Leahy said a program designed to reduce market volatility for dairy farmers will be one of his priorities as he helps negotiate the next farm bill. Chances the 'market stabilization' program will be part of the final bill seem slim after House members voted in June to strip it from their version — but Leahy is holding out hope, according to the Burlington Free Press and Times Argus. LINK, LINK