Senator Sanders

Solar Power Vermont's Lyndon State College soon will be adding some solar power to its energy mix, thanks to a federal grant. Sen. Bernie Sanders visited the campus Wednesday to announce a $32,000 U.S. Department of Energy grant for a 5-kilowatt solar power array on the Lyndon campus, The Associated Press and WCAX reported. Sanders used the occasion to talk about the need to address global warming and greenhouse gasses and the benefits of becoming energy independent. LINK and VIDEO

The Deregulation Decade Today marks 10 years to the day that President Clinton signed the repeal of the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act that split investment-banking from lending and deposit-taking. Financial firms are scrambling to prevent Congress from re-imposing the act. Sen. Sanders would give Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner 90 days to come up with a list of banks, hedge funds and insurance companies deemed "too big to fail." Geithner would have one year to break them up, Bloomberg reported. LINK

Sanders is ‘Absolutely Right' "The financial world opposes any attempt to rein in the considerable power it now has over the global economy, but Sanders is absolutely right about breaking up the financial behemoths whose rapacious behavior almost plunged the world into a depression. Back in the 1990s...Sanders was one of the few who warned that deregulating the financial industry could lead to disaster,' the Brattleboro Reformer said in an editorial. LINK

Financial Reform "The instant analysis on Senator Christopher Dodd's aggressive financial reform plan is that it's more about getting him re-elected than getting a bill through the Senate," according to Reuters. "Dodd could have incorporated the 225-word amendment of Senator Bernie Sanders, which would require the actual break-up of too-big-to-fail institutions." LINK

Dodd on Sanders "Do you think Congress should have the power to break up large institutions if they pose risks?" Bloomberg TV, citing the Sanders bill, asked Dodd. "The final analysis, if everything else fails and you had a situation where an institution was posing systemic risk, then as a very last resort you ought to have the power to break up something. That doesn't exist today. My hope is you never have to get to that," Dodd replied. VIDEO

Federal Reserve The U.S. Federal Reserve is under political attack in part due to massive amounts of aid given to the financial sector. "How do you explain...that the Fed has spent $2 trillion to help many of the same banks that got us into this crisis in the first place?" Sanders asked in a United Press International dispatch. The story also said Bernanke called proposals to audit the Fed "highly destructive to the stability of the financial system, the dollar and our national economic situation." LINK

Health Care - Single Payer Sen. Sanders said Congress should give individual states the option to establish single payer health insurance systems. Sanders told Vermont Public Radio that a state-run system would demonstrate that the single payer concept could also work at the national level. "I believe that a single payer system is the most effective way to provide comprehensive, universal, cost-effective health care. ... That ain't going to happen. The health insurance industry and the drug companies are too powerful." LINK

Blackwater Bribes Top executives at Blackwater Worldwide authorized secret payments of about $1 million to Iraqi officials after a 2007 incident in which 17 Iraqi civilians were killed. Rep. Peter Welch wants a House committee to investigate. A spokesman said Sen. Patrick Leahy will push for tougher laws on contractor fraud and abuse. Sen. Sanders is hoping to end the use of private security forces in war zones. U.S. military forces would instead fulfill those duties, the Bennington Banner reported. LINK

Reagan on Sanders Air America Radio host Ron Reagan cited Sen. Sanders and Reps. Weiner and Grayson in a Huffington Post interview. "I talk to [Sanders] a lot on our show. He seems to have his head screwed on right. These are people who follow their own principles." LINK  

Policy Powwows Burlington Progressives, battered by the Burlington Telecom scandal, have regrouped. Led by John Franco, a battle-worn veteran of the Bernie Sanders administration, city Progressives have been meeting regularly with Mayor Bob Kiss to talk political and policy strategy. "That used to be the practice," Franco recalled in Seven Days. "The Sundays before the council meeting they'd all meet at Bernie's house. That fell out of practice with the [Peter] Clavelle administration. If there is a silver lining, this is it." LINK

Sanders' Seniority Sen. Sanders has moved up to 74^th on the Senate seniority list, according to a ranking by Roll Call. It said the Senate Rules Committee provided the criteria used to determine seniority, but would not confirm the list. Sen. Leahy was ranked as the third most senior senator. Byrd is first. Kirk is last. LINK

International

Envoy Urges Caution on Forces for Afghanistan The United States ambassador to Afghanistan, who once served as the top American military commander there, has expressed in writing his reservations about deploying additional troops to the country, three senior American officials told The New York Times on Wednesday. LINK

National

Reid Eyes Payroll Tax on Wealthy  Majority Leader Harry Reid is considering a plan for higher payroll taxes on the upper-income earners to help finance health care legislation he intends to introduce in the Senate in the next several days, numerous Democratic officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday. LINK

Senator Faces G.O.P. Rebuke Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, has been censured by local Republican officials in his home state. The executive committee of the Charleston County Republican Party, in a voice vote on Monday, rebuked Mr. Graham "for many of the positions he has taken that do not represent the wishes of the people of South Carolina, according to The New York Times. LINK

Another Omnibus Congress will likely resort to another omnibus appropriations package next month as the end of the year approaches and most of the spending bills remain unfinished, The Hill reported. LINK

Vermont

Champlain Bridge Replacing the Lake Champlain Bridge will cost more than $67 million and take at least 22 months, according to a safety assessment report released Wednesday by the New York Department of Transportation. The assessment by HNTB New York Engineering and Architecture P.C., concludes that replacing the bridge is safer, cheaper and quicker than rehabilitating the 80-year-old span, according to The Burlington Free Press. LINK