Senator Sanders

Climate Change The Senate environment committee's vote to send a climate bill to the Senate floor despite a GOP boycott clears the path for key senators to craft a compromise proposal in which "everything is on the table." Sen. Bernard Sanders had prepared several amendments for the committee, including proposals to boost energy efficiency and renewable energy, Inside EPA reported.

Too Big to Fail Sen. Sanders introduced the "Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Exist Act" last week. In just two pages, he outlined a simple way to prevent a repeat of last year's massive taxpayer-funded bailouts. "Imagine that: a politician in Washington gets something good done. Wouldn't that be amazing?" Allison Kilkenny wrote at True/Slant.com. LINK

Filibusters Democrats have won two big elections in a row, giving them a theoretical filibuster-proof 60 votes, with socialist independent Sanders on the left and conservative independent Joe Lieberman of Connecticut on the right....Sanders has talked about requiring a real filibuster, noted John Brummett of the Arkansas News Bureau. Jonathan Riskind in The Columbus Dispatch asked if it is time to change the Senate rules and lower the bar for breaking a filibuster. LINK and LINK

International

Obama Pushes Rights With Chinese Students He didn't explicitly call on China's leaders to lift the veil of state control that restricts Internet access and online social networking here. But President Obama did tiptoe - ever so lightly - into that controversial topic on Monday when he told students in Shanghai that a free and unfettered Internet is a source of strength, not weakness, according to The New York Times. LINK

For U.S., China, Uneasy Co-Dependency The U.S. and Chinese economies -- the world's largest and the fastest-growing major economy, respectively -- have become inextricably intertwined, locked in a kind of co-dependency that neither side thinks is particularly healthy, but which for the moment neither will move to break, The Washington Post reported. LINK

National

Senate Health Care Debate The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, hopes to finalize the Senate version of major health care legislation this week. But don't count the days. Mr. Reid and his aides have been saying the same thing for a month, ever since the Senate Finance Committee approved its bill on Oct. 13, according to The New York Times. LINK

Drug Makers Raise Prices in Face of Health Care Reform  Even as drug makers promise to support Washington's health care overhaul by shaving $8 billion a year off the nation's drug costs after the legislation takes effect, the industry has been raising its prices at the fastest rate in years. In the last year, the industry has raised the wholesale prices of brand-name prescription drugs by about 9 percent, industry analysts told The New York Times. LINK

Obama Judicial Nominees Lag Despite a solid Democratic majority in the Senate, President Obama is on pace to set a record for the fewest judges confirmed during a president's first year in the White House. So far, only six of Obama's nominees to the lower federal courts have won approval, the Los Angeles Times reported. LINK

Leahy: Terror Trials in New York Justified Sen. Patrick Leahy is defending the Obama administration's decision to try five key al-Qaeda members in New York City, just blocks from the site of the 9-11 attacks on the World Trade Center. The Vermont Democrat appeared Sunday morning on the CBS program Face the Nation. He said he has faith in American judges. LINK

Vermont

Flu Vaccine Runs Out Supplies of swine flu vaccine ran out during a clinic in Barre this weekend.  Dozens of people were turned away from Saturday's H1N1 clinic after health care workers quickly ran through the 500 doses they had on hand. The Times Argus reported that people had lined up for shots well before the clinic opened at 8 in the morning. And by 10:30, nurses closed the doors. LINK

Guard Training The Vermont Air National Guard is planning to train at night this week. The night flying exercises will take place Tuesday through Friday. Each night the Guard plans two scheduled takeoffs of multiple aircrafts from the South Burlington base in the early evening. Officials say all F-16s are expected to land by 9:30 p.m., The Associated Press reported. LINK

Governor '10 Vermont Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin is ready to announce his candidacy for governor. The Putney resident, who represents Windham County in the state Senate, plans to travel to Earth Turbines, a green manufacturer based in Williston, for an 11 a.m. announcement of his bid to replace Republican Gov. Jim Douglas, who is stepping down. Shumlin joins four other Democrats in the race, The Associated Press reported. LINK

Working Families Party A group of Vermonters will take the first steps this week to establish a new political party. "Working Families is in a bunch of states now, and we think it is a good thing for Vermont," said Dan Brush of Woodbury. He has been the prime mover in organizing 14 town caucuses scheduled for this week and next where interested Vermonters will set up local Working Families Party committees, The Burlington Free Press reported. LINK

Brattleboro Biomass The question about whether it's feasible for Brattleboro to heat and power its downtown and commercial areas with locally produced biomass will be answered on Nov. 19. A feasibility study commissioned by Brattleboro Thermal Utility will be presented by Waldron Engineering of Exeter, N.H., with representatives on hand to answer any questions, the Brattleboro Reformer reported. LINK