Senator Sanders

An Affordable Care Act Success Story Colleen O'Brien went to a clinic in White River Junction, Vt., and one of the so-called navigators helped her become the first person to walk through the doors and successfully enroll in a plan through the new online marketplace, a key provision of the Affordable Care Act. Despite all the problems, state and federal officials who support the law say that the long-term benefits of having access to better insurance will make up for the immediate frustrations with the website. “If some of the folks who are on these inadequate policies go to the exchange,  they may find that for the same amount of money, or perhaps a little bit more, they're going to find that they get a lot better coverage," Sen. Bernie Sanders said  in an interview  with the Valley News. LINK 

Hold Health Insurers Accountable Democrats have been critical of the insurance industry, a motivating factor behind passing the Affordable Care Act in the first place. Sen. Dianne Feinstein last March introduced legislation to let the Department of Health and Human Services block “excessive” rate increases. Support for the bill could swell if lawmakers think industry executives have not done enough to keep premiums in check during the transition to the new government-backed insurance exchanges. So far, Feinstein’s bill has five cosponsors, including Sen. Sanders. LINK 

A Progressive Budget Blueprint Republican lawmakers want to balance the federal budget on the backs of poor and middle class Americans, but Sen. Sanders has a better idea. Sanders introduced a 10-point progressive budget blueprint that outlines fair ways to raise revenue, reduce spending, and create jobs. The plan calls for closing offshore tax havens, establishing a financial transaction tax on Wall Street, ending tax subsidies for the fossil fuel industry, increasing the capital gains tax, repealing the remaining Bush tax cuts, and more,” Jim Javinsky reported at Truthout and on The Thom Hartmann Program. LINK

End Ethanol, Welch Says Rep. Peter Welch says it’s time to pull the plug on America’s commitment to manufacturing ethanol as a way to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign oil. “It’s been a flop,” Welch said in an interview last week. Sens. Patrick Leahy and Sanders are on record as opposed to continuing ethanol subsidies, but Welch has been more outspoken, supporting a 2011 GOP amendment to ban funding for EPA regulations on the ethanol content of gasoline, the Burlington Free Press reported.  LINK

A Historical Footnote On Nov. 21, 1963, President Kennedy sent an aide to Vermont to meet with the new Democratic governor who wanted a presidential disaster declaration to help the state cope with a severe draught. Gov. Phil Hoff was with the White House aide the next day in Burlington, Vt., when news broke that Kennedy was shot in Dallas, Texas. Hoff was the first modern-day Democrat elected governor by popular vote in the state that today often is “stereotyped as the seedbed of socialist Bernie Sanders and counterculture ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s,” according to the Rutland Herald. LINK

World

Climate Injustice Following a devastating typhoon that killed thousands in the Philippines, a routine international climate change conference in Warsaw, Poland, turned into an emotional forum, with developing countries demanding compensation from the worst polluting countries for damage they say they are already suffering. From the time a scientific consensus emerged that human activity was changing the climate, it has been understood that the nations that contributed least to the problem would be hurt the most. But no consensus has emerged over how to rectify what many call “climate injustice,” The New York Times reported. LINK

National

Yellen Signals Emphasis on Fed Policing Role The next Federal Reserve chief appears set to direct the central bank's might at ensuring financial stability and stern banking oversight with the same vigor it currently applies to its traditional mandates of fostering price stability and maximum employment. The question of monitoring and stabilizing Wall Street was a dominant issue during Fed chair-designate Janet Yellen's confirmation hearing before a Senate committee on Thursday, Reuters reported. LINK 

Geithner Cashing In Former U.S. Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner, who played a central role in the government’s response to the financial crisis of 2008-2009, is joining private equity firm Warburg Pincus. The firm announced Saturday that Geithner will become its president and managing director starting March 1, according to The Washington Post. LINK

Vermont

Property Taxes Going Up Fewer than six months after passing the largest increase in statewide property taxes since the birth of the current education funding system, lawmakers are bracing for what looks to be another large rate hike next year. Preliminary estimates from the Shumlin administration and the Legislature’s Joint Fiscal Office indicate that lawmakers will have to raise statewide property taxes by 5 cents next year in order to keep pace with school spending, Vermont Press Bureau reported. LINK

Deer Hunter Gov. Peter Shumlin bagged a buck on the opening day of deer season. The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department says Shumlin shot the 186-pound six-point in East Montpelier on Saturday morning, the start of the 16-day rifle deer season. The firearms seasons are later than usual because Thanksgiving is late this year. Muzzleloader season begins Dec. 7. The late bear hunting season also starts Saturday and runs through Nov. 24, The Associated Press reported.