Senator Sanders

Budget Negotiations As negotiators struggle to write a 2014 budget, Sen. Bernie Sanders laid out his own vision for what the government's priorities should be complete with big jumps in taxes and social spending and cuts at the Pentagon, The Washington Times reported. Rather than talking about cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, Sanders said the federal government should ask wealthy individuals and major Wall Street companies to pony up to expand the social safety nets. Sanders is one of the 29 negotiators working to hammer out a budget. LINK

USPS Revenue Up The U.S. Postal Service recorded its first revenue increase in five years and mail volume showed signs of stabilizing despite continued decline - but the agency's annual $5.6 billion pre-funding requirement for future retirees continued to be a drag on postal finances, USPS and union officials said. Sen. Sanders, who has proposed legislation to end the obligation, said the Postal Service would have recorded a net profit of $600 million without it, The Washington Post reported on Monday. "In terms of their business operations, they brought in more than they spent, but they have this burden," Sanders said in an interview Friday. "No other business or government agency is burdened with this mandate." LINK

Expand Preschool Months after President Obama proposed expanding preschool to every 4-year-old in the country, members of Congress unveiled legislation last week that would make it happen. Sen. Tom Harkin’s bill was endorsed by 10 Democratic senators and Sen. Sanders, an independent, but no Republicans, according to The Washington Post. LINK

State of the Union Sen. Sanders is holding his fourth annual State of Union essay-writing contest for Vermont high school students. Sanders is asking students to write an essay of 250 to 500 words about their view of the state of the union as the president prepares for his State of the Union address to Congress in January. The deadline for submissions is noon on Jan. 10, 2014. Sanders will visit the winner's school to hold a student town meeting to discuss the state of the union and the future of the country. The finalists' essays will be entered in the Congressional Record and posted on Sanders' website, The Associated Press, WCAX-TV and WPTZ-TV reported on Monday. LINK, VIDEO, VIDEO

White House ’16 Sen. Sanders told his hometown paper Friday that he is considering making a run for President in 2016. The Burlington Free Press reported that Sanders may run if no one else with progressive views takes the plunge. It is essential, he said, to have someone in the 2016 presidential campaign who is willing to take on Wall Street, address the “collapse” of the middle class, tackle the spread of poverty and fiercely oppose cuts to Social Security and Medicare. Also, addressing global warming needs to be a top priority, not an afterthought, Sanders said, according to Common Dreams. LINK

National

Senate Heads for Filibuster Fight With Republicans set on Monday to block Robert Wilkins’s nomination to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the latest in a string of votes on judges to the key court may force a change to the Senate’s rules, Politico reported. LINK

Senate Agenda With Thanksgiving break starting in just four days, this week will set the table for what is likely to be a contentious year-end, as the Senate takes up the National Defense Authorization Act and anxiety builds over the slow pace of budget talks. The Senate Banking Committee could vote this week on Janet Yellen to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve Board, and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee might vote Wednesday on President Obama’s nomination of Jeh Johnson to head the Homeland Security Department. The Senate on Monday is expected to pass a bill tightening rules on compounded pharmaceuticals, sending the measure to the White House for Obama’s signature, National Journal reported. LINK

‘The Shame of American Health Care’ “Even as Americans struggle with the changes required by health care reform, a survey released last week by the Commonwealth Fund … found that by virtually all measures of cost, access to care and ease of dealing with insurance problems, Americans fared poorly compared with people in other advanced countries. The survey covered 20,000 adults in the United States and 10 other industrial nations — Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Britain, all of which put in place universal or near-universal health coverage decades ago. The United States spends far more than any of these countries on a per capita basis and as a percent of the national economy. For that, it gets meager results,” The New York Times said in an editorial. LINK

U.S. Military Eyes Cut to Pay, Benefits The U.S. military's top commanders, groping for ways to cope with a shrinking Pentagon budget, have agreed to a plan that would curb the growth of pay and benefits for housing, education and health—prized features of military life that for years have been spared from cuts, The Wall Street Journal reported. LINK

Sexual Assault in the Military Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand  has secured support from nearly half the Senate, but not enough votes, for her proposal to give victims of sexual assault in the military an independent route outside the chain of command for prosecuting attackers, The Washington Post reported. LINK

Boeing has No Plans to Reopen Talks with Machinists Boeing said it has no plans to reopen talks with a union representing Washington state workers who have rejected a labor contract linked to its newest jet and vowed it would "look very broadly" at where to build it. Washington state machinists last week voted down a contract negotiated between Boeing and leaders of the International Association of Machinists that would have kept production of Boeing's profitable wide-body series in the Seattle area in return for lower benefits, Reuters reported. LINK

U.S. Automakers Fault Pacific Trade Pact Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew just completed a five-country tour to rally support for a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, but his toughest sell might be back home in Washington. On Capitol Hill, lawmakers backed by the U.S. automobile industry called on the Obama administration to include penalties for countries that are shown to have used their currencies to gain a competitive edge. Detroit auto makers say their Japanese competitors unfairly benefit from Tokyo's policy of keeping the yen weak, The Wall Street Journal reported. LINK

Women Reach a Milestone in Job Market  Women have recovered all the jobs they lost during the recession. Men have not. A record 67.5 million women are working today, up from the prior peak of 67.4 million in early 2008, according to the Labor Department's latest tally of payrolls that captured the full rebound for the first time. By comparison, 69 million men currently have jobs, below their high of 70.9 million in June 2007. The primary reason for the labor-market milestone: Women tend to hold jobs in health, education, hospitality and retail, all sectors that have weathered the economic turmoil of recent years comparatively well, according to The Wall Street Journal. LINK

Vermont

Rail Trail The organization that oversees Vermont's snowmobile trails is getting ready to seek bids for construction on two more sections of the 93-mile Lamoille Valley Rail Trail, which runs across much of northern Vermont. Construction is slated to begin in the spring on a 15-mile section of trail from St. Johnsbury to West Danville and a 16-mile section from Morrisville to Cambrid ge Junction, according to the Vermont Association of Snow Travelers. Meanwhile, construction on two bridges on the trail between St. Johnsbury to West Danville has been completed, AP reported. LINK

Broadband Expansion Broadband Internet service is expanding in four Vermont communities. The Vermont Telecommunications Authority has announced the awards to three Internet service providers for Dummerston, Norwich, Randolph and Wilmington. The authority says by the end of the year, all of Vermont's as yet unserved locations will either have service or have a specific broadband expansion project funded and in progress, AP reported. LINK

Solar Pool The swimming pool at Vermont's Lyndon State College is going to be heated with the help of 72-solar water heating panels that were donated to the school. The panels were donated to Lyndon State by the hardware and home supply store Sticks and Stuff. They are being removed from a building in Derby. It would have cost Lyndon State about $100,000 to buy the solar powered pool heating equipment, AP reported. LINK

Mayor Welcomes Baby Girl Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger and his wife, Stacy Sherwat Weinberger, have adopted a second child. Ada Champlain Weinberger was born Oct. 15 in Vermont and immediately adopted by the Weinbergers. Weinberger told the Burlington Free Press that his daughter weighed “a healthy 7 pounds and 7 ounces.” The mayor and his wife went to Facebook on Sunday to publicly announce the arrival of their latest daughter. LINK