Senator Sanders

Health Care - Senate Senate leader Harry Reid unveiled an $859 billion bill to reshape the nation's health care system Wednesday, setting up a historic debate over a measure designed to lower costs and bar insurers from denying coverage because of pre-existing medical conditions. Reid needs the votes of every one of his 58 Democrats, plus independents Joseph Lieberman and Bernard Sanders, to stave off delaying tactics, CNN and National Public Radio reported. LINK, LINK and AUDIO

Health Care - Single Payer The Bennington Organizing Committee of the Health Care is a Human Right campaign, sponsored by the Vermont Workers Center, will be presenting a series of discussions beginning tonight on how Vermont can lead the country and why we need single payer health care now. Phil Fiermonte from Sen. Sanders' office will be on the panel at the Unitarian Universalist Church, the Bennington Banner reported. LINK

Health Care - Choice "We must not allow anti-choice activists to hold health care reform hostage...We applaud Rep. Peter Welch's principled vote against the Stupak-Pitts amendment. We also have two strong voices for Vermont values in the Senate who support a woman's right to choose and who will fight any attempt to add restrictions in the Senate health care bill. Make a call or send an e-mail thanking Sens. Leahy and Sanders," Vermont Democratic Party Chairwoman Judy Bevans wrote in the Rutland Herald. LINK

Green Jobs Vermont and seven other states will share nearly $4 million in economic stimulus funding announced today under a green jobs program that was authored by Sen. Sanders. He said he states will use the funding to produce data on the demand for green jobs, and list job openings and job training in clean energy industries as part of an effort to develop a green jobs bank, The Associated Press reported and Vermont Business Magazine reported. LINK and LINK

Economic Stimulus Barton's water system is getting an upgrade thanks to federal stimulus funds. Sens. Sanders and Leahy announced $2.8 million for the project. WCAX and Vermont Business Magazine reported. LINK and VIDEO

Sanders at UVM Sen. Sanders visited the University of Vermont to engage students and faculty on The Fight for Social Justice and Equality. "No one has fought harder and on more levels and with more success in the pursuit of justice in the United States than Sen. Sanders," said Professor Richard Sugarman, according to The Cynic student newspaper. LINK

International

Karzai Sworn in as Afghan President Afghan forces should be ready to take over security in Afghanistan in five years, President Hamid Karzai said at his inauguration Thursday, and pledged to tackle graft which has left his reputation in tatters, Reuters reported. LINK

U.S. and China Reach Deal on Data The United States and China have agreed to cooperate on developing an inventory of China's greenhouse gas emissions, the Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday, an initiative that appears be a response to criticism of Beijing's data collection, The Washington Post reported. LINK

Obama in Copenhagen? When President Obama arrives in Oslo Dec. 10 to pick up his Nobel Peace Prize, he'll be just an hour's flight from Copenhagen, where approximately 40 world leaders will be gathered for the United Nations Climate Change Conference. Don't count on him to join them. Trapped between international pressure to curb greenhouse gas emissions and a Senate unready to act, the White House is playing coy about the president's plans, according to Politico. LINK

National

Jobless Benefits Will Expire Unless Congress Acts About one million laid-off workers will see their unemployment benefits end in January unless Congress acts quickly to renew existing federally paid extensions, according to a new survey and legislators and state officials by The New York Times. LINK

Senate Jobs Bill Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin Policy Committee Chairman Byron Dorgan have been quietly trying to write a jobs bill that the Senate can act on early next year, underscoring the renewed emphasis Congressional Democrats are putting on the economy as 2009 comes to a close, Roll Call reported. LINK

House Panel OKs Bank Breakup Power A House committee voted Wednesday to give the government extraordinary new power to break up large financial firms that pose a potential risk to the economy, the Los Angeles Times reported. LINK

Pensions and Bonuses The Government Accountability Office found that pensions at United Airlines, US Airways, Polaroid and Reliance Insurance were underfunded by more than $11 billion when the companies turned them over to a government-backed insurance fund. The study said executives at those four companies and six others that abandoned their pension plans took in a total of $350 million in pay and perks in the years leading up to the bankruptcies, reported. LINK

Bailout May be Extended The Obama administration is poised to extend the life of the highly unpopular $700 billion financial bailout and, to display a commitment to fiscal responsibility, is planning to use much of the leftover funds to reduce the national debt, government sources told The Washington Post. LINK

Guantanamo Bay President Obama said on Wednesday he believes the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, can be closed next year, but he acknowledged that he will not meet his original January deadline, Reuters Reported. LINK

Vermont

Terrorist Trial Senator Patrick Leahy is defending a decision by the Obama Administration to bring five alleged terrorists to the U.S. for trial in the federal court system.  Leahy told Vermont Public Radio it's important to show the world that it's possible to achieve justice in the cases, using an open court system. LINK

Brill to Trade Commission President Obama selected former Vermont Assistant Attorney General Julie Brill to join the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Brill spent more than 20 years leading the Vermont attorney general's consumer protection and antitrust division. She left the state in February to before head of consumer protection and antitrust for the North Carolina Justice Department, The Associated Press reported. LINK

Another Flu Death A second Vermonter has died as a result of complications from the swine flu, Health Commissioner Wendy Davis reported Wednesday. She described the victim as an adult with other serious medical conditions, placing him or her in the high-risk group for the H1N1 influenza, but she declined to give any further information about the victim. The first death in late October was also an adult suffering from a serious medical condition, the Vermont Press Bureau reported. LINK

Hospital Sues for Medicaid Funds Springfield Hospital is suing the heads of two Vermont agencies to recover $1.2 million in Medicaid funds it says were cut from the hospital's budget. Attorneys for the hospital argued in papers filed in federal court that a new funding formula cut in half the funding used to support the low-income patients treated in Springfield, the AP reported. LINK

Organic Milk At the end of this year, H.P. Hood will stop buying milk from organic dairy farms. The decision comes at a time when demand for organic milk is down, and will affect dozens of farms in Vermont, Maine, New York and New Hampshire, Vermont Public Radio reported. LINK