Senator Sanders

Health Care - Senate Senate leaders on Friday stood on the verge of achieving the necessary 60 votes to begin debating health care legislation. Sen. Bernie Sanders said he would support today's procedural vote, but his support for a final bill was "not at all guaranteed," the Los Angeles Times reported. LINK

Health Care - Sanders "The current system is unsustainable; 46 million unensured, 45,000 Americans dying every year because they don't have access to a doctor. We have almost 1 million Americans going bankrupt because of medically related diseases, and we end up spending twice as much per person on health care as any other nation. This is unsustainable. We need real health care reform," Sanders told CBS News on "The Early Show." On MSNBC, Sanders told Chris Matthews,"It ain't a great bill...but at least Obama and the Democratic leadership are trying." VIDEO and VIDEO

Health Care - Politics Daniel Freilich, who is challenging Sen. Patrick Leahy in the Democratic primary, said Friday that Leahy should vote against the health care bill being considered in the Senate because it doesn't go far enough. Freilich urged Leahy to go against his party leaders in a vote expected today that would allow the bill to go forward. He also told The Burlington Free Press he disagrees with independent Sen. Bernie Sanders' plan to vote to allow the bill to continue. LINK

Credit Cards "The current unconscionable rates reflect the political clout exercised by some of the same financial companies that received billions of bailout dollars from the taxpayers. That influence was on display when the Senate rejected legislation introduced last spring by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders to cap credit card rates at 15 percent. ...embers of Congress need to extricate themselves from the python-like embrace of the financial sector and establish a regulatory framework for determining fair and reasonable credit card rates," The Boston Globe editorialized. LINK

Too Big to Exist "The American people have had enough. They want an end to the destructive gambling spree by institutions that are too big to fail. Now is the time. Let's break `em up!" Sen. Sanders and Rep. Maurice Hinchey wrote in an op-ed published by the Greenbay, Wis. Press Gazette and the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. "On the Web, right-of-center bloggers wrote favorably of a recent proposal by Sanders...to break up the banks," James Pethokoukis wrote in Reuters Blog. LINK, LINK and LINK

Employ America The Employ America Act, sponsored by Sens. Sanders and Grassley, is an attempt to combat what both lawmakers said was an obvious attempt by major firms to capitalize on cheap labor using the guest visa program during this year's economic downturn, according to The Hill. LINK

Milk Monopoly The U.S. Department of Agriculture scheduled a public workshop to look at competition in the dairy industry. The hearing, scheduled for June 7 in Madison, Wis., will look at competition among the nation's largest dairy processors. Sen. Sanders, who says Dean Foods controls about 70 percent of the fluid milk buying market in New England, asked the Justice Department to investigate whether the dairy giant was illegallycontrolling milk prices by dominating the market, the Brattleboro Reformer reported. LINK

Dairy Crisis It costs farmers about two dollars to produce one gallon...but they're getting paid less than a buck for it. That math doesn't work. It's time we changed the system, WPTZ editorialized. Vermont's Farm Bureau agrees, for the first time in its history, it's supporting mandatory production controls. The call for controls echoes those of New England governors, Sen. Sanders...and Vermont's dairy cooperatives. LINK

International

Afghanistan The Obama administration is in advanced talks with its North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies for a coordinated rollout of a new Afghan war strategy, which U.S. officials hope will include a commitment by European allies to send several thousand additional troops. U.S. and European estimates of the new troops they may get from NATO allies vary from 3,000 to 7,000. Those would complement the additional U.S. forces Mr. Obama is considering; those options range from 10,000 to 40,000, The Wall Street Journal reported. LINK

National

Economic Stimulus Text Now that unemployment has topped 10 percent, some liberal-leaning economists see confirmation of their warnings that the $787 billion stimulus package President Obama signed into law last February was way too small. The economy needs a second big infusion, they say. With roughly a quarter of the stimulus money out the door after nine months, the accumulation of hard data and real-life experience has allowed analysts to reach a consensus that the stimulus package, messy as it is, is working, according to The New York Times. LINK

Vermont

Vermont Unemployment Falls Vermont's jobless rate fell to 6.5 percent in October. The number of unemployed Vermonters has been declining since the second quarter this year. However, Vermont's labor market is not in recovery yet," said Patricia Moulton Powden, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Labor. "We are still not seeing any significant job growth," The Burlington Free Press reported. LINK

Feds Target 5 Vermont Farms Five Vermont dairy farmers are being asked to provide records proving their workers are legal, federal immigration officials said Friday. The farmers, who were not identified, were targeted as part of a national crackdown on employers by federal officials, The Associated Press reported. LINK

Salmon to Plead Guilty to DUI Vermont State Auditor Tom Salmon said Friday that he will plead guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol, and apologized to Vermonters for his actions, The Associated Press reported. In a rambling news conference at the Statehouse, Salmon acknowledged financial problems dating to 2002 that were recently revealed by the weekly newspaper Seven Days. LINK

Forest Centennial The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation is getting ready to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first state forest, the Rutland Herald reported. LINK