Senator Sanders

Troop Surge A wary, divided Congress raised serious questions about President Obama's new strategy for Afghanistan and his plans to pay for a troop buildup. Said Sen. Bernard Sanders, "In the middle of a severe recession, with 17 percent of our people unemployed or underemployed, with one-quarter of the kids in this country living on food stamps, I am not sympathetic to spending $100 billion a year on Afghanistan, plus what we're spending in Iraq," National Public Radio, The Miami Herald and MSNBC reported. AUDIO, LINK and VIDEO

Afghanistan - Vermont Delegation Vermont's senators worry about sending more troops to Afghanistan, its cost in lives and dollars. Sen. Leahy said, "I am not convinced that the hole dug earlier by a thousand bad decisions can be paved over at all." Sen. Sanders wants more international troops to share the burden."My nightmare is that we may get caught in a quagmire situation from which there will be no successful exit," he added, according to the Vermont Press Bureau, Bennington Banner, WCAX, WPTZ and Fox 44. LINK, LINK, LINK, VIDEO, VIDEO and VIDEO

Afghanistan - International Cooperation "Where is the rest of the world? This is an international problem. Why is the United States now going to be supplying 70 percent of the foreign troops at $100 billion a year when we are in the mist of the worst recession since the 1930s?" Sen. Sanders asked on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."  Host Joe Scarborough responded, "I could not agree with you more. If this is an international concern, why is it our money and more importantly, our blood."  VIDEO

Federal Reserve Ben S. Bernanke has the backing of a majority of U.S. senators on the Banking Committee for a second term as Federal Reserve chairman, according to Bloomberg, which noted Sen. Sanders' opposition. "It makes no sense to reappoint somebody who's an integral part of the problem," Sanders said on The Bill Press Show. "People are disgusted with the greed and irresponsibility of Wall Street. They're wondering and asking, ‘Where was the Fed?' ‘Where was Chairman Bernanke?'" Sanders told Politico. LINK, LINK and LINK

Health Care Sen. Sanders and other progressives are fighting to help facilitate our struggle for equitable health care through a "State's Right to Innovate" amendment to the federal health care bills," James Haslam, director of the Vermont Workers' Center, wrote in a Burlington Free Press op-ed. LINK  

‘Deficit Hawks "We've heard signals from the White House that they're going to be asking agencies to start cutting back," Sen. Bernie Sanders said on The Bill Press Show. "They're now becoming deficit hawks." The AP recently reported that Obama has put federal agencies on notice that they should plan to freeze or cut spending by up to 5 percent next year. LINK

Dairy Farmers Vermont dairy farmers are "in a terrible pickle," conservative UVM economist Art Woolf allowed in a St. Albans Messenger column, but he called Sen. Sanders "disingenuous" for supporting temporary guest workers for farmers while opposing skilled foreign workers getting jobs at bailed-out banks that laid off Americans.  A Green Mountain Daily.com blogger noted the "obvious incongruity" of equating small struggling dairy farmers to Wall Street giants. LINK, LINK

International

Danish Electric Car Plan For all their potential, electric cars have always been the subject of more talk than action, and only a handful are on the road in Denmark. But now the biggest Danish power company is working with a Silicon Valley start-up in a $100 million effort to wire the country with charging poles as well as service stations that can change out batteries in minutes, reports The New York Times. LINK

Iran Releases 5 British Sailors Iran freed five British sailors detained last week when their racing yacht drifted accidentally into Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf. Britain said it was delighted with Wednesday's release and praised Tehran's handling of the incident, according to The Associated Press. LINK

South Africa Issues Broad AIDS Policy President Jacob Zuma, taking a concrete step away from the South African government's previous delays in providing drugs to treat AIDS and prevent women from infecting their newborns, declared Tuesday in a national address on World AIDS Day that drug therapy for H.I.V.-positive pregnant women and babies would be broadened and start earlier, reports The New York Times. LINK

National

First Senate Health Care Vote A Republican senator asserted Tuesday during a rancorous floor debate that President Barack Obama's health care overhaul will shorten the lives of America's seniors by cutting Medicare, according to The Associated Press. LINK

Health-Bill Amendments Court Women, Seniors Democrats appealed to women and Republicans made a pitch to seniors Tuesday in amendments to the Senate health bill that showed how each party is trying to frame the health-care debate, wrote the Wall Street Journal. LINK

Fed Debates New Role: Bubble Fighter Now, as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke faces a confirmation hearing Thursday on a second four-year term, he and others at the central bank are rethinking the hands-off approach they've followed over the past decade, wrote the Wall Street Journal. LINK

GM's Chief Resigns General Motors chief executive Fritz Henderson resigned unexpectedly Tuesday from the government-owned company, once again unsettling the ranks at the nation's largest automaker as it struggles to right itself after bankruptcy, reported The Washington Post. LINK

Vermont

Property Tax Hike Vt. Tax Commissioner Richard Westman notified legislative leaders Tuesday, as required by law, that to accommodate a projected 2 percent increase in school spending, plus an estimated $26 million jump needed to allow eligible Vermonters to pay school taxes based on their income, the rates for both residential and commercial/vacation properties would need to increase by 2.2 cents. That would make the residential rate 88.2 cents per $100 of assessed property value, up from 86 cents this year.  The nonresidential rate would increase to $1.372 per $100 of assessed value, up from $1.35, according to The Burlington Free Press. LINK

$1 Million of Champlain Bridge Lawmakers and the governor have agreed to spend $1 million in federal stimulus money to help out Vermont businesses harmed by the October closure of the Lake Champlain bridge.  State leaders said the money is needed to lessen the damage done to some Vermont businesses suddenly no longer on a major traffic pathway between New York and Vermont. New York state officials recently decided to pursue about $3 million in business assistance on their side of the lake, reports the Vermont Press Bureau. LINK

Lt. Gov. Republican state Sen. Phil Scott of Montpelier has decided to run for lieutenant governor, a seat vacated by current Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie's decision to run for governor.  Republican businessman Mark Snelling, son of the former governor, is also running for the office.  State Sen. Randy Brock recently decided not to run for the Republican nomination and former state Sen. John Bloomer is also eying a run.  No Democrats have thus far committed to running but state Sen. Virginia Lyons, Rep. Steve Howard, and Progressive Rep. David Zuckerman are all rumored to be exploring a run for the Democratic nomination, according to The Burlington Free Press. LINK