Senator Sanders

Bernanke: Slash Help for Old and Sick Ben Bernanke has overseen the greatest expansion of the Federal Reserve's balance sheet in its history, but in testimony before the Senate banking committee he called for cutbacks in Medicare and Social Security. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who put a hold on Bernanke's nomination, was apoplectic when Huffington Post told him Bernanke was pushing for cuts in entitlement spending. "That confirms everything I'm saying," Sanders fumed. LINK

Too Big to Nail? "The American people want a new direction on Wall Street and in the Fed. They do not want as chairman someone who has been part of the problem and who has been responsible for many of the enormous difficulties that we are now experiencing. It's time for a change at the Fed. It's time for Mr. Bernanke to go," Sen. Sanders concluded in a Politico column. LINK

True Independence "Sanders' role in calling attention to the failures of the financial system and the suffering of ordinary people is a useful one. President Obama needs to show that he, too, understands the outrage of the people. Actually, blocking Bernanke or hobbling the independence of the Fed would probably be going too far. If the Fed, or any other regulator, is going to ride herd on Wall Street, true independence is what it will need," the Times Argus editorialized. LINK   

Requiem for the Dollar "Ben S. Bernanke doesn't know how lucky he is. Tongue-lashings from Bernie Sanders, the populist senator from Vermont, are one thing. The hangman's noose is another. Section 19 of this country's founding monetary legislation, the Coinage Act of 1792, prescribed the death penalty for any official who fraudulently debased the people's money," James Grant wrote in a Wall Street Journal essay. LINK

Ron Paul "No one has better captured the sense of Main Street outrage over secret insider deals and Wall Street bonuses," Howard Fineman wrote in a Newsweek profile. "Somebody has to take the fall, and Bernanke-who has trillions of dollars at his disposal but not one dime of PAC money-could be the guy. Last week Paul's Senate friend, socialist Bernie Sanders of Vermont, placed a "hold" on Bernanke's nomination for a second term, which means the chairman will need 60 votes to keep his job." LINK

Leahy Would Lift Health Insurers' Antitrust Exemption Sen. Patrick Leahy has proposed amending the Senate's health care reform bill to largely repeal the antitrust exemption for health and medical malpractice insurers. His proposal has 18 co-sponsors, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. Sen. Sanders also strongly supports it and plans to sign on as a co-sponsor, The Burlington Free Press reported. LINK

International

NATO Troops to Afghanistan After months of anguished debate in the United States over how many new troops to send to Afghanistan, the numbers game switched to Europe on Friday, with NATO announcing that it planned to commit an additional 7,000 soldiers to the coalition in Afghanistan. NATO portrayed the pledge as a powerful vote of support for the American-led effort. But in Europe as in Washington, arithmetic on troops can get fuzzy. Of the 7,000 troops promised by NATO, from 1,500 to 2,000 are already in Afghanistan, The New York Times reported, LINK

Copenhagen Climate Conference The White House said late Friday that President Barack Obama now expects a "meaningful" climate deal at a United Nations summit in Copenhagen, possibly involving a commitment for rich nations to provide $10 billion a year by 2012 to help developing countries fight climate change. The White House said the U.S. is prepared to pay its "fair share" of the $10 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported. LINK

Vermont

Parks Stimulus The state of Vermont has been awarded $497,000 in federal bailout money to address invasive species and provide conservation education programs in the Green Mountain National Forest. The money, from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will go toward a 16-month project to stem the spread of invasive plants and insects by conducting pest surveys, limiting firewood movement and enhancing native species recovery for ash, butternut and chestnut trees, AP reported. LINK

Snow If there is not measurable snow in Burlington by Tuesday it will be the latest snowfall in the more than a century of record keeping. The previous latest snowfalls measured in Burlington are all over the map. The latest was Dec. 7, way back in 1937. Other late dates include in 1915, 1948 and 1918, the Vermont Press Bureau reported. In Washington, meanwhile, The National Weather Service reports the possibility of 1 to 3 inches of snow in the District of Columbia.LINK