Senator Sanders

Health Care - Left The liberal group MoveOn.org is urging senators to block it. The Associatd Press, Reuters and Los Angeles Times said the letter called on members to send a message to Senate progressives such as Bernie Sanders, Roland Burris and Russ Feingold to ``block this bill until it's fixed.' CNN and CBS News said the e-mail continued, "Let's show Bernie and other progressives that we're counting on them to block this version of the bill-and we'll get their backs if they do." LINK, LINK, LINK, LINK and LINK

Health Care - Smoking Tweat There is no such thing anymore as a routine "unanimous consent" request. That notion died on Wednesday, when Tom Coburn used his senatorial prerogative to insist upon the line-by-line reading of Sen. Sanders's 767-page, single-payer amendmen, The Washington Post reported. Later, Richard J. Durbin said he'd found irrefutable evidence,a Twitter message, that proved Republicans had no goal other than to delay a vote on health care. "I have in my hand," Durbin told assembled journalists, "a smoking tweet." LINK

Health Care - Sanders Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's headaches are now being caused by the conference's left wing instead of its right. Centrist Sens. Landrieu, Lincoln and Lieberman have ceded the role of spoiler to liberal Sens. Burris, Feingold and Sanders, according to The Hill.  It said Sanders "is resolutely not a party member" and "is a passionate supporter of replacing private health insurance with a single-payer healthcare system." LINK

International

Goals Remain Unmet in Climate Deal President Obama announced in Copenhagen on Friday night that five major nations, including the United States, had together forged a climate deal. He called it "an unprecedented breakthrough" but acknowledged that it still fell short of what was required to combat global warming. LINK

National

Health Care - Moment of Truth Senate Democrats appear within reach of the 60 votes necessary to pass President Barack Obama's health care legislation after a long year of struggle and a final burst of deadline bargaining with holdout Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, The Associated Press reported. LINK

Senate Votes on $626 Billion Spending Bill The Senate came in shortly after a snowy dawn to vote on legislation ensuring that the troops are armed and the jobless don't lose their benefits, AP reported. LINK

States Get More Time to comply with Real ID The Obama administration will abandon a Dec. 31 deadline for states to tighten security requirements for driver's licenses, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced Friday, according to The Washington Post. LINK

Vermont

Vermont Unemployment Drops The state's unemployment rate dropped in November for the third month in a row. State officials say the drop of one tenth of one percentage point to 6.4 percent, was accompanied by a sizable jump in the number of employed Vermonters. Labor Commissioner Patricia Moulton Powden said the state continues to be cautious as to whether the numbers are signals the recovery has arrived. Unemployment in Vermont's 17 labor markets ranged from a low of 3.9 percent in Hartford to 8.1 percent in Rutland, AP reported.  LINK

Health Care - Public Option A public health insurance option may have been yanked from the health reform package the U.S. Senate is debating, but it could come up for consideration in the Vermont Legislature this winter. Rep. Paul Poirier, I-Barre, shared details Thursday of a bill he and two Democrats - Reps. Janet Ancel and Mary Hooper - would offer establishing a public health insurance plan with comprehensive coverage that any Vermonter could purchase, The Burlington Free Press reported. LINK

Vermont Yankee Vermont Yankee's owner Entergy Corp. released an offer Friday to charge the state's largest utilities 6.1 cents per kilowatt if the nuclear power plant is allowed to continue operating after 2012. "This is not an offer we're prepared to accept," said Robert Young, chief executive officer of Central Vermont Public Service Corp., echoing comments from Green Mountain Power Corp. The new 20-year offer, filed Friday afternoon with the state Public Service Board, would replace part of a revenue sharing agreement the power plant has with the two utilities, The Burlington Free Press reported. LINK