While Senate Republicans were beating back a bill to end tax breaks for the biggest oil companies and House Republicans were blocking a bill to fund road and bridge construction projects and create jobs, the week's big news on Capitol Hill happened inside the imposing marble building across 1^st Street from the Capitol. The Supreme Court heard three days of oral arguments over health care reform.

Health Care 

The justices should uphold the health care reform law, Sanders said in a television interview on Thursday. If part of the law is ruled unconstitutional, the court then would have to decide whether to throw out the entire statute or keep parts of the law intact. "If the Supreme Court invalidates everything that Congress has done, it means you're going to have tens and tens of millions of people out there who have no hope for the future in terms of affordable health care," he said. The measure includes a significant Sanders provision to double the number of community health centers that provide affordable primary care, dental care, mental health counseling and low-cost prescription drugs. On Friday, the court convened in a wood-paneled private conference room to vote on the case. Their decision will be kept secret until a written opinion is prepared and handed down before the term ends in late June.  Watch the senator assess the case and the state of health care in America during an interview with Vermont Public Television.

Postal Service

A test vote Tuesday on a Postal Service reform bill was seen as an indication of growing support for a measure that Sanders has worked hard to improve. "We have made some progress," he said and declared himself "cautiously optimistic." A committee bill sent to the full Senate was being reworked to strengthen protections for mail processing centers and rural post offices. It also will add a Sanders provision calling for a blue-ribbon commission to come up with ways to modernize the Postal Service business model and encourage entrepreneurship. The Senate is expected to take up the bill in mid-April when Congress returns from a spring recess.
Watch the senator discuss the Postal Service with Vermont Public Television's Mark Johnson. 
Take the poll on health care and the court. 

Transportation Roadblock 

A Senate-passed, bipartisan bill to provide funds for road and bridge construction projects hit a dead end in the House. The best Congress could muster on Thursday was a 90-day extension of a construction program that would have expired this Saturday. Sanders sits on the committee that drafted the Senate's $109-billion, two-year transportation funding bill.

Big Win for Big Oil

Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked legislation that would have repealed tax breaks for the five biggest oil companies and extended expiring renewable energy tax incentives. Sanders voted to end the subsidies for oil companies that have racked up record profits.  He also has championed incentives to encourage development of solar, wind and other renewable sources of energy.

Reverse Global Warming 

Sanders' Green Jobs Subcommittee heard on Tuesday how the armed forces are working to become more energy efficient and, in the process, protect combat troops. A new solar installation at the Vermont National Guard is an example of how the military is in the forefront of an energy transformation that also is creating good-paying green jobs.

Protecting Senior Citizens

As a strong defender of senior citizens and founder of the Saving Social Security Caucus, Bernie heads a subcommittee that is working to update the Older Americans Act. The act supports Meals on Wheels and other programs that keep seniors healthy and independent. It also saves taxpayer dollars by preventing costly hospital and nursing home care. Watch him speak to more than 300 seniors' advocates at a forum on Wednesday.