Before going home for the holidays, Congress agreed on Friday to extend a Social Security payroll tax cut. The year-end legislative package also will preserve jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed. Another provision prevents cuts in payments to doctors who treat Medicare patients. On Wednesday, the Obama administration announced a tough new rule to clean up pollution from power plants. On Thursday, the day when winter officially began, a sharply-reduced fund for home heating aid was parceled out to states. The money for Vermont helps, Sen. Bernie Sanders said, but he is working to restore funding to the level it was last winter.  

Home Heating Vermont got $3.6 million in federal home heating aid on Thursday, but the latest round of funding reflects a 25 percent cut this winter in the fuel assistance program. The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program helps seniors, the disabled and low-income families. When Congress returns in January, Sanders will fight to at least restore funding at last year's level.

Social Security Sanders said taxes should be cut for the middle class struggling to cope with the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. He voiced reservations about the payroll tax cut, however, because it saps resources from the dedicated funding for Social Security. "If you divert hundreds of billions of dollars away from Social Security it's going to make the system more fragile in years to come." Read more on Sanders' vote.

Clean Air The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday unveiled new standards sharply limiting emissions of toxic pollutants like mercury and arsenic from coal- and oil-burning power plants.  EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said the regulations would save thousands of lives and return economic and health benefits many times their estimated $9.6 billion annual cost. Sanders, a member of the Senate environment committee, praised the long-awaited step by the Obama administration. Read more.

Saving Democracy More than 107,000 people as of Friday had signed a petition supporting a constitutional amendment proposed by Sanders to counter a Supreme Court ruling on corporate campaign spending. The Saving American Democracy Amendment would overturn the Citizens United decision that let corporations spend unlimited sums to influence elections.  The Nation's Katrina vanden Heuvel praised the proposal by Sanders and Rep. Ted Deutch. Read The Washington Post column.

Facebook Quote of the Week The Saving American Democracy Amendment  drew a steady stream of comments on Sanders' Senate facebook page. Daisy Buchanan wrote on Tuesday, "We, the People of America, were sold out years ago when the lobbyists gained more power. The icing on the cake was the Supreme Court ruling that corporations are people."