Week in Review

In Washington, Congress on Friday passed legislation to bring the nation’s air traffic control system back to full strength. Sen. Bernie Sanders wished frequent-flying members of Congress cared as much about cuts to  Head Start. On Wednesday,  a new move was launched in the Senate to block President Obama’s proposal to cut benefits for Social Security recipients, disabled veterans and their survivors. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Tom Harkin were leading the charge on Wednesday. A hearing on Tuesday examined solutions to the severe and worsening shortage of primary care doctors in America. As chairman of the Senate veterans committee, Sanders introduced a bill on Thursday to plug gaps in the safety net for homeless veterans. He cosponsored new bills filed on Wednesday and Thursday to require labels on genetically-altered food and to outlaw discrimination by workers because they are gay.

Week in Review

A cartoon by Jeff Danziger published in Saturday’s Rutland (Vt.) Herald and Barre, Vt., Times Argus zings Congress for keeping Head Start spending cuts intact while restoring funds for air traffic controllers.

What About Head Start? President Obama reversed his stand that airport bottlenecks should be addressed only as part of a broader fix to across-the-board spending cuts. Now he says he will sign the bill giving the Federal Aviation Administration greater latitude in how to absorb spending cuts. “Clearly, there was a serious problem … but you’ve got 70,000 kids who are going to lose slots in Head Start. I don’t think our Republican friends are going to be quite so quick to respond to that serious crisis,” Sanders told radio host Ed Schultz. “When teachers are laid off, I don’t think our Republican friends are going to be there.” Sanders had voted against the across-the-board budget cuts known in Washington parlance as the sequester Listen

Don’t Cut Social Security, Veterans’ Benefits A resolution was filed on Wednesday that would put the Senate on record – again – against eroding future cost-of-living adjustments. The “dark suits here in Washington” want a stingier consumer price index, Sen. Tom Harkin warned. “Social security hasn't contributed a nickel to the deficit,” added Sen. Bernie Sanders. More than 250 economists, he noted, dispute claims that the chained CPI is a more accurate gauge of retirees’ living expenses. “With so many people hurting we must protect Social Security, veterans and Medicare,” Sanders said. The Senate on March 23 passed Sanders’ amendment to the budget resolution opposing the so-called chained CPI. Watch

Corporate Taxes In a Senate floor speech on Wednesday, Sanders listed 15 profitable corporations that pay little or nothing in U.S. income taxes. “The truth is that, by any measure, U.S. corporate income taxes are very low. And as a share of the economy, they are much lower than are corporate income taxes in almost every other developed country,” Citizens for Tax Justice said in a new report. Watch

Primary Care Crisis Severe shortages in the nation’s primary care workforce were examined at a Senate hearing Bernie chaired on Tuesday. “In the United States today, some 45,000 people die unnecessarily each year because they don't get to a doctor in time,” he said. “Major reforms in primary care will save lives and save billions in health care costs.” Watch

Homeless Veterans The chairman and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs on Thursday introduced legislation to help the Department of Veterans Affairs meet its goal to eliminate veteran homelessness by 2015. “We must continue to invest in the progress that has been made and remove any remaining barriers to housing for veterans,” Sanders said. Read more

Employment Non-Discrimination Act Sanders cosponsored legislation introduced on Thursday by Sen. Jeff Merkley to outlaw workplace discrimination against gays and lesbians.

Food Labels Legislation that would require the Food and Drug Administration to clearly label genetically engineered foods so that consumers can make informed choices about what they eat and feed their children was introduced on Wednesday.  Bernie cosponsored the bill by Sen. Barbara Boxer.