The U.S. Senate voted Thursday on another short-term appropriations package which would keep the government open for three more weeks.  Washington continues to debate how best to approach the rising national deficit.  A budget passed recently by the House would slash numerous programs relied upon by middle-class families.  At a time when the middle class is collapsing and working families struggle to recover from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the newly-elected House conservatives have pushed for deep cuts to Head Start, Pell grants for college students, low income heating assistance, affordable primary care facilities across the nation, and many invaluable programs.  "We need shared sacrifice. The wealthiest people in this country, who are now doing phenomenally well, are also going to have to help us with deficit reduction," wrote Sen. Bernie Sanders in The Huffington Post.  The senator introduced legislation imposing a surtax on those households earning a million dollars or more.  According to a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, eighty-one percent of the American people believe it is totally acceptable or mostly acceptable to impose a surtax on millionaires to reduce the deficit.  Sanders will solicit more public feedback next week when he hosts four public town meetings on the economy across Vermont.

In addition to trying to place the burden of deficit reduction squarely on middle class families, the conservatives in Congress have tried to score political points.  This was on display Thursday as the House voted to end federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.  Regarding cuts to public broadcasting, Sanders said, "As the grandfather of six, I am especially impressed by children's programs on PBS such as Sesame Street.  There are more responsible ways to balance the budget than eliminating a valuable source of information for our people and exceptional educational programming for our kids." 

To read more about the impact on Vermont of cuts proposed by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, click here.

To read more from Sen. Sanders on attacks on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, click here.