Welcomed by the Obama administration as a “bold step,” a $1 trillion, five-year bill introduced on Tuesday by Sen. Bernie Sanders would create 13 million jobs rebuilding America’s crumbling roads, bridges, transit systems and other bricks-and-mortar projects. Over Sanders’ opposition, the Senate on Thursday voted to allow construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. On Monday, the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch launched a campaign to put nearly $1 billion into 2016 campaigns. On Sunday, Sanders will appear on C-Span's Newsmakers. Watch the interview here or check local listings. 

Rebuild America Act The five-year plan detailed in Sanders’ legislation was formally introduced on Tuesday. By Thursday it had won praise at a Senate hearing from U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, who called it a “bold step.” The bill invest in roads, bridges, transit, passenger and freight rail, water infrastructure, marine ports and inland waterways, national parks, broadband and the electric grid. “We must modernize our infrastructure and create millions of new jobs that will put people back to work and help the economy,” Sanders said. Read more

Tar Sands Pipeline The Senate approved a tar sands pipeline bill that President Obama has threatened to veto. Sanders called it “totally crazy” to promote the burning of more oil that scientists blame for greenhouse gas emissions responsible for global climate change. “With the scientific community telling us loudly and clearly that we must transform our energy system away from fossil fuels if we are to combat climate change, it is insane for the Congress to support the production and transportation of some of the dirtiest oil on the planet,” Sanders said. The Senate approved the bill by a vote of 62 to 36, short of a two-thirds, veto-proof majority. Should the bill pass the House, as expected, and President Barack Obama vetoes it, as the White House has signaled he will do, Sanders urged the Senate to sustain the veto. Read more

Destroying Democracy From a gathering of the billionaire class at a posh resort near Palm Springs came word on Monday that a political network controlled by Charles and David Koch plans to spend $889 million on the 2016 elections. That’s double what they spent on the 2014 campaign. “The American political system is being destroyed. What we are looking at now is oligarchy, not democracy,” said Sanders. The Koch brothers, the second wealthiest family in America, can get away with using their inherited fortune to try to buy elections because of a disastrous Supreme Court ruling in 2010. On this month’s fifth anniversary of the Citizens United ruling, Sanders introduced a constitutional amendment to overturn it.