The economy showed signs of improvement, but "we still have a long way to go," Sen. Bernie Sanders said Friday after the Labor Department announced that unemployment in January was 8.3 percent. "A whole lot of people are still hurting," he added during his weekly "Brunch with Bernie" national radio and Internet town hall.  Real unemployment, he added, remains at about 15 percent. On Capitol Hill, Sanders worked to strengthen a bill to save the U.S. Postal Service from draconian cuts. As the new session of Congress got down to business, he cosponsored bills to tax millionaires at about the same rate as middle-class taxpayers, signed onto another measure to address the growing shortages of prescription drugs, and backed a bill to prevent student loan interest rates from doubling this summer.

ECONOMY The jobless rate fell in January to a 3-year low, as the U.S. economy added 243,000 jobs, the Department of Labor announced on Friday. The real unemployment rate - the number of those who are without work or who gave up hunting for jobs - was 15.1 percent in January.

U.S. POSTAL SERVICE Sanders worked behind the scenes this week to strengthen legislation to rescue the U.S. Postal Service.  The bill may come up for consideration by the full Senate as early as next week. Sanders wants to maintain one- to three-day delivery for first-class mail and keep rural post offices open.  He also wants to set up a commission to come up with a new, pro-growth business model for the post office.  He has criticized the "cut, cut, cut" plan by the Postal Service to close thousands of post offices, shutter hundreds of mail sorting centers and eliminate as many as 200,000 positions through retirements and job cuts. Watch Sanders Senate floor speech.

MILLIONAIRE TAX Sanders was an original cosponsor of a bill introduced on Wednesday to ensure that anyone earning more than $2 million a year would pay a minimum 30 percent federal tax rate. The proposal is based on what President Obama dubbed the "Buffett Rule" after the billionaire investor, Warren Buffett, who has said it is unfair that he's taxed at a lower rate than his secretary. "With a record-breaking $15 trillion national debt and a growing gap between the very rich and everyone else, it is absolutely absurd that the wealthiest people in the country are paying the lowest effective tax rate in decades," Sanders said.  Read more.

POVERTY IN AMERICA "I'm not concerned about poor people ..." Mitt Romney declared on Tuesday. Asked to respond, Sanders noted that poverty in the United States is at an all-time high. He noted that a Senate panel that he chairs recently heard testimony that the wealthiest Americans, on average, outlive the poorest people in our country by six-and-one-half years. "So poverty in many ways is a death sentence," Sanders said. He called Romney's remark "horrendous and very ugly." Watch.

STUDENT LOANS Sanders cosponsored legislation introduced on Wednesday to stop student loan interest rates from doubling this summer.  Congress in 2007 cut the fixed-interest rate on Stafford Loans from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent to help millions of American students afford college education.  That law expires on July 1. Unless Congress acts, students and their parents will be on the hook for thousands of dollars more in interest payments. Read more.

Rx DRUG SHORTAGES A member of the Senate health committee, Sanders cosponsored legislation to address critical shortages of drugs to treat many life-threatening illnesses. Responding to requests from Fletcher Allen Health Care and doctors in Vermont, Sanders backed a bill to require drug makers to give early warnings of possible supply disruptions to the Food and Drug Administration. Several factors contribute to the short supplies, including companies that stop making products that aren't profitable enough. Shortages in the less expensive generic drugs have forced some health care providers to buy more expensive products.

BREAST CANCER Facing an enormous backlash, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation relented on Friday and reversed a decision to cut funding to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screenings.Sanders was among 26 senators who wrote to the foundation on Thursday saying "it would be tragic if any woman - let alone thousands of women - lost access to these potentially lifesaving screenings because of a politically-motivated attack."

CONGRESSIONAL ETHICS The Senate on Thursday approved a ban on insider trading by members of Congress. The sweeping new ethics bill would require prompt disclosure of stock transactions by lawmakers. Thousands of executive branch officials also would be covered under the measure that now goes to the House of Representatives.  Sanders was in the 96-3 Senate majority in favor of the bill.

FRUGAL SENATORS Sanders ranked near the top in terms of unspent office funds returned to the treasury, according to a study published Tuesday by Politico. Sanders returned $1.7 million, or 17 percent of his $6.16 million allotment in the past two years. Read the report.