The Senate set the stage for votes later this month on job-creating initiatives, including tax breaks for businesses that hire unemployed workers and increased public works spending.  Soaring health insurance company profits underscored the need for health care reform. The crisis on dairy farms and Vermont's pioneering role in sustainable agriculture topped the agenda for Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack's visit to Vermont this weekend. 

Medical Records   More than $975 million in grants were awarded Friday to encourage doctors and hospitals to move from paper to electronic record-keeping. The awards will help make health information technologies available to more than 100,000 hospitals and primary care physicians by 2014.  Almost $12 million was awarded to help Vermont doctors and hospitals move from paper records to computerized medical records.  Sen. Bernie Sanders, a member of the Senate health committee, said the grants "will help us address soaring health care costs, reduce medical errors, and make it easier for patients to get quality care anyplace in the country."  To read more, click here.

Health Insurance Rip Offs Sanders on Friday blasted the country's five largest health insurance companies that posted $12.2 billion in profits last year, 56 percent more than in 2008. "In the midst of the worst recession in memory, with working families struggling to keep their heads above water, insurance companies are siphoning more and more profits out of American consumers," said Sanders, a member of the Senate health committee. "These horrendous rate increases will not only impact millions of individuals, but make our entire economy less competitive. This outrage is more evidence, as if any were needed, that we cannot stop fighting to reform the health care system in the United States."  

Solar Power Thomas Edison, one of history's greatest inventors said; "I'd put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don't have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that."  He was right in 1931, and what he said still is right today. The American people agree.  Today, 92 percent of all Americans want our country to develop solar energy resources, and 77 percent believe the federal government should make solar power development a national priority. That is why I was joined by 10 of my colleagues in introducing the Ten Million Solar Roofs Act.  It calls for 10 million new solar rooftop systems and 200,000 new solar water heating systems over the next 10 years. To read a column by Senator Sanders posted Thursday by Grist, click here.

Vermont Edition Sanders on Wednesday was Vermont Public Radio's guest on Vermont Edition. Topics that listeners and host Jane Lindholm brought up ranged from the fate of health care legislation to budget deficits. The senator also was asked about his proposed legislation to put solar units on 10 million homes and businesses, student loans, the fate of the troubled Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, and this weekend's visit to Vermont by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to discuss the dairy crisis, the state's pioneering sustainable agriculture movement, and other issues. To listen to the program on Vermont Public Radio, click here.