Fueling recession anxiety, payrolls sank in February when the American workforce unexpectedly shed 63,000 jobs. Senator Bernie Sanders said Friday's Labor Department report "hides the real severity of the problem." A member of the Senate Budget Committee, Sanders laid the foundation for a vote next week on rescinding tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. Senators passed the most significant consumer protection reforms in years. A push by Sanders to let Vermont and other states fight global warming got a boost in the House of Representatives. At home in Vermont, Sanders brought together in Burlington the leaders of a growing network of community health centers. On Town Meeting Day, Vermont voters took their turn in a presidential nominating process that in the Green Mountain State, as elsewhere, has seen record turnouts.

Disappearing Jobs The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.8 percent. The decimal-point-drop was not because of a rise in employment, but the result of a 450,000 decline in the labor force, the fastest fall-off in the labor market in five years. Sanders, interviewed on WDEV's "The Mark Johnson Show," said the monthly statistics mask deeper problems causing what he has called the "collapse" of the American middle class. An economic stimulus package Congress passed will provide "a shot in the arm for millions of working families," he added, and "will put money into the hands of people who will spend it and create jobs." To take a closer look at the Labor Department data, click here.

No More Tax Breaks for Millionaires Senator Bernie Sanders will ask the full Senate to rescind special tax breaks for households with incomes over $1 million a year. Instead of preserving the tax cuts for the wealthiest 0.3 percent of Americans, Sanders said he would redirect revenue to important social programs and to stanch the flow of red ink in President Bush's budget. "What I will be doing is offering an amendment rescinding the tax breaks in terms of personal income taxes and use that money for our kids and for the middle class," Sanders told The Thom Hartmann Show on Air America Radio.

Consumer Protection The Senate yesterday approved the most far-reaching changes to the nation's product safety system in a generation, responding to recalls of millions of lead-laced toys that rattled consumers last year. Lawmakers still have to resolve key differences between the Senate bill and a similar measure that passed the House in December, the Washington Post reported. To read more about it, click here.

Global Warming A group of House members on Thursday introduced legislation to overturn an Environmental Protection Agency decision to deny California, Vermont and other states the right to regulate vehicle emissions that cause global warming. Rep. Peter Welch of Vermont introduced the bill patterned after one proposed by environment committee Chairman Barbara Boxer and Senators Patrick Leahy and Sanders.

Community Health Centers Sanders told reporters he will champion expanding a network of Federally Qualified Health Centers that already play a critical role in providing cost-effective primary health care and dental services to more than 86,000 Vermonters. Sanders called for a center in every Vermont county. There were only two centers in Vermont five years ago. Now there are seven. "The number of people now who are able to get high-quality health care has significantly expanded. We are making progress," Sanders said, "but we all recognize that we have a long way to go to fulfill the goal of making sure that any person in Vermont, regardless of income, can walk into a community health center and get high-quality health care, dental care, mental health counseling and low-cost prescription drugs." To read more about community health centers in The Burlington Free Press, click here.

Vermont Votes Barack Obama easily defeated Hillary Rodham Clinton to win the Vermont Democratic primary on Tuesday's Town Meeting Day. The Iraq war and the economy tied as the No. 1 issue for Vermont voters, according to a survey for The Associated Press of those leaving polling places. No other state in the country rated the war as highly. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton defeated Obama in the popular vote in Ohio and Texas primaries. She also won Rhode Island.