Congress headed home on Friday for the Memorial Day weekend. In Vermont, Sen. Bernie Sanders was to observe the national holiday honoring fallen service members at wreath-laying ceremonies and parades in Essex Junction and Vergennes.  In Washington last week, Sanders on Tuesday introduced conflict-of-interest legislation to ban bankers from sitting on regional Federal Reserve boards of directors.   On Wednesday, he spoke out about how unabashed bankers are trying to intimidate members of Congress. Later that day, Sanders made the case for a crackdown on pharmaceutical companies that rip off taxpayers and customers. Sen. Sanders welcomed the White House's nomination of Dr. Allison Macfarlane to chair the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday.  On Friday, Sanders told listeners of the Thom Hartmann radio show, "If we're going to end the grotesquely unequal distribution of wealth in the United States, then we are going to have to address what is taking place on Wall Street."  

Listen to Sen. Sanders on the Thom Hartmann radio show here »

Drug Fraud Sanders proposed tough new penalties to combat rampant pharmaceutical industry fraud.  Fraud by drug makers now costs taxpayers more than ripoffs by notoriously corrupt defense contractors.  This year pharmaceutical companies are expected to pay up to $9 billion to settle pending cases. "Is fraud within the pharmaceutical industry the exception, or is it, simply put, their business model?" Sanders asked in a Senate floor speech. Under his proposal, companies fined for overcharging Medicare or Medicaid, or for dangerous illegal marketing practices, would have been stripped of the government-granted monopolies on those medications.  In a show of strength by the powerful pharmaceutical industry lobby in Washington, only nine senators voted for Sanders' amendment. Watch the speech. 

Fed Conflicts Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday introduced legislation to prohibit banking industry executives from serving as directors of the 12 Federal Reserve regional banks. The recent multi-billion-dollar trading loss at JPMorgan Chase underscored the need to structurally reform the Federal Reserve. . "It is a blatant conflict of interest for Jamie Dimon, the CEO and chairman of JPMorgan Chase, to serve on the New York Fed's board of directors," Sanders said. "If this is not a clear example of the fox guarding the henhouse, I don't know what is." Watch the press conference.

Banker Threats The banking industry is trying to flex its financial muscle by forming a Super PAC. It wants to use huge campaign contributions as a way to try to intimidate members of Congress it considers insufficiently obsequious. ``Congress isn't afraid of bankers," Oklahoma Bankers Association President Roger Beverage told the American Banker magazine. ``They don't think we'll do anything to kick them out of office. We are trying to change that perception."   Super PACs with no limits on contributions or expenditures were created after the Supreme Court ruling in a case called Citizens United.  Sanders has proposed a constitutional amendment to undo the decision.  He spoke about it in a Senate floor speech on Wednesday.   "I come to the Senate floor this afternoon to express my profound disgust with the current state of our campaign finance system and to call for more disclosure until we can finally overturn Citizens United. Watch the speech. Read the American Banker article.

Gay Marriage The Vermont congressional delegation on Tuesday announced that federal authorities were suspending, at least for now, in action that could have led to the deportation of Takako Ueda. The Japanese woman was married one year ago in Vermont to Frances Hebert of Dummerston. Normally foreigners who marry Americans are automatically eligible to live in the United States. But same-sex couples are treated differently under the so-called Defense of Marriage Act. Sanders is a co-sponsor of legislation to repeal the law that he voted against when it was enacted in 1996.