At a rainy-day rally on Tuesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders sounded alarms over threatened cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. With the head of the country's biggest bank testifying on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Sanders pressed his case that bankers, like JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon, should not sit on regional Federal Reserve boards of directors, like Dimon does. On Thursday, Sanders proposed legislation to let states require labels on genetically-altered food.

Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid 

Congress has begun to explore alternatives to the nearly $8 trillion in combined tax increases and spending cuts that, unless the law is changed, are now set to kick in automatically in January. Sanders said Congress must protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid during a new round of budget negotiations this year. "Yes, we have to deal with deficit reduction, but not on the backs of the most vulnerable people in this country," Sanders told 200 people gathered for a rainy-day rally on the west lawn of the Capitol. Seniors and the disabled should not bear the brunt of reversing deficits driven up by the costs of wars, tax breaks for the wealthy and the recession. The "My Medicaid Matters" rally was organized by the National Council on Independent Living. 
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Jobs 

Sanders said "huge investments in our economy" are needed to create millions of good-paying jobs rebuilding America's crumbling infrastructure and transforming the country's energy system. With high unemployment and a backlog of much-needed repairs to roads, bridges, water systems, crumbling schools and other infrastructure projects, Sanders said "it is beyond comprehension that our Republican friends will not support infrastructure legislation."  
Watch the MSNBC interview with Ezra Klein »

Gene-Altered Food 

Sanders wants a federal law to make clear that states may require labels on any food containing genetically engineered ingredients.  There was widespread public support for the labeling requirement in Vermont, but state lawmakers backed off in the face of strong-arm tactics, including a threatened lawsuit, by Monsanto, the chemical company. "Americans deserve the right to know what they and their children are eating," Sanders said during a Senate floor speech on an amendment to the farm bill. 
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The Fed 

At least 18 current and former directors of Federal Reserve banks received $4 trillion in near-zero-interest Fed loans for their companies after the 2008 financial collapse, according to Government Accountability Office records made public for the first time on Tuesday by Sanders. He has introduced legislation to end the blatant conflicts of interests by keeping bankers of Fed boards of directors. One of those banker/board members is JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. "Jamie Dimon, head of the largest financial institution in this country, sits on the New York Fed and during the financial crisis his bank received over $300 billion in low-interest loans. You think there`s a conflict of interest there? You think we should deal with that?" Sanders asked during an interview on MSNBC. 
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Watch the interview by Michael Eric Dyson »

‘We Need to Listen to Independent Senator Bernie Sanders' 

Senators gushed over Jamie Dimon when the JPMorgan boss testified Wednesday at a Senate Banking Committee hearing. Before the hearing was called to order, however, one man in the audience was not so enamored. 
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