The White House and congressional negotiators remained at loggerheads over how to bring down deficits.  The White House moved up to July 22 the deadline for congressional action to avoid a risk of defaulting on the national debt. Senate leaders cancelled a Fourth of July recess to keep the negotiations moving. And on Monday Sen. Bernie Sanders laid out the stakes in a letter to President Obama and in a 90-minute floor speech .

Dear Mr. President In less than a week, about 100,000 of you signed the letter. "Everyone understands that over the long-term we have got to reduce the deficit," Sanders wrote. "It is absolutely imperative, however, that as we go forward with deficit reduction we completely reject the Republican approach that demands savage cuts in desperately-needed programs for working families, the elderly, the sick, our children and the poor, while not asking the wealthiest among us to contribute one penny."  Sign the letter

The Speech Sanders took to the Senate floor on Monday and made a forceful case for his budget priorities in a 90-minute, 10,000-word speech. The reaction was positive. "Rarely in history has a U.S. senator spoken so much truth in such blunt language," John Nichols blogged at The Nation.  "Senator Bernie Sanders committed common sense on the floor of the US Senate," Robert L. Borosage wrote. Watch video of the speech here.

Budget Senate leaders canceled an Independence Day recess next week to try to break a deadlock with Republicans. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid invited President Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to meet with Democrats on Wednesday.  Senate Budget Committee Democrats agreed on a proposal that would cut more than $4 trillion from the deficit.  A member of the committee, Sanders had insisted that at least half of any deficit reduction come from closing tax loopholes to increase revenue from the wealthiest Americans and the most profitable corporations. "He probably got something close to that," The Hill's Erik Wasson told C-SPAN. Appearing Thursday on C-C-SPAN's "Washington Journal," Sanders said it is "grotesquely unfair" and "immoral" for Republicans to put all the burden of deficit reduction on the backs of the poor, the elderly and children. Sanders also faulted President Obama. "He has been much too soft on the Republicans." 

Nuclear Power The U.S. Department of Justice has no plans at this time to intervene in a legal fight over the fate of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. Sanders had urged Attorney General Eric Holder to stay out of a lawsuit filed in federal court in Vermont by Entergy Corp. The plant owner sued after the Vermont Senate last year voted 26-to-4 not to renew a state license for the 40-year-old, problem-plagued reactor.  "While I recognize that it is the responsibility of the Department of Justice to monitor developments in all ongoing litigation, I am pleased that they have no plans to intervene and I am confident that the Department will see no reason to intervene in the future," Sanders said. "I want to thank Sen. Harry Reid for his strong support for the state of Vermont," Sanders added. "The Majority Leader is clearly in our corner on this issue and he has agreed to do everything he can to help me in this effort." Sanders is a member of the U.S. Senate committee that oversees the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission.