Homeowners struggling to afford their mortgages would get help under a foreclosure rescue package senators passed Friday. The bill would create an Affordable Housing Trust Fund first proposed by Congressman Sanders in 2001, and it allots $20 million for Vermont. Senators this week also passed a Medicare bill that Sanders supported, and a domestic spying bill that he vigorously opposed. As oil prices climbed to yet another record, the Senate Majority Leader announced a vote on a Sanders bill to help families deal with home energy bills.

Housing With foreclosure filings up by more than 50 percent in June, the Senate on Friday passed legislation - sending it to the House - to help hard-pressed homeowners cope with a worsening mortgage crisis. The measure includes a proposal - long championed by Senator Bernie Sanders - to create an Affordable Housing Trust Fund. As a member of the House of Representatives, Sanders in 2001 first proposed creation of a trust fund to help build affordable homes and rental housing. Another provision added in the Senate by Patrick Leahy and Sanders steers $20 million to Vermont communities. A Sanders proposal to help disabled veterans retrofit their homes also is part of the package.

Pentagon Waste The Pentagon's contracting chief directed top acquisition officials to submit detailed reports on awards and incentives given to contractors. Senators Tom Carper and Bernie Sanders requested the information after the Government Accountability Office found nearly $8 billion in bonuses went to contractors regardless of outcomes, Inside the Pentagon reported. "Clearly much more accountability is required in this unacceptable process" the senators wrote. "We are extremely concerned that contractors are beginning to regard these fees as entitlement and not an award." Meanwhile, Senators heard testimony by a former Pentagon official ousted for refusing to approve more than $1 billion in questionable charges by the largest defense contractor in Iraq. Charles M. Smith was canned after questioning the work of the politically-connected KBR, the Houston company that has provided food, housing and other services to American troops. "At a time when the country in more than $9 trillion in debt, it is absurd that KBR has repeatedly gotten away with gouging taxpayers and cheating our troops," Sanders said. To watch an excerpt from the hearing, click here.

Domestic Spying By a vote of 69 to 28, the Senate voted to grant legal immunity to the telecommunications companies that aided the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program. The bill also provided broader powers for the president to spy on Americans. "We are proud to say that the Vermont delegation took a brave stand for the Fourth Amendment and its prohibitions against illegal searches and seizures and surveillance without warrants by government, but only 26 Democratic senators joined Patrick Leahy and Bernard Sanders in taking that stand," the Brattleboro Reformer said. To read the editorial, click here. To watch Sanders speech on Wednesday on the Senate floor, click here.

Medicare The Senate voted 69 to 30 on Wednesday to end a filibuster and avert a 10.6 percent cut in Medicare payments for doctors who care for millions of older Americans. Overcoming opposition from the insurance industry, HMOs and the Bush administration, the Senate stopped a sharp reduction in reimbursement rates that was due to go into effect later this month. "The Senate put the interests of 44 million American seniors covered by Medicare and the doctors who care for them over the interests of the insurance industry," said Sanders. The measure also boosts reimbursements for Federally Qualified Health Centers that play a critical role in providing cost-effective primary health care and dental services to more than 86,000 Vermonters. Sanders has been a leading proponent of the health centers that he hopes to see in every county in Vermont.

Home Heating "We have an energy emergency in Vermont and all over this country and Congress must act," Senator Bernie Sanders said at a press conference on Monday in Burlington where he was flanked by Senator Leahy and Congressman Peter Welch. "Given the escalating cost of home heating fuels, if we don't dramatically increase funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, senior citizens on fixed incomes; the disabled; and low-income families with children will go cold this winter. We cannot let that happen." Sanders took to the Senate floor later in the week to outline legislation that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid signaled he will bring to the floor in coming days. To watch Sanders, click here.