Cars, cows and courts was how one wit summed up the week in the U.S. Senate. The first Hispanic and only the third woman in history was elevated to the Supreme Court. Another $2 billion was approved for the program known as cash for clunkers. And the Senate agreed to a proposal by Senator Bernie Sanders offering some relief for hard-pressed, hard-working dairy farmers.

Economy Unemployment stood at 9.4 percent in July, when 247,000 jobs were lost, the Labor Department reported on Friday. Despite the small dip in the jobless rate and the decline in the number of jobs lost, economists cautioned that the unemployment rate went down only because 400,000 people stopped looking for jobs. Economists still expect unemployment to reach 10 percent before the recession bottoms out.

Cash for Clunkers The Senate on Thursday approved another $2 billion for the "cash for clunkers" program on Thursday night, keeping it alive through the month of August. Senators voted 60 to 37 to continue the program that offers up to $4,500 for purchases of new, fuel-efficient cars. Sanders voted for the program. “This is an example of a very successful stimulus program that is working,” he said. “By helping consumers and car dealers and carmakers, this is a program that is creating jobs and protecting the environment.” To read about how the program works, click here.

Dairy Crisis The Senate voted 60 to 37 on Tuesday for an amendment by Sanders to provide an extra $350 million for milk price supports to increase government purchases of surplus dairy products. Reducing supply will result in higher prices for dairy farmers desperate for help as they cope with the lowest prices in nearly four decades. “Family-based dairy agriculture is on the verge of collapse,” Sanders told colleagues in a Senate floor speech. “Both the dairy vote Tuesday and the clunker debate…Thursday underscore how much the economy remains a central worry for the majority party,” Politico reported. “We have a major crisis,” Sanders told the paper. “The point is we have to stand together and fight our way out of this recession.” To read more about the Sanders Amendment, click here. To read the article in Politico, click here.

Milk Monopoly Sanders welcomed an announcement by the justice and agriculture departments that they will hold joint public workshops to explore competition issues in the agriculture industry. Sanders commended Attorney General Eric Holder and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack for scheduling the workshops to examine the appropriate role for antitrust and regulatory enforcement in the agriculture sector.  “These workshops will be an important step toward allowing farmers in Vermont and across the country the opportunity to tell the federal government the disastrous impact agricultural consolidation has had on their industries and their livelihoods,” Sanders said. To read more about it, click here. The Rutland Herald and Times Argus summed up the crisis in an editorial called “Dairy Woes.” To read it, click here.

Justice Sotomayor The Senate confirmed by a vote of 68 to 31 Judge Sonia Sotomayor as an associate justice of the Supreme Court.  Judge Sotomayor will become the 111th Supreme Court justice in American history. She will be the first Hispanic on the court and only the third woman. "I sincerely hope and have every confidence that Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court will help…put the court back on a path of respecting the rights of individual Americans and the environmental and other laws passed by Congress."  To read or watch the senator’s statement, click here.

Health Care Hecklers disrupted town meetings and protesters enveloped a congressman trying to drown out discussion of health care reform. The protests are organized by conservative groups, including FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity. “They are afraid to debate the real issues, the fact that we have a disintegrating health care system,” Sanders said on MSNBC’s “Countdown with Keith Olbermann.” To watch the senator on Olbermann, click here.

Vermont Workers Sen. Sanders welcomed an opinion by the Vermont attorney general that could substantially increase wages for workers on Vermont construction projects funded by the federal economic stimulus program.  Sanders had urged the A.G. to ensure Vermont workers are not penalized by outdated wage schedules that stagnated under the Bush administration.  The attorney general agreed.  Studies have demonstrated that Vermont’s wage schedules are out of date for federal construction contractors under the Davis-Bacon Act. Meanwhile, trade adjustment assistance for Ethan Allen employees in Beecher Falls, Vt. was approved by the federal government.  The Vermont congressional delegation supported efforts to obtain assistance after the company announced up to 260 employees would lose their jobs at the company’s plant.  Read the fair wages release here.  Read the Ethan Allen release here.