Warning that "our democracy is in grave danger," Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday proposed a constitutional amendment to reverse a Supreme Court ruling that opened the floodgates to corporate campaign cash.  Tens of thousands of you signed a petition supporting the amendment. The Postal Service on Monday announced more service cuts and layoffs are coming. Sanders is leading the fight to stop them. With the onset of winter weather, Bernie and a bipartisan group of New England senators introduced a bill on Wednesday to help seniors and families pay rising heating bills. Bernie discussed all that - plus Saturday's first anniversary of an inspiring 8 ½ hour speech last Dec. 10 - during his weekly nationwide radio and Free Speech TV appearance Friday on the Thom Hartmann Program. Listen.

Saving American Democracy Amendment 

Sanders on Thursday proposed a constitutional amendment to overturn a Supreme Court ruling that allowed unrestricted and secret campaign spending by corporations on U.S. elections. The first constitutional amendment ever proposed by Sanders during his two decades in Congress would reverse the 5-to-4 ruling in Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission.  In that infamous decision almost two years ago, justices gave corporations the same First Amendment free-speech rights as people. Watch him introduce the amendment. Take our poll. Join more than 32,000 people and sign the petition.

Home Heating 

Sens. Sanders, Olympia Snowe of Maine and Jack Reed of Rhode Island on Wednesday introduced legislation to fund the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program at last winter's level. Congress so far has provided less funds for heating assistance at a time when fuel prices are soaring and the recession has made it harder for more people to pay their bills.  The program helps seniors, the disabled and families with small children. In a Senate speech, Sanders read letters from Vermonters worried about how they will heat their homes. Watch the senator. Listen to VermontersLouise McClay and Bernard Wheeler tell their stories.

Postal Service 

The U.S. Postal Service announced on Monday that it may close 252 mail-processing centers and cut tens of thousands of jobs.  Sanders led a group of 20 senators trying to stop Postal Service plans to end overnight first-class mail service and shrink its workforce. Several postal reform bills have been introduced in Congress, including one by Sanders. The lawmakers argued that the Postal Service should not rush to make deep cuts before Congress has time to act. Sanders said the loss of 100,000 jobs would cause serious consequences for the already-weak economy. "If the post office starts making these drastic cuts, which will lay off workers, slow down mail delivery, cut back on rural postal services and Saturday deliveries, they're going to give us a fait accompli," he said. "They will have made major, irreparable decisions before Congress has time to act." 

Social Security and Taxes 

The Senate on Thursday once again rejected proposals to tap into the dedicated revenue stream for Social Security. Sanders thinks middle-class families and the working poor need tax relief to help them get through the tough economic times. "My concern is diverting hundreds of billions of dollars from the Social Security trust fund into that immediate tax relief," Sanders told National Public Radio. "So I would love to see tax relief, but done in a different way."  One alternative is called the Make Work Pay tax credit.  Authorized by Congress for two years in 2009, the credit was given at a rate of 6.2 percent of earned income. It put added up to $400 a year to paychecks for individuals; $800 for married taxpayers. Listen to the NPR report.

Republican Roadblocks 

Filibustering Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked President Obama's nominee to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Republicans had fought creation of the consumer bureau in the first place and would try to stop "anybody who will try to protect consumers in this new agency," Sanders said.

Tar Sands Pipeline 

Sanders and four other senators urged Majority Leader Harry Reid to reject Republican efforts to fast-track approval of the tar sands oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. "We strongly oppose the inclusion of provisions that require approval of this pipeline in an arbitrary timeframe in any legislative package moving forward in the Senate," Sanders and his colleagues wrote in a letter to the Senate majority leader.