The National Security Agency's bulk collection of millions of innocent Americans' telephone records came under fire from a scalding decision by a federal judge, from the president's own advisory committee and from critics in Congress, including Sen. Bernie Sanders. The Senate late on Thursday passed and sent to the White House a Pentagon spending bill that Sanders opposed. Also awaiting President Obama’s signature is a two-year budget pact that had Sanders’ lukewarm support. Congress left Washington for the holidays without extending unemployment benefits for 1.3 million Americans out of work for six months or more.

NSA Spying U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Leon handed down a decision on Monday that said the massive surveillance program was “almost Orwellian”   and probably unconstitutional. On Wednesday, a White House panel of intelligence experts handpicked by President Obama recommended greater oversight and tighter restrictions on the NSA. The panel called for changes in how the agency dragnets for data on Americans telephone calls, spies on foreign leaders and prepares for cyberattacks abroad. Sanders last June proposed legislation to rein in the spy agency. “In my view, the NSA is out of control and operating in an unconstitutional manner,” Sanders said. “I will be working as hard as I can to pass the strongest legislation possible to end the abuses by the NSA and other intelligence agencies,” he told Thomas Roberts on MSNBC. Watch the interview

Bloated Defense Budget Approved It was nearly midnight on Thursday when the Senate passed the Department of Defense bill that would authorize $625 billion for the military. The vote was 84–15. Those voting against the bill included Sanders, two Democrats and 12 Republicans. “At a time when the United States has a $17.2 trillion national debt, huge unmet social needs, and when we spend almost as much on defense as the rest of the world combined, the time is long overdue for us to take a hard look at the waste, cost overruns and financial mismanagement that have been plagued the Defense Department for years.” Watch Sanders’ Senate floor speech

Social Security Spared in Budget Deal The Senate on Wednesday passed a two-year budget. Sanders voted for the agreement to avert another government shutdown and to provide modest increases in funding for programs like Head Start and Meals on Wheels. He also was pleased that the agreement did not cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Sanders worked with grassroots organizations all across the country to protect the retirement and health care programs. But there were things in the budget bill he didn't like. There's nothing in it to create jobs. It doesn't even help the 1.3 million Americans about to lose long-term unemployment benefits. And it keeps in place legal loopholes in the tax code that let profitable corporations evade about $100 billion in taxes every year. Minutes after the bill passed, the senator told MSNBC’s Ed Schultz that his decision to vote for the bill boiled down to a choice between the “lesser of two evils.” Watch the interview

Raise the Minimum Wage Sanders on Wednesday called for Congress to pass legislation he cosponsored to push up the national minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. In Vermont, the wage will go up to $8.73 on New Year’s Day. In Washington, D.C., the city council on Tuesday unanimously approved raising the minimum wage to $11.50 an hour, one of the highest rates among American cities. Of all the major economic issues facing our country – high unemployment, low wages, growing poverty and a widening income and wealth gap – raising the minimum wage is a way to address them all, Sanders said. Watch the video, Take the poll

Unemployment Senate leaders on Friday set the stage for consideration in early January of a measure to extend benefits that will expire at the end of this year for 1.3 million Americans who have been without work for six months or more.  While the official 7 percent unemployment rate in November was the lowest in five years, the long-term unemployment remained near record highs. Altogether some 4 million Americans, more than one-third of all those who are unemployed, have been jobless for six months or more. Senate leaders said restoring the benefits with be the first order of business when Congress returns on Jan. 6.

Pre-K Education Vermont on Thursday won a $37 million federal grant to develop a statewide, pre-kindergarten program. Sanders, a member of the Senate education committee, worked closely with federal officials and Gov. Peter Shumlin’s administration to secure the grant for early childhood education. The grant to Vermont was one of six announced by the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services. Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania will share a total of $280 million awarded in the third round of the Race to the Top early learning grants.