The Week in Review
The Week in Review
Home for the holidays in Vermont, Sen. Bernie Sanders sat down on Tuesday with WCAX-TV’s Kyle Midura to discuss state and national issues ranging from an exciting new early childhood education program in Vermont to a lingering strike by 1,700 workers in northern New England against a major Internet and phone service provider for the region. On Monday, Sanders spoke with WBUR-FM in Boston about a host of national issues including how he will use his new assignment as the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee to fend off Republican attacks on Social Security and Medicare.
Big Ideas Sanders “has some big ideas about how to rein in big banks, cut defense spending, strengthen Social Security and Medicare, and address income and wealth inequality in the United States,” according to WBUR-FM in Boston. The senator discussed those and other topics during a wide-ranging interview Monday.
Listen to the WBUR-FM interview
Veterans Home The Vermont Veterans’ Home is in line for a nearly $1 million grant to help pay for a renovation project. The outgoing chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Sanders said the Department of Veterans Affairs has placed the Vermont Veterans’ Home on a priority list for a federal matching grant.
An Unsung Heroine “Gretchen Baily is an unsung heroine,” Sanders said of the Senate office’s casework coordinator whose last day on the job was Monday. Bailey led a team that has helped tens of thousands of Vermonters cut through red tape.. Earlier this year, she won a prestigious award for exemplary public service. “Gretchen strongly believes that government should work for people,” Sanders wrote a letter nominating her for the award. “Gretchen has dedicated her life to this mission.”
