Press Releases

Senator Bernie Sanders said today that he would fight to restore $38 million that the Bush administration wants to cut this year from a program that helps working people cope with high energy bills while protecting the environment.

The administration wants to reduce funding to $205 million for the program that supports state and local efforts to help families insulate their homes in order to reduce heating and air conditioning bills. Last year, $242.2 million was allotted.

In the coming week, the Senate is set to debate legislation that calls for a troop withdrawal from Iraq. Having originally voted against the war, Senator Sanders has been an outspoken advocate for bringing our troops home as soon as possible. “We have got to use the budget to tell the president that this war cannot go on. We have to bring our troops home as soon as possible,” Senator Sanders told Thom Hartmann during his weekly Air America interview program “Brunch with Bernie.”

WASHINGTON – The Senate Budget Committee today passed a budget resolution that substantially improves funding for veterans, community health centers, and child care. Sanders, a member of the Budget Committee as well as the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, authored several provisions increasing funding in these areas and heralded the resolution’s passage. The Budget Resolution provides a blueprint for subsequent federal spending bills next year.

As many of the people in this room have heard me say in the past, preserving geographically-dispersed, family-based agriculture in this country is a critical priority from an economic standpoint, from an environmental standpoint, from a food safety and nutrition standpoint, and from a national security standpoint. Certainly with respect to dairy, and in the case of many other commodities as well, we have to do far more at the federal level and at the state level if we are to achieve this goal.

I am very happy to see so many people here today focused on addressing the issue of domestic violence. I want to thank all of you for your commitment to solving this very serious problem and I look forward to continuing to work with you. As those of us gathered here today know, domestic violence is an issue that impacts

Senator Bernie Sanders said; “After the loss of over 3,100 Americans, the wounding of 23,000 and the expenditure of over $500 billion the time is long overdue for the Senate to have a serious debate on Iraq. It is unfortunate that the Republicans today have used a parliamentary maneuver to prevent even a non-binding resolution to come to a vote.”