releases: https://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=387FA003-200A-4E2B-8621-01C3E14A441B
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=387FA003-200A-4E2B-8621-01C3E14A441B | News August 13 | 2013-08-13 | 2013 | 2013-08 | Independent | House | VT | Bernard Sanders | S000033 | sanders.senate.gov | legacy | News August 13 Tuesday, August 13, 2013 Senator Sanders USPS Sen. Bernie Sanders argued Monday that the Postal Service would have posted a profit for the past three months without the requirement to deposit $5.5 billion a year into the retiree fund, The Hill, Fox 44 and ABC 22 reported. "The Postal Service has experienced financial problems and changes need to be made to bring it into the 21st century, but I am convinced that proposals to slow down mail delivery and provide less service are the wrong way to go," Sanders said. Counting the contribution to the already-flush retirement fund, the Postal Service reported a net loss of $740 million in the quarter which ended June 30. LINK, AUDIO, AUDIO The Fed Sens. Sanders and Elizabeth Warren want potential candidates for the Federal Reserve Board to address whether the Fed's top priority is meeting its full-employment mandate, American Banker reported. The two senators are “making the right demands and asking the right questions,” John Nichols wrote for The Nation. The senators are considered two of the most aggressive critics of Wall Street’s influence in the federal government, according to The Washington Examiner. It called their column “an implicit rebuke to [Lawrence] Summers, who many liberals believe helped generate the financial crisis by pushing for deregulatory measures as Bill Clinton’s Treasury secretary in the late 1990s and early 2000s.” LINK, LINK, LINK The Fed “The next Fed chair will have an opportunity to get our economy back on track and to help rebuild America’s middle class. But that will require the right temperament and a willingness to take on Wall Street CEOs when necessary. It is critical that the next Fed chair make a genuine, long-term commitment to supporting those who don’t have armies of lobbyists and lawyers to advance their interests in Washington – working and middle-class families,” Sens. Sanders and Warren wrote in their column posted on TruthDig, Daily Kos, MichaelMoore.com, Reader Supported News and Green Mountain Daily. LINK, LINK, LINK, LINK, LINK The Fed On Current TV, radio host Bill Press said Sanders, like former Rep. Ron Paul, would abolish the Fed. “No, no. Bernie’s for keeping it but he just wants it under some constraints. He wants it audited, for example,” corrected Robert L. Borosage, president of the Institute for America’s Future. AUDIO Irene Recovery Moretown has been awarded $700,000 in federal funds to build a new municipal building to replace the old one that was damaged in Tropical Storm Irene, Vermont Business Journal reported online. The funding was the result of a provision in the federal budget bill championed by Sens. Sanders and Patrick Leahy as well as Rep. Peter Welch. LINK F-35s Skeptics of the planned basing of the Air Force's F-35 fighter jets at Burlington International Airport planned to make their case at Monday's City Council meeting, the Burlington Free Press reported. Sens. Sanders and Patrick Leahy, Rep. Peter Welch, Gov. Peter Shumlin and Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger say the basing is important to the economy. LINK World Mexican Oil Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has proposed historic changes to his nation's state-run energy sector Monday, cracking open the door for global oil giants such as Exxon Mobil and Shell to invest in extracting more oil from Mexico, The Washington Post reported. LINK U.K. Threatens Legal Action Over Gibraltar The United Kingdom said Monday that it was considering legal action at the European Union against Spain over what it sees as excessive checks at the border with Gibraltar, The Wall Street Journal reported. Both nations claim rights to the territory, which has been contested since 1704. LINK National Stop-and-Frisk A federal judge ruled Monday that the stop-and-frisk tactics of the New York Police Department violated the rights of minorities in the city, The New York Times reported. The stops demonstrated a widespread disregard for the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, according to the decision. LINK Leahy on Drug Sentencing Sen. Patrick Leahy said Monday he was pleased that Attorney General Eric Holder is calling for a review of mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes, The Associated Press reported. Leahy plans to hold a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on the issue next month. LINK Obama Bus Tour President Barack Obama will hit the road next week for the first bus tour of his second term, the White House announced Monday. He will spend two days on the road talking about the economy at stops in New York and Pennsylvania, a White House official told The Wall Street Journal. LINK A Limit on Consumer Costs Is Delayed in Health Care Law In another setback for President Obama’s health care initiative, the administration has delayed until 2015 a significant consumer protection in the law that limits how much people may have to spend on their own health care. The limit on out-of-pocket costs, including deductibles and co-payments, was not supposed to exceed $6,350 for an individual and $12,700 for a family. But under a little-noticed ruling that the administration tried to obscure, federal officials granted a one-year grace period to some insurers, allowing them to set higher limits, or no limit at all on some costs, in 2014, The New York Times reported. LINK Voting Rights Rollback North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed into law Monday a sweeping elections bill which would create a strict voter identification requirement and cut early voting by a week, MSNBC reported. The American Civil Liberties Union and civil rights groups condemned the legislation, calling it a "new low" that would deprive "many of our most vulnerable citizens from being able to easily exercise a constitutional right." LINK Clinton Calls for Action to Protect Voter Rights Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton waded into the battle over voting rights on Monday in the first of a series of speeches in which she says she plans to address some of the most pressing issues in Washington. In remarks delivered at the American Bar Association conference, Clinton condemned the recent Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act, which has paved the way for states to pass laws that would require voters to present government-issued photo identification at the polls, The New York Times reported. LINK Fed's Yellen Says Stance on Banks HardenedJanet Yellen, a top contender to lead the Federal Reserve, has evolved—in her own words—from a slightly "docile" regional bank regulator into a proponent of hard and clear rules designed to make banks less risky. The change was prompted by her six years as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco during a torrid period in financial history. As part of that job, Yellen oversaw scores of banks, some of which failed as the housing market collapsed, The Wall Street Journal reported. LINK Budget Deficit Shrinks The U.S. government is posting the strongest revenue since before the recession, buoyed by higher tax rates and a slowly improving economy, leaving the federal budget on track for its narrowest deficit in five years. Revenue from October to July, the first 10 months of the government's fiscal year, totaled $2.287 trillion, the Treasury Department said Monday. That is up about 14 percent from a year earlier and about 8 percent from the first 10 months of 2007, the next highest year for revenue. Meanwhile, government spending is down slightly, largely due to across-the-board cuts called the sequester that went into effect March 1. LINK NLRB at Full Strength Four new members of the National Labor Relations Board were sworn in on Monday, marking the first time since 2003 the independent agency has had a full five Senate-confirmed members, The Hill reported. The Senate confirmed Democrats Kent Hirozawa and Nancy Schiffer last month as part of a deal that ended a threat by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to change the chamber's filibuster rules. LINK Air Force to Shut Down 'Space Fence' Due to sequestration-related budget cuts, the Air Force said Monday it will cancel a space surveillance system that tracks satellites and other orbiting objects, Reuters reported. Deactivating the surveillance system, nicknamed "Space Fence" because it transmits a virtual fence of radar energy into space, will save the Air Force $14 million annually. Newer technology will provide more accurate observations. LINK Vermont Shumlin Defends Green Energy Plan Gov. Peter Shumlin said Monday that Tropical Storm Irene was "just a little warning of what lies ahead" with climate change and defended his administration's goal to move Vermont to 90 percent renewable energy by 2050, The Associated Press reported. LINK Irene Damage Towns in Vermont have been awarded $22 million and expect an additional $18 million from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to help rebuild after Tropical Storm Irene, The Associated Press reported. LINK Compost Tax Compost processor Karl Hammer is appealing three years worth of back taxes on compost sales, arguing that they should fall under the tax exemption for agricultural products, The Associated Press reported. State lawmakers are considering options to add compost to an exemption list to prevent a rise in agriculture prices and food products. LINK | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |