WASHINGTON, July 1 -- Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: Nine bills to boost energy efficiency and promote clean energy authored by Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) were included in the comprehensive congressional climate action framework unveiled on Tuesday by the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. The Select Committee's climate action framework outlines ambitious and achievable policies to grow our economy and put Americans back to work in clean energy jobs, pr  more

WASHINGTON, July 1 -- Rep. Anthony Brown, D-Maryland, issued the following news release: Congressman Anthony Brown (MD-04) joined calls from Maryland Delegate Vaughn Stewart's (D-Montgomery), local leaders and unemployed Marylanders advocating for emergency financial assistance to newly-jobless families still waiting for unemployment benefits. The push by Del. Stewart would give $1,200 payments to claimants who have yet to qualify for unemployment compensation. The funds would help tide famili  more

WASHINGTON, July 2 -- Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: Representative Peter Welch was in Winooski Wednesday to highlight sweeping infrastructure legislation expected to pass the U.S. House of Representatives this evening. The event was held near two Winooski projects that could benefit from the passage of the bill and included Winooski Mayor Kristine Lott, local developer Jacquie Dagesse and Vermont State Senator Dick Mazza. The Moving Forward Act (H.R. 2) is a c  more

WASHINGTON, July 3 -- Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on Thursday announced that the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (VAAFM) and Food Connects have received U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm to School grants totaling $153,767. The grants will help Vermont farms increase their sales to local schools and promote lifelong healthy eating habits among Vermont's students. Leahy said: "Our current health crisis has   more

WASHINGTON, July 1 -- Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Monday called on Leader McConnell and President Trump to take up and pass emergency funding for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Due to financial mismanagement and poor policy choices by the Trump administration and the COVID-19 pandemic, USCIS could be forced to furlough a significant number of its employee  more

WASHINGTON, July 3 -- Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vermont, issued the following news release on July 2: The Trump Administration's predictable decision, announced yesterday, to withhold United States funding from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), demonstrates once again this Administration's irrational, ideological approach to family planning and reproductive health worldwide. For the fourth year in a row, Secretary Pompeo has invoked the Kemp-Kasten amendment to withhold $32.5 million that Congres  more

WASHINGTON, July 2 -- Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement on the need to pass another COVID-19 emergency appropriations bill: Over three months ago, Congress came together in rare bipartisan fashion to pass the CARES Act, to help address the unprecedented needs of the country and the American people as it began to address a global pandemic. It was the third emergency appropriations bill Congress has passed this year  more

WASHINGTON, July 2 -- Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Susan Collins (R-ME) sent a letter to the Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), Michael Pack, after Pack abruptly terminated the heads of three private grantee networks. All signers are Members of the Senate Appropriations Subco  more

WASHINGTON, July 2 -- Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Tom Udall (D-NM), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Kristin Gillibrand (D-NY), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) wrote Ken Cuccinelli, the current acting head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), to demand that the agency "remove from its website the egregiously false claim that the recent U.S. Supreme   more

WASHINGTON, July 3 -- Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vermont, issued the following statement: Colombia is a close friend and ally of the United States, which makes the reports of rapes of indigenous girls by Colombian soldiers whose responsibility is to protect them particularly disturbing. It is compounded by the fact that army officers were apparently informed of these abuses but the government only pledged to take action after they were uncovered by the press. This follows the now months delayed  more

WASHINGTON, July 1 -- Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vermont, issued the following statement: Guatemala will never become a stable democracy that attracts significant and sustained foreign investment without an independent judiciary that the people trust. Judges should be free of conflict of interest, selected on the basis of their professional qualifications, integrity, and commitment to justice. The country's courts have faced repeated threats from corrupt influences, and the Constitutional Court  more

WASHINGTON, July 1 -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, issued the following news release on June 30: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) spoke on the Senate floor to advocate for amendments he introduced to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would fundamentally overhaul the Pentagon budget, which exceeds $740 billion this year. Military spending, now higher than the next 11 nations combined, represents more than half of all federal discretionary spending. The Pentagon budget has explode  more

WASHINGTON, July 3 -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, issued the following news release: In light of a "stunning lack of federal government action to protect passengers, flight attendants, pilots, and other aviation workers," Sen. Sanders wrote to the heads of the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration, demanding that they "take immediate action to mandate that airlines protect passengers and employees and put safety over profit." During a Tuesday Senate hearing,   more

WASHINGTON, July 1 -- Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: As the Trump Administration moves full-steam ahead to dismantle the health care law that provides coverage for millions of Americans, U.S. Senator Jon Tester introduced a resolution with 46 colleagues putting in the official Senate record their condemnation of that "reckless" effort and demanding the Department of Justice (DOJ) defend existing law in court and halt its efforts to repeal the health care pr  more

WASHINGTON, July 3 -- Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) are leading a new proposed amendment to the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to require President Trump and the Trump Organization to disclose full financial information, including the total income earned by the Trump Organization from any licensing agreements, for foreign properties owned by President Trump's family busi  more