WASHINGTON, May 17 -- Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vermont, issued the following news release on May 16, 2023: Rep. Becca Balint joined Rep. Robert Garcia (CA-42) and Rep. Eric Sorensen (Il-17) in introducing a resolution to expel George Santos from Congress. This resolution would force the full House to vote on the resolution to expel, potentially leading to the expulsion of Santos. "Democracies don't die overnight; they erode slowly as we degrade our ethical standards and turn away from our values.   more

WASHINGTON, May 17 -- Rep. Ann Kuster, D-New Hampshire, issued the following news release and letter on May 16, 2023: Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) led the Vermont and New Hampshire congressional delegations in sending a letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) Denis R. McDonough today, urging the VA to use authority granted under the Honoring Our PACT Act of 2022 to make it easier for veterans stationed in Kosovo from 1999 onwards to access health care and disability benefits for conditions r  more

WASHINGTON, May 18 -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, issued the following news release on May 17, 2023: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), along with 42 of their colleagues in the Senate and 80 in the House of Representatives, today introduced legislation that would ensure the United States finally joins virtually every other major country on Earth in guaranteeing paid sick leave to its  more

WASHINGTON, May 18 -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, issued the following news release on May 17, 2023: At a time when more than 1 million people in the United States have lost their lives to the coronavirus pandemic - at least one third of which have been linked to lack of health insurance - and 15 million Americans are at risk of losing Medicaid coverage, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), and Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) today came together with 14 of their collea  more

WASHINGTON, May 19 -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, issued the following commentary on May 18, 2023, to The Guardian: * * * It's Time to Guarantee Healthcare to all Americans as a Human Right Let's be clear. The current healthcare system in the United States is totally broken, dysfunctional and cruel. It is a system which spends twice as much per capita as any other major country, while 85 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured, one out of four Americans cannot afford the cost of   more

WASHINGTON, May 19 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release on May 18, 2023: Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) and Susan Collins (R-ME) today introduced the Supporting All Producers (SAP) Act, legislation to require the United States Department Agriculture (USDA) to consult with maple producers when determining education and research priorities for the Acer Access and Development Program (Acer). Acer is a competitive grant program, supporting research and education related to   more

WASHINGTON, May 17 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release and letter on May 16, 2023: Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) led the Vermont and New Hampshire congressional delegations in sending a letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) Denis R. McDonough today, urging the VA to use authority granted under the Honoring Our PACT Act of 2022 to make it easier for veterans stationed in Kosovo from 1999 onwards to access health care and disability benefits for conditions relate  more

WASHINGTON, May 18 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release on May 17, 2023: Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Peter Welch (D-VT) and Representative Becca Balint (VT-AL), announced that NEK Community Broadband (NEKCB) will receive Vermont's first ever United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) ReConnect grant to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network in Caledonia, Essex, and Orleans counties in Vermont. NEK Broadband will receive more than $17 million in grant fund  more

WASHINGTON, May 18 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release on May 17, 2023: Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) convened his first hearing as Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee's Rural Development and Energy Subcommittee this week on the need to expand access to broadband in rural communities. The hearing marks the first in a series on advancing economic opportunity and building a greener future for rural America. Joined by Vermonters working on the ground to expand bro  more

WASHINGTON, May 16 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) held a press conference in Burlington calling for a stronger code of ethics of U.S. Supreme Court Justices. Senator Welch, a member of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, was joined by Marilyn Skoglund, retired Associate Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court, and Andrew Manitsky, President of the Vermont Bar Association and legal ethics expert. "There are almost  more

WASHINGTON, May 20 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release on May 19, 2023: Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) joined Waitsfield and Champlain Valley Telecom (WCVT) and representatives of the Maple Broadband Community Union District (CUD) for an on-the-ground broadband installation in Panton, Vermont, today, following the introduction of his ReConnecting Rural America Act to support broadband deployment in Vermont and across America. This week the Senator also chaired his firs  more

WASHINGTON, May 19 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) and Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) introduced the Digital Platform Commission Act, legislation to create an expert federal agency to provide comprehensive regulation of digital platforms to protect consumers, promote competition, and safeguard the public interest. Amid calls for regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) and social media, the senators propose a new Federal Digital Pla  more

WASHINGTON, May 18 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release on May 17, 2023: Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) and Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS) today introduced the bipartisan ReConnecting Rural America Act, legislation to reauthorize and reinforce the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) ReConnect Loan and Grant Program. ReConnect plays a central role in expanding access to high-speed broadband in rural communities, where broadband access is severely limited compar  more