WASHINGTON, Feb. 29 (TNSres) -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, issued the following news release: Ahead of this morning's hearing in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee on the retirement crisis in America, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chairman of the committee, released a stunning new report exposing the depth of the crisis, while also exploring solutions that will allow all Americans to retire with dignity and security - not just the very wealthy. Key findings   more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 29 -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, issued the following news release on Feb. 28, 2024: Ahead of this morning's hearing in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee on the retirement crisis in America, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chairman of the committee, released a stunning new report exposing the depth of the crisis, while also exploring solutions that will allow all Americans to  more

WASHINGTON, March 1 -- Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vermont, issued the following statement on Feb. 29, 2024: * * * U.S. Representatives Rosa DeLauro (CT-03), Mark Takano (CA-39), Salud Carbajal (CA-24), Madeleine Dean (PA-04), Sean Casten (IL-06), and Becca Balint (VT-AL), released a statement on their recent trip to Israel and the Palestinian Territories and outlining changes for future U.S. policy. "What happened in Israel on October 7th was horrifying. On our recent trip to Israel, we saw firstha  more

WASHINGTON, March 1 (TNSres) -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, issued the following news release on Feb. 29, 2024: According to a new report, commissioned by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and released Tuesday by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has failed yet again to take basic steps to combat fraud in its massive contracting enterprise. Among other findings, the report showed th  more

WASHINGTON, March 1 (TNSres) -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, issued the following news release on Feb. 29, 2024: According to a new report, commissioned by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and released Tuesday by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has failed yet again to take basic steps to combat fraud in its massive contracting enterprise. Among other findings, the report showed the DOD often fails to even utilize the bare minimum of publicly availa  more

WASHINGTON, March 1 -- Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vermont, issued the following statement on Feb. 29, 2024: * * * Rep. Becca Balint released the following statement following the vote on H.R. 7463 to avert a government shutdown. "Republicans continue to make clear that they don't take the most basic function of their job seriously. Once again at the 11th hour, we are extending the budget deadline because they have wasted months refusing to engage in serious, bipartisan negotiations. Their reckless   more

WASHINGTON, March 2 -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, issued the following statement on March 1, 2024: * * * Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today issued the following statement calling on the United States to immediately begin a massive humanitarian airdrop of lifesaving supplies to the people of Gaza, who are on the verge of starvation and dehydration, and demanded that Israel open the borders to allow humanitarian aid in to Gaza: The United States, which has helped fund the Israeli military f  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 29 -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, issued the following commentary to The Atlantic, on Feb. 27, 2024: * * * Defense Contractors Are Bilking the American People Congress should curb war profiteering with a new Truman Committee. America's national priorities are badly misplaced. Our country spends, with almost no debate, nearly $1 trillion a year on the military while at the same time ignoring massive problems at home. We apparently have unlimited amounts of money for nucl  more

WASHINGTON, March 1 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: This week, Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate's only former Public Defender, led every Senate Judiciary Democrat in sending a letter to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts urging the office to give appropriate consideration to the funding of the Federal Public Defender program in the Office's upcoming budget request for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025. The le  more

WASHINGTON, March 1 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: In a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Criminal Justice and Counterterrorism hearing this week, U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) highlighted the importance of placing a Residential Reentry Center (RRC) in Vermont.  The hearing followed a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing earlier this week where Senator Welch pressed U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Director Colette Peters on why Vermont remains one of only two   more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 29 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: This week, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar said during a visit to Mexico's top avocado-producing state that Mexican avocado exporters "shouldn't have the opportunity to sell those avocados to the United States market." The Governor of Michoacan added that Mexico will soon implement an export protocol for avocados that includes traceability back to the orchard, to ensure avocados imported are not importe  more

WASHINGTON, March 1 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: ESSEX JUNCTION, VT - Today, Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Representative Becca Balint, and staff representatives for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) joined Vermont Governor Phil Scott, former Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), GlobalFoundries (GF) CEO Dr. Thomas Caulfield, and community leaders to celebrate the hundreds of millions of CHIPS and Science Act funding that will support the modernization of GF's longest co  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) led U.S. Senators Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) in sending a letter to Israel's Ambassador to the United States, Michael Herzog, on the imperative of urgently providing humanitarian aid in Gaza. The letter highlights specific steps that Ambassador Herzog and the Israeli government should take to ensure that aid reaches Gaza and to protec  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) today introduced the COLAs Don't Count Act, and the Student Loan Deduction Act of 2024, bills that would exempt annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) and student loan payments from impacting the benefits of the families and individuals who utilize the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for food assistance. This would help ensure participants of SNAP are not lo  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today, Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) pressed U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Director Colette Peters on why Vermont remains one of only two states without a Residential Reentry Center (RRC), despite unanimous support for an RRC from the Vermont Congressional Delegation and other federal stakeholders in Vermont's legal community.  At a September Senate Oversight Committee h  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 29 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: In a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing this week, Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) urged U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack to help Vermont farmers impacted by natural disasters like this summer's brutal flooding and May freeze. He discussed the need to streamline and expand programs to make crop insurance more responsive to farmers following natural disasters, bolster conservation and   more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 29 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) tonight released the following statement after voting to extend government funding to avoid a government shutdown and continue negotiations on bipartisan funding bills:  "The clock is ticking, and Vermont families are counting on us to pass a bipartisan budget. Let's put the politics aside and work together to get this done." A continuing resolution passed the Senate today   more