Senate Passes Postal Reform
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White River Junction Plant Would Remain Open
The Senate voted 62-37 Wednesday for a bill that Bernie helped craft to modernize the U.S. Postal Service. The legislation would save tens of thousands of jobs and spare rural post offices and scores of mail sorting plants threatened with closure -- including the White River Junction mail processing center, which employs 250 workers. Bernie forged a coalition of more than two dozen senators to strengthen bi-partisan legislation to save the Postal Service. He helped rewrite the legislation so that it requires the Postal Service to develop an entrepreneurial business model, makes it harder for rural post offices to be closed, and keeps open more than 100 mail processing centers (which were slated to be shut down) to avoid slowing down mail delivery. Under the postmaster general’s initial, misguided cost-cutting plan, 3,700 rural post offices would have been shut down, including 15 in Vermont. Some 250 mail processing plants also would have been closed, including the plant in White River Junction.
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Listen to Bernie detail his amendment »
 Geothermal is Gaining
At a time when we are trying to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions and cut fuel costs for homeowners, heating and cooling with geothermal energy is gaining momentum in Vermont. Geothermal energy costs just one-third as much as oil by drawing on underground temperatures to pump heat into buildings in the winter and tapping cooler underground temperatures for air conditioning in the summer. Geothermal cuts heating costs, creates local jobs and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Nick Manosh, a Morrisville well-driller, joined Bernie and others to speak about the growing demand for geothermal in Vermont. Manosh said, “It makes good sense for this state, for this country, to lean more toward this renewable energy."
Q&A: Brian Tibbits of Jericho on switching to geothermal »
Learn more about how geothermal can work for you »
Watch WCAX’s coverage »
Tax Incentives
Homeowners: 30 percent credit »
Businesses: 10 percent credit »
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 Social Security Is Solid, But Bernie Wants to Make it Stronger
A new report by the Social Security trustees showed the program’s trust fund has $2.7 trillion in reserves and will grow to $3.06 trillion by 2021. The report also notes the reserves are now expected to be tapped three years sooner than previously anticipated, paying 75 percent of benefits after 2033. Bernie wants to strengthen Social Security, which has more than 120,000 beneficiaries in Vermont. He introduced legislation to guarantee benefits for another 75 years by extending the payroll tax to those who earn above $250,000 a year. “Right now, someone who earns $110,100 pays the same amount of money into Social Security as a billionaire. That makes no sense,” Bernie said.
Read a Reuters article »
Read more about Bernie’s bill »
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 A Look Back: Developing Vermont’s Postal Service
The U.S. Postal Service was established in 1775 by the Second Continental Congress’ call for “a line of posts… from Falmouth in New England to Savannah in Georgia.” The Postal Service has played a crucial role in connecting Vermont communities with each other and the world. “By 1800, there were 22 post offices in Vermont. The number reached 100 by 1813,” said Paul Carnahan, librarian of the Vermont Historical Society. “Post offices, often located at the back of a general store, became the center of village life.” Bernie is working hard to strengthen the U.S Postal System and save rural post offices throughout Vermont and the rest of the country.
Read more about Vermont’s Postal Service »
Map: Post offices, postal roads (c. 1839) »
Timeline: The development of the post office »
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