Senator Sanders

An Economic Agenda for America Americans must choose between the policies that brought a 40-year decline of our middle class and a progressive economic agenda that creates jobs, raises wages, protects the environment and provides health care for all, Sen. Bernie Sanders wrote for The Huffington Post and Op-Ed News. LINK, LINK 

Sanders Calls for FairPoint Investigation Vermont officials are calling for an investigation of FairPoint Communications’ following hundreds of complaints and a recent outage that prevented some Vermonters from reaching 911 emergency help. Sen. Sanders and the state Public Service Department called for an investigation. He called the disrupted 911 service “unacceptable,” according to the Burlington Free Press and Bennington Banner, The Berkshire (Massachusetts) Eagle, WPTZ-TV, WVNY-TV and WFFF-TV reported.  LINK, LINK, LINK, VIDEO, VIDEO

Dairy Farmers’ Deadline Nears With a Friday deadline looming, about two-thirds of Vermont’s dairy farmers have yet to apply for a federal program designed to provide a safety net for milk producers, according to the Burlington Free Press. Sens. Sanders and Patrick Leahy and Rep. Peter Welch fought to fund the program under a new farm bill signed into law this year. LINK

‘Crazy’ Tax Deal Lawmakers are hammering out a legislative deal to extend tax breaks for large corporations but ignores tax cuts for working families, The Hill reported. Sen. Sanders said he was glad the president last week threatened to veto the deal. “This tax cut agreement does exactly the wrong things,” Sanders said. LINK

Veterans Members of Congress have plenty of work ahead as they reconvene for the last weeks of 2014, Defense One reported. Sen. Sanders said last week he would pursue the passage of veterans suicide prevention legislation before the year's end. Charles Pierce of Esquire noted that Senate Republicans filibustered a "carefully crafted" comprehensive veterans benefits bill from Sen. Sanders last year. LINK, LINK  

Rx Prices Generic drug manufacturers have raised prices to maximize profits, according to Al Jazeera America. “These companies have seen the opportunity to make a whole lot of money and are seizing that opportunity,” Sen. Sanders was quoted saying in an editorial in the Walla Walla, Washington, Union-Bulletin. VIDEO, LINK

Senate Democrats “Now that [Elizabeth] Warren and centrist Mark Warner are both in the Democrats’ Senate leadership ranks, the two of them should sit down and hammer out a Warren-Warner Middle-Class Compact that consists of 10 or however many major points that they know they can get everyone from Bernie Sanders to Joe Manchin to agree on,” Michael Tomasky wrote for The Daily Beast. LINK                                                                        

White House ’16 Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leads other potential 2016 Democratic challengers including Sen. Sanders, who's "status as a kind-of-sort-of-socialist would make him an unlikely nominee," Aaron Blake of The Washington Post said. A poll of progressives found Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren with more backing than Clinton, Juan Williams noted in The Hill. A new national poll for CNN put Clinton ahead with 65 percent followed by Warren at 10 percent, Vice President Biden at 9 percent and Sanders at 5 percent. LINK, LINK, LINK, VIDEO 

Folk Album A re-mastered version of Sen. Sanders' 1987 folk album, “We Shall Overcome,” has been rereleased by a small record label in Burlington, Vermont, where the liberal hero and potential 2016 presidential candidate served as mayor from 1981 to 1989, Policy Mic reported. LINK

The Vermont Movie The Vermont Movie's exploration of the careers of Sen. Sanders and former Gov. Madeleine Kunin makes author Amy Howlett "feel proud that this is our state,” she told WCAX-TV. VIDEO

World

Climate Change With this year on track to become the warmest on record, more than 190 nations began talks Monday on new limits for the greenhouse gases that are already changing global climate patterns and making life more difficult around the world, The Associated Press reported. LINK

U.S. Weighs New Front in Syria The Obama administration is weighing the opening of a new front in the air war against the Islamic State in Syria, part of an offensive to push back militants along the western part of Syria’s border with Turkey and create a relatively safe zone for U.S.-backed Syrian rebel forces to move in, The Washington Post reported. LINK

National

Basic Costs Squeeze Families The American middle class has absorbed a steep increase in the cost of health care and other necessities as incomes have stagnated over the past half decade, a squeeze that has forced families to cut back spending on everything from clothing to restaurants. Health-care spending by middle-income Americans rose 24 percent between 2007 and 2013, driven by an even larger rise in the cost of buying health insurance, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of detailed consumer-spending data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That hit has been accompanied by increases in spending on other necessities, including food eaten at home, rent and education, as well as the soaring cost of staying connected digitally via cellphones and home Internet service. LINK

Lawmakers Divided over Tax Breaks Lawmakers divided about whether to renew a raft of expiring tax breaks appear increasingly likely to extend them only through 2014, a move that would leave businesses and individuals in limbo for 2015 and beyond. The temporary breaks include about 50 separate provisions benefiting businesses, individuals and nonprofits, The Wall Street Journal reported. LINK

Republicans Try to Balance Immigration Action While Avoiding a Shutdown Congressional Republicans returning to Washington on Monday found themselves facing a treacherous 10 days as they try to balance their desire to fight President Obama’s executive action on immigration with the political imperative not to shut down the government. Congress must pass a broad spending bill before Dec. 11 to prevent a government shutdown, The New York Times reported. LINK

Obama Offers New Standards on Police Gear President Obama, grappling with how to respond to the racial unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, and a wave of anger at law enforcement officials across the country, said Monday that he would tighten standards on the provision of military-style equipment to local police departments and provide funds for police officers to wear cameras, The New York Times reported. LINK

Poll: More Gridlock under GOP Half of Americans believe Republican control of both chambers of Congress will be bad for the country, and a majority say it will in fact cause more gridlock in Washington, according to a new CNN poll. LINK

Vermont

Shumlin ‘Ambivalent” on Single Payer Supporters of a plan for Vermont to become the first state in the country to enact a single-payer health care system are going to be showing their continued support for the idea. Since his narrow re-election victory last month, Gov. Peter Shumlin has been ambivalent about his continued support for single payer, according to The Associated Press.

Shumlin Seeks School Tax Increase Gov. Shumlin announced Monday that he will seek a 2-cent increase per $100 of valuation to address school budget shortfalls, The Associated Press reported. LINK

Internet Sales Tax Supporters of a sales tax on all Internet retailers are hopeful that Congress will consider their bill in the next two weeks. It's estimated that the tax will bring an additional $25 million in revenue to the state of Vermont, Vermont Public Radio reported. LINK

VTC Cutbacks The president of Vermont Technical College told eight faculty members Monday that their positions will be eliminated July 31, 2015, at the end of the school year. President Dan Smith said the need for the job cuts became apparent when the fall enrollment numbers showed  revenue would not support the existing faculty, VPR reported. LINK