The Bernie Buzz

Great read as always from the Senator from Vermont!

How come Senator Sanders is one of the few to criticize the BLOATED DEFENSE BUDGET while Congress is short-changing Americans in need?

Is this what we stand for as a nation?

The National Security Agency's bulk collection of millions of innocent Americans' telephone records has come under fire from a federal judge, from the president's own advisory committee and from critics in Congress. Bernie proposed legislation to rein in the spy agency long before a judge ruled this week that the NSA had almost certainly violated a constitutional ban on unreasonable searches. "In my view, the NSA is out of control and operating in an unconstitutional manner," he said. "I will be working as hard as I can to pass the strongest legislation possible to end the abuses by the NSA and other intelligence agencies." Watch Bernie and Thomas Roberts on MSNBC Read about Bernie's bill Pentagon Bloat The Senate on Thursday approved a Department of Defense bill that would authorize $625 billion for the military. Bernie voted NO. "At a time when the United States has a $17.2 trillion national debt, huge unmet social needs, and when we spend almost as much on defense as the rest of the world combined, the time is long overdue for us to take a hard look at the waste, cost overruns and financial mismanagement that have been plagued the Defense Department for years." Watch Bernie's speech Americans Deserve a Raise Bernie is leading the charge in Congress to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour from the $7.25 level it's been stuck at since 2009. "Of all the major economic issues facing our country — high unemployment, low wages, growing poverty and a widening income and wealth gap — raising the minimum wage is a way to address them all," Bernie said. A $10.10 minimum wage would increase pay for nearly 30 million Americans. Watch Bernie discuss the minimum wage Read Bernie's column Take the poll Social Security Spared The Senate on Wednesday passed a two-year budget. In a choice that Bernie called "the lesser of two evils," he voted for the agreement to avert another government shutdown and to provide modest increases in funding for programs like Head Start and Meals on Wheels. Bernie also was pleased that the agreement did not cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Bernie has been working with grassroots organizations all across the country to protect those programs. But there were things in the budget bill he didn't like. There's nothing in it to create jobs. It doesn't even help the 1.3 million Americans about to lose long-term unemployment benefits. And it keeps in place legal loopholes in the tax code that let profitable corporations evade about $100 billion in taxes every year. Watch Bernie and Ed Schultz on MSNBC Must Reads You're Probably Making 10 Percent Less Than You Were Ten Years Ago. The Top 0.01 Percent Is Making 76.2 Percent More. The Washington Post Accidental Tax Break Saves Wealthiest Americans $100 Billion Bloomberg America's Staggering Defense Budget, In Charts The Washington Post Coming Events Listen to "Brunch with Bernie" Fridays at 3 p.m. ET Share this Bernie Buzz Get Bernie Buzz Updates Receive updates on breaking news. Tell Bernie what subjects interest you.