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.

As we've seen elsewhere, austerity doesn't work to grow the economy, put people back to work and move a country ahead.

It's time for change!

Senator Elizabeth Warren. (photo: Steve Pope/Getty Images)

Sequester Drags American Economy Down

By Elizabeth Warren, Reader Supported News

11 September 13

arlier this year, automatic, across-the board spending cuts went into effect across the country.

 

As our economy slowly recovers from high unemployment and the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, middle class families are struggling to keep their heads above water.

 

For these families, the effect of these cuts is like being asked to swim with rocks tied around their ankles. People are working as hard as they can, but they just keep getting dragged down.

 

These cuts, known as the sequester, are dragging down middle class families and is dragging down our economy.

 

During my visits to cities and towns across Massachusetts, I've heard from families, small business owners and community development organizations - from the Berkshires to the Cape. They tell me what it is like to try to stay afloat with the sequester weighing them down.

 

More than a thousand employees at Westover Air Reserve Base and Barnes Air National Guard Base in Western Massachusetts are now facing furloughs - which really just means pay cuts. And federal workers across our state stand to lose as much as 30 percent of their salaries from the sequester.

 

Every one of those losses means already tight family budgets will be hit hard. And every one of those losses means those families have less money to spend in their local stores.

 

In Massachusetts, we've worked hard and we're starting to recover from the Great Recession, but the sequester just keeps dragging us down.

 

Hard working families in Massachusetts - and all around this country - have been feeling squeezed, chipped, and hacked at, for too long. And Washington's response - the sequester, makes it even worse.

 

This is a system that increasingly seems rigged to work for the big guys, but just isn't working for ordinary Americans. These are policies that slash investments in our families and our future. These are policies that protect tax loopholes for the wealthiest individuals and the biggest corporations at the cost of our middle class and no real effort at creating jobs.

 

I am proud to stand with a President who is out there saying it straight: you can't grow the economy from the top down. It only grows when we have a strong middle class that provides opportunities for growth for all of our kids - rich or poor.

 

Small businesses, working families, and our whole country do better when we make investments in the future - in education, infrastructure, and innovation - not when we hack away at those investments through nonsense policies like the sequester.

 

Investing in the future. That's what creates jobs; that's what grows the economy; that's what gives all our kids a chance.

 

Congress knows what it needs to do. We need to fix our education system, to make it better and more affordable - not cut support, slash after school programs, attack Head Start, and lay off teachers.

 

We need to increase our investments in clean energy and medical research. Massachusetts is a leader in clean energy technology, energy efficiency, and medical innovation.

 

We've seen firsthand how these kinds of investments pay off - creating jobs, boosting our economy, and in the long term, reducing energy and medical costs for all of us.

 

We need to bring together community colleges, businesses, and government to make sure we have highly trained workers that can succeed at the high-tech manufacturing that's going on in this country, at places like Crane & Co. and General Dynamics.

 

I've seen the possibilities this can have first hand - in places like Springfield, where some high tech manufacturing companies are ready to partner with schools and businesses to get good workers.

 

I am in Washington to fight for our families and to give them a chance to build a real future. Without the sequester we could rebuild faster, better, and bigger.

 

There is work to be done. There are roads and bridges in need of repair. There are children to educate. There are medical breakthroughs to discover. And the energy is there to do the work if only Washington will harness it.

 

The people of Massachusetts are ready. The people of the United States are ready. We just need Congress to get ready too.

Squandering Our Future

We have squandered the future of our grandchildren fighting wars on the credit card, funding the bloated military-industrial complex in excess of all of our allies combined.

The sequestration has slashed Head Start, Food Programs, Education, Research, destroying our nation's ability to compete globally.

It's time to re-define our values and priorities.

Not For Profit - For Global Justice The Peoples Press - Powered By People - For People

Important Update - September 12, 2013

A Plea for Caution From Russia What Putin Has to Say to Americans About Syria By Vladimir V. Putin We must stop using the language of force and return to the path of civilized diplomatic and political settlement. Continue

The Moral Bankruptcy of A Nation!

Daily Kos

Hear, hear!

Thank you, Sen. Bernie Sanders.

57,000 Children Cut

The success of Head Start has been documented.

Those children being denied Head Start are those who will benefit the most and be able to compete in the global economy.

The Sequester slashed those funds.

Please add you name to speak out for children HERE

57,000 Children Cut

“The colors were brighter than any she had seen before. Shapes, letters, and lots and lots of colors adorned the walls; around the room, children worked together building high rises with colored blocks and "read" colorful picture books. "I had never seen so much color," Angelica Salazar recalls of her first days as a Head Start preschooler in Duarte, Calif. She remembers the discovery of library books and spending hours curled up on the reading rug. Head Start was Angie's first formal experience learning English. Her parents, who spoke mostly Spanish,enrolled her in the program knowing that their little girl would need English to succeed in school.

Today, Angelica Salazar, a graduate of Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, serves as a juvenile justice policy associate at the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), where she works to help identify and change policies that trap millions of our nation's children in a pipeline to prison every year.”

- Marian Wright Edelman’s Child Watch^® Column “From Head Start to Harvard”

Dear Child Advocate,

 

Yesterday, the Washington Post reported 57,000 children have been cut from Head Start and Early Head Start as a result of the sequester.

 

Because Congress was NOT careful what they cut, tens of thousands of children will not have a rich, high-quality early learning experience. Shame on them.

 

What happens now is up to us. Do we invest in high quality early childhood development and learning or turn our back on the future?

 

According to a recent poll, seven in 10 Americans support a federal plan that invests in high-quality early childhood education for our youngest children. In fact, only the economy rates higher in terms of importance for voters. Now we must build the political will to ensure it happens!

Here is what you can do:

1. Share your stories on the benefits of early learning. Stories from parents who have seen their children develop critical skills by being in a high-quality early learning environment. Stories from early care providers about the positive impact that high-quality care has on a child’s development. Your stories are powerful and we have a plan to deliver them to Congress.
2. Take action to end the cuts to Head Start and Early Head Start. Take Congress back to school and tell them ‘Be Careful What You Cut’. Urge your Senators and Representative to repeal sequestration when they return to Washington in September.
3. Share our button on facebook. Raise your hand in support of early childhood development and learning and ask your friends to join our efforts.

For many, ‘Back to School’ is a time of excitement, shopping for new clothes, backpacks, pencils and notebooks. Where will the 57,000 children go without their Head Start programs? It’s up to us to roll back the cuts and make investing in our youngest children a national priority.

 

Thanks for taking a stand with us on this important issue.

- Children’s Defense Fund

 

 http://cdf.childrensdefense.org/site/MessageViewer?dlv_id=31321&em_id=33241.0

...Pentagon budget that already eats up 57% of the money Congress votes on.

Please add your name and speak out!
The federal budget is a moral document that defines us as a nation.
We can't afford to slash sorely needed programs.

Don’t cut vital programs to increase Pentagon spending.
We spend more on weapons and war than the combined military budgets of the next 16 countries, including many U.S. allies and friends. But House Republicans want to fund an increase in Pentagon spending with more cuts to vital services – literally taking hot food from the mouths of vulnerable seniors and robbing children of education and a path to a brighter future.

This outrageous plan and the right-wing obsession with cutting our nation to the core must be stopped.

Tell Congress: Don’t cut vital programs to increase Pentagon spending.

Slashing vital social safety net programs that serve millions of families makes absolutely no sense, which makes the GOP’s 2014 spending plan particularly cruel.

They would add to the devastating sequester cuts to domestic spending in order to increase a Pentagon budget that already eats up 57% of the money Congress votes on.

Well it’s time for Congress to hear what the American people think about the GOP’s tea-party priorities. Tell Congress: Don’t cut vital social safety net programs to increase Pentagon spending.

Some in Washington have completely lost touch with the everyday struggles of life – finding and keeping a good job, paying rent and bills on time and taking care of our friends and family who’ve fallen behind through no fault of their own.

As families and communities struggle just to get by, we need jobs and prosperity for all, not austerity. We have collapsing bridges in Washington, we have cancer patients going without treatment and we have children being turned away from Head Start at a time when we should be investing in their future.

It’s up to us to stop these cuts to our communities and speak out for prosperity for all. Join us as we call on Congress to do the right thing and defend our social safety net against these radical right-wing attacks.

Michael Morrill
for Keyston Progress
USAction in Pennsylvania

Republicans Need to Do Their Job!

Maybe it's time to speak up for others and for sensible revenue plans and stop following like sheep.

Are we so short-sighted that we have forgotten that President Clinton and Vice President Gore left office with a budget surplus as far as the eye could see and full employment? Is it just right-wing hatred that has re-written reality?


Bush/Cheney and a Republican Congress squandered our future, created the deficits with Tax Cuts for the Wealthy, Big Corporations and Loopholes Galore, fighting wars of the Social Security Surplus.

Why are Republicans defending Big Corporations that don't pay any taxes???? Baffling!

Please add your name --

When we sent this email last week, we had no idea we would get such an overwhelming response. As a result of the campaign spearheaded by Health Care for America Now and its partners, more than 600,000 people have emailed their representatives telling them to end the sequester.

Please join us in writing to members of Congress to let them know that allowing these cuts to continue is bad politics, bad policy and bad economics.

Thanks,

Will

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Will O'Neill, Health Care for America Now
Date: Fri, May 3, 2013 at 2:40 PM
Subject: Furious

The Republicans in Congress need to know that you’re furious over their refusal to do their jobs. Write to your congressperson and tell them to repeal the sequester today.

Last week, Congress took rapid action to end furloughs of government air-traffic controllers that had inconvenienced air travelers.

That’s fine. But they didn’t do a single thing to end the sequester’s across-the-board cuts that are hurting more and more people every day. Nope. The GOP won’t budge unless it helps them and the wealthy special interests.



Let’s be honest: The only reason these Senators and Representatives acted so quickly is they didn’t want to be inconvenienced on the tarmac as they flew home for the weekend. They don’t care about the workers at the Federal Aviation Administration – just folks who can afford air travel.

What about the poor and elderly? Kids who can’t go to Head Start? Doctors and cancer patients who rely on Medicare? With the Republicans in control of the House of Representatives, they’re out of luck.

Health Care for America Now is joining the Campaign for America’s Future to tell Congress to repeal the sequester – all of it, not just the parts that affect the wealthy.

Members of Congress have heard from their campaign contributors who like to fly. Now they need to hear from Medicare recipients, from seniors who have lost Meals on Wheels, from parents whose kids can’t go to Head Start anymore and from health care supporters who want the Affordable Care Act to continue moving forward.

Write to your congressperson today and tell them to repeal the whole sequester.

Thanks,

Will O’Neill
Health Care for America Now

Repeal the Sequester

Last week, the Congress heard from business travelers stranded on flights delayed because of air traffic controller furloughs. It took only four days for the supposedly gridlocked Congress to 'fix' the sequester, just for them.

Congress refuses to hear the cries of the 800,000 jobless workers in 19 states who suffered cuts of an average of $120 a month in their unemployment checks.

Or the thousands of children about to be locked out of Head Start.

Or the disabled veterans who can't get the Social Security benefits they earned because of cuts to the Social Security Administration.

Click here to tell Congress: Repeal the Sequester.

The cuts are costing jobs and slowing already weak growth. With millions out of work, and the economy in trouble, they are not just dumb, but dangerous.

Join us, and wake Congress out of its stupor. Repeal the sequester.

Thanks for all you do,

Michael Phelan
Social Security Works