Today's news from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)

[Playinghardball]

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Senator Sanders

Campaign Finance Reform There's no reason to expect right-wing media to start to cover the growing influence of the extremely wealthy in our political process in 2015, Media Matters said in a yearly roundup. As Sen. Sanders pointed out, paltry network coverage of campaign finance issues amounted to "each network devoting less than [a] single minute per month to talking about campaign finance reform." LINK: http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/12/31/right-wing-medias-favorite-legal-myths-of-2014/201957

Treasury Nominee Antonio Weiss, President Obama's pick to become the Treasury Department's top official for domestic financial issues, is drawing opposition from Democrats. Elizabeth Warren is leading the charge. Sanders said he will not vote for Weiss and Sen. Al Franken said the nominee' ties to Wall Street make him the wrong fit for a job,according to Steve Kornacki on MSNBC.

Phone Strike Vermont House Speaker Shap Smith doubted that FairPoint Communications will continue to provide telecommunications services to Vermonters for the long term as its workers continue to strike and service complaints pile up. The National Labor Relations Board this week dismissed an unfair labor practice charge against FairPoint, but workers have seen support from state officials, including Gov. Peter Shumlin, Sens. Sanders and Patrick Leahy and Rep. Peter Welch, the Rutland Herald and Times Argus reported. LINK: http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20150101/NEWS03/701019895/1042/IRENE?template=printart

White House ’16 Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to decide on a presidential run in early 2015, but Democratic insiders have "privately expressed concerns" about her nomination. South Carolina Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, the party’s Southern Caucus chairwoman, cited Sen. Sanders as a potential challenger. “He’s speaking a language Democrats have forgotten, the real bread-and-butter, working-class issues,” she said in n article published by The Charlotte (North Carolina) Observer and other McClatchy newspapers. LINK: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/12/31/5417529/clinton-and-2016-raise-other-questions.html#.VKWt7kZ0wuR

White House ’16, Run Bernie Run “We hope he takes a shot at it. There's a good argument to be made that, now more than ever, America needs to hear what Sanders has to say,” the Valley News of West Lebanon, New Hampshire, editorialized. “Sanders would be a refreshing counter-establishment antidote … So run, Bernie, run,” Simon Maloy wrote for Salon. “We wish that a progressive alternative to Clinton will make his or her name and positions known far and wide … be it Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders or Martin O’Malley,” a Concord (New Hampshire) Monitor editorial said. A letter to the editor of the Burlington Free Press disagreed. LINK: http://www.vnews.com/opinion/editorials/15016654-95/editorial-what-america-needs-to-hear-from-bernie-sanders

White House ’16, Talking Heads “Sanders said he may do it. Having somebody on the left of her, she'll crush them, but it will be a good thing, positions are better,” Bob Beckel said on the Fox News program “The Five.” On PBS’ “The NewsHour,” Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic said Clinton may face a challenge from the left. “There's a slight door open there. There's Bernie Sanders, who is an adorable socialist, but probably not a serious candidate.” LINK: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/2014-promise-year-come/

White House ’16 If he decides to run, Sen. Sanders will focus on rebuilding the American middle class, the Washington Examiner reported. “People care more about Tom Brady’s arm than they do about our disastrous trade policy, NAFTA, CAFTA, the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs. ISIS and Ebola are serious issues, but what they really don’t want you to think about is what’s happened to the American middle class,” Sanders said in a recent interview with New York Magazine. LINK : http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/bernie-sanders-people-care-more-about-tom-bradys-arm-than-the-middle-class/article/2558060

World

Palestine Backs Joining International Court A day after a failed bid at the United Nations to push a Middle East peace settlement, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas signed an appeal Wednesday to join the International Criminal Court — a move that could open the way for filing war crimes complaints against Israel, The Washington Post reported. Abbas’s announcement met opposition from Washington, with the State Department saying that the "action is entirely counter-productive." LINK: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/israel-thanks-us-for-abstaining-on-security-council-resolution/2014/12/31/9b84cfa8-90d2-11e4-a412-4b735edc7175_story.html

National

Minimum Wage Minimum wage increases go into effect in 20 states and the District of Columbia by Jan. 1, and, all told, 29 states will exceed the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour at the beginning of January, The New York Times reported. Vermont's minimum wage rises to $9.15 per hour on New Year's Day, The Associated Press reported. In the next three years Vermont's minimum wage is scheduled to increase in stages to $10.50 an hour. LINK: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/01/business/hourly-minimum-wage-is-going-up-for-millions.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
Vermont

Shumlin Aide Calls Washington Big Barrier to Single Payer Gov. Peter Shumlin’s director of health reform, Lawrence Miller, said Wednesday the timing of the governor’s decision to abandon plans to make Vermont the first state in the country with a universal, publicly funded health care system wasn’t politically motivated. Miller also said the federal government was the biggest barrier to the plan, The Associated Press reported. LINK: http://www.timesargus.com/article/20150101/NEWS03/701019919

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/newswatch/010115 …