When asked about releasing his “full” federal tax returns, Sen. Bernie Sanders insisted that “we have released them in the past.” But Sanders has released only his 1040 form, a two-page summary of his federal returns, not his full returns.

The Democratic primary has seen a lot of discussion about Bernie Sanders’s ability, or lack thereof, to get things done in Congress. Former House member Barney Frank claimed that “Bernie Sanders has been in Congress for 25 years with little to show for it in terms of his accomplishments.” Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) was asked by Politico to name pieces of legislation Sanders has significantly influenced:

“Um,” she said, pausing for a full eight seconds while thinking, “I’m sure I could. In terms of the things that he talks the most about, is when he was chair of the Veterans Affairs committee. But he actually compromised on a whole heck of a lot. Back in … it’s not coming to my mind right now.”

Hardly a ringing endorsement. But do more systematic data confirm these anecdotal impressions?

One more comprehensive measure of Sen. Sanders’s legislative effectiveness is how successful he has been at sponsoring legislation that is adopted by the Senate. To get a cleaner look at this issue, I developed a simple set of criteria to isolate legislation we should care about most, and looked up both senators’ legislative records.

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Here’s what the numbers say: During her eight years in the Senate, Hillary Clinton sponsored 10 bills that passed the chamber. The mean senator passes 1.4 bills a year, so Clinton’s 1.25 bills per year is approximately in line with the chamber average. By contrast, Bernie Sanders has been in the Senate nine years and has sponsored only one bill that passed.

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MIKA BRZEZINSKI (CO-HOST): Late last night, Clinton's press secretary Brian Fallon responded to [Sanders'] remarks on Twitter saying quote "Hillary Clinton did not say Bernie Sanders was 'not qualified.' But he has now - absurdly - said it about her. This is a new low." He added "Bernie Sanders, take back your words about Hillary Clinton." Sanders did no such thing. His campaign released a statement that began quote "Responding to Hillary Clinton's attempt to portray him as unqualified for the White House, Senator Sanders linked her to a trade pact exploited by wealthy individuals and profitable corporations to avoid paying taxes." And then went on to spell out the rest of Senator Sanders, the senator's quotes from Philadelphia. That statement linked readers to a Washington Post article with the headline "Clinton questions whether Sanders is qualified to be president," which cited Secretary Clinton's remarks on Morning Joe. Both candidates have news conferences scheduled for 9:00 this morning right after Morning Joe. I feel like I'm in trouble. And Bernie Sanders will join us on set in New York tomorrow morning.

JOE SCARBOROUGH (CO-HOST): OK so Mike Barnicle, you were there with us. I tried to get Hillary Clinton four times -- three or four times to say that Bernie Sanders was unqualified to be president of the United States and just like my interview with Rick Santorum, you know, I start asking a question, I keep going until I get an answer or give up. And after three or four attempts with Secretary Clinton I gave up because she was not going to say the words "He is unqualified to be president of the United States." Was that your takeaway from the interview as well or am I missing something?

MIKE BARNICLE: [font size="+1"]No, she clearly did not say that Bernie Sanders was not qualified to be president[/font] and under Senator Sanders' logic in his comeback, is John Kerry qualified to be secretary of state? Because he, too, voted for many of the things that Hillary Clinton has cited in Senator Sanders' indictment. This is going to be a 12-day tension convention here in New York state between Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton.

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In Comments, some people have linked this article as proof Sanders released his tax returns. However, if you read the article you will see he only released a partial return for 2014 (actually only 3 pages of one 1040):

“Sanders … voluntarily released the first few pages of his 2014 federal and Vermont tax returns Tuesday at the request of The Washington Post.”

As Mark Lippman pointed out in a comment in his diary, the released 3-page document is missing Schedule C and Schedule A:

“Of course it’s a low number. Schedule C would show us how he turned a high number into a low number to pay less tax.

Same goes for Schedule A. He deducted over 25% of his income, probably the max available for him that year. Which loopholes did he use?”

The Sanders campaign is exaggerating the contributions that Clinton has received from the oil and gas industry. In the context of her overall campaign, the contributions are hardly significant. It’s especially misleading to count all of the funds raised by lobbyists with multiple clients as money “given” by the fossil-fuel industry.

Three Pinocchios

Score one for the Koch brothers.

A measure that opponents say is intentionally confusing and will stifle solar growth was given the go-ahead by the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday. It will appear on the Florida ballot in November.

Environmental and solar advocates challenged the measure, titled, “Rights of Electricity Consumers Regarding Solar Energy Choice,” saying that it does not reflect any choice and does not create new rights. Sponsored by utility companies and other groups tied to the Koch brothers, the measure will prevent people from selling their electricity to third parties. This would effectively prevent solar leasing in the state, because under that system, an owner — usually a solar company — installs panels at a home and then sells the generated electricity back to the homeowner.

“This amendment hoodwinks voters by giving the impression that it will encourage the use of rooftop solar when, in fact, it would do the opposite,” Earthjustice attorney David Guest told the News Service of Florida.

The measure was proposed by a group called Consumers for Smart Solar, which has already spent nearly half a million dollars just getting the it on the ballot. A competing measure, which would have reduced barriers to rooftop solar, did not receive enough signatures to make the ballot.
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