Happy Easter Everyone!

https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/04/politics/bernie-sanders-jennifer-granholm-infrastructure-plan-biden-cnntv/index.html

President Joe Biden’s roughly $2 trillion jobs proposal that is focused on infrastructure and the climate crisis is a “serious proposal,” Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday, but more work must be done on the plan to ensure it addresses major issues concerning the nation’s “human infrastructure.”

“I think many of us see a crisis in human infrastructure when a working class family can’t find good, quality, affordable child care. That’s human infrastructure,” the Vermont independent and chairman of the Senate Budget Committee told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.” “I think now is the time to begin addressing our physical infrastructure and our human infrastructure. I want to see that happen as soon as possible.”

The comments from Sanders, who has signaled his support for Biden’s proposal, come as the administration zeroes in on infrastructure as its next major legislative push. The proposal, called the American Jobs Plan, would spend heavily on rebuilding the nation’s crumbling infrastructure and shift to greener energy over the next eight years. It includes building or retrofitting more than 2 million homes or housing units, replacing every lead pipe in the country and ensuring that all Americans have access to affordable, reliable and high-speed broadband.

The President has said the proposal would modernize 20,000 miles of rundown highways, roads and main streets and 10,000 bridges and would also fix “10 of the nation’s most economically significant bridges in America that require replacement.” The plan also calls for investments in manufacturing, transportation, research and development, bolstering caregiving for aging and disabled Americans and building new public schools and upgrading existing buildings.

Sanders called Biden’s plan “a serious proposal dealing with some of the serious crises that we face,” adding that “every American understands that our infrastructure, our roads and our bridges, water systems, waste water plants, are falling apart and we can create millions of jobs rebuilding them.”

But, the senator said, Congress will take a “hard look” at the plan in an effort to see how it can address health care, the cost of prescription drugs, college affordability and student debt. “I think in an unprecedented moment, the President has given us a serious proposal. A lot more work has to be done in that regard,” he said.

https://www.wcax.com/2021/04/02/sanders-announces-33-million-funding-for-community-health-centers/

More than $33 million in emergency funding is heading to Vermont’s 11 community health centers as a result of the American Rescue Plan.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, made the announcement on Thursday at the Riverside Community Health Center in Burlington. He says the money will allow the health centers to improve the quality of care being provided to 187,000 patients around the state. “What we are accomplishing here is a real achievement,” Sanders said. “It’s a model to the country, and we can and will do even better.”

Sanders is touting the distribution of the money as “the biggest single investment in the state’s community health center history.” He says nearly 1-in-3 Vermonters rely on the centers for high quality and affordable health care. “You’re going to get dental care, which is a very serious problem in our state and throughout this country. You’re going to get mental health counseling, and you’re going to get some of the lowest-cost prescription drugs that are available in America,” he said.

The CEOs of some of the community health centers across the state were on hand to express their gratitude and explain how they plan to use the money. “We’ll be adding resources to provide mobile testing and vaccine administration services to underserved populations across the community, particularly those experiencing homelessness, living in rural areas, or our BIPOC community members,” said Jeff McKee, CEO of the Community Health Centers of Burlington.

“We are in the process of acquiring a mobile unit which will go out to employers to really help employers stay at work and be able to take advantage of immunizations for flu vaccines and those type of activities,” said Josh Dufresne, CEO of Springfield Medical Care Systems.

“We’ll be ordering a mobile unit to help with the vaccine administration to continue meeting the need of our hard-to-reach populations,” said Pam Parsons, CEO of Northern Tier Center for Health.

Sanders says the American Rescue Plan will also put $800 million into the National Health Service Call program, which helps health facilities in rural communities and areas that are medically underserved expand their staff.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/04/04/rashida-tlaib-hails-shift-house-dems-views-palestinian-human-rights

Referring to a recent letter in which a dozen House Democrats called on the Biden administration to oppose Israeli “settler colonialism” in Palestine, Rep. Rashida Tlaib on Friday said that support is growing like never before in Congress for Palestinian human rights.

Haaretz reports the Michigan Democrat’s remarks came during a webinar hosted by American Muslims for Palestine and the Jewish anti-occupation IfNotNow Movement, during which she condemned Israel’s “apartheid system”—including “medical apartheid” during the coronavirus pandemic—while sounding hopeful about the erosion of the reflexively pro-Israel stance that has long characterized Congress.

“Just a few years ago, it would have been unthinkable to have 12 members of Congress refer to Israeli occupation as colonialism, so I have no doubt that the needle on Palestinian human rights is moving,” said Tlaib, the first Palestinian American ever elected to Congress.

“Settler colonialism describes the reality of what the Netanyahu government is doing,” she continued, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right government. “They’re building illegal settlements for settlers to colonize Palestinian land. When you have separate roads and license plates and existing set of laws for different populations in your country, that is an apartheid system.”

I am proud to join @RepMarkPocan and 10 other of my colleagues in calling for @SecBlinken and @StateDept to ground its engagement on Palestine and Israel in international law and human rights and undue the damage done by the Trump Admin. pic.twitter.com/DdO8qXFA4P

— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) March 12, 2021

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/schumer-legalize-weed-biden-1150863/

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says that even though President Joe Biden is resistant, he intends for Congress to make moves to federally legalize marijuana. In an interview with Politico’s Natalie Fertig, Schumer said work on just such a bill has already begun, and it is “headed in [the] direction” of legalization as opposed to just decriminalization.

“I am personally for legalization. And the bill that we’ll be introducing is headed in that direction,” Schumer said. Decriminalization would end carceral punishment for some possession of marijuana charges and treat it as a minor violation, whereas legalization would bring more broad-sweeping changes and would end criminal charges for marijuana possession.

Biden has voiced support for decriminalization, but not yet legalization.