Sen. Bernie Sanders: "How many people need to get unnecessarily sicker before Congress is prepared to take on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry?" pic.twitter.com/emosfjCwtw
— The Hill (@thehill) March 24, 2021
“Why does the U.S. pay the highest price in the world for prescription drugs? It is simply because of greed.” – Elia Spates of Derby, Vermont. pic.twitter.com/hdy7N4DIgN
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) March 24, 2021
More news, tweets, videos in the comments. Happy Hump Day!
Deb Haaland’s confirmation hearing is today. She’s appearing before the Energy Committee, in which Joe Manchin is the Chair. Senator Henrich is introducing her. Link to the livestream if you care to watch.
https://www.energy.senate.gov/hearings/2021/2/hearing-to-consider-nomination-of-the-honorable-debra-haaland-to-be-the-secretary-of-the-interior.
GOP Rep Don Young of Alaska is also singing her praises as part of her introduction.
More news, tweets, videos, etc in the comments. See you there!
Senate Budget Committee Interviews Neera Tanden for OMB
From Slate:
Kennedy was the final, and typically showiest, Republican to question her. He suggested that there may be a perception that “if you took Wall Street, turned them upside down, and shook ’em, you’d fall out of their pockets.” When he said that “you called Sen. Sanders everything but an ignorant slut”—Graham, in the background, followed up with “I wouldn’t’ve said ‘ignorant’ ”—Tanden showed her anger for the first time, saying, “That is not true, Senator.”
Kennedy then asked her repeatedly whether she meant the insults she tweeted when she tweeted them.
She tried a few different dodges between reiterations of the question. “I really feel badly about them, Senator.” “Social media is a terrible discourse.” “I feel terribly about them.” “I look back at them, I said them, I feel badly about them, I deleted tweets.”
She finally relented.
“Senator, I must have meant them,” she said. “But I really regret them.”
More news, tweets, videos, etc in the comments. Sure Happy It’s Thursday!
I’ll start with this little clip:
Free drinks!
Mocktail 2020-08-26 210558.jpg
Greetings Birdies,
I heard somewhere there’s a final football game this season. Oh yeah. The Super Bowl.
Happy Super Sunday everyone!! Today is a good day, so let’s be happy and make someone feel loved. #SuperBowl #sundayvibes #SuperBowl2021 pic.twitter.com/zH4j7pkFBI
— Stephanie (@stephanieck72) February 7, 2021
As the game doesn’t come on until 6:30 ET, there’s other news this Sunday.
It cannot be overstated how powerful it will be if Amazon workers in Alabama vote to form a union. They are taking on powerful anti-union forces in a strong anti-union state, but their victory will benefit every worker in America. I’m proud to stand with them. https://t.co/3JtUeAzJOY
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) February 7, 2021
More news, videos, tweets, etc in the comments.
We’ll start with Stephen Colbert’s interview with Bernie Sanders last night on The Late Show. There are 2-3 segments, in which Bernie got about 20 minutes altogether. Among the topics: the experience of the riot in the Capitol building, Biden’s America Rescue being introduced, and how to reach Trumpers.
Here’s the first one. Bernie’s introduced at the 2:30 mark.
Second segment, in which at the 7:00 mark, they discuss America Resue:
And the last one:
More tweets, news, videos in the comments. TGIF – we’ll have a happy hour later if there is interest.
https://youtu.be/CL9wFhjYhmM
The House of Representatives has done its job and impeached Donald Trump on a bipartisan basis.
The Senate must now carry out its constitutional duty and convict Trump to ensure that neither he, nor any other president, can subvert our democracy again.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) January 13, 2021
10 not as terrible idiots who realize they have to work with “these” people crossed over the Potomac to impeach the worst POTUS in this century.
They recognize they have to get re-elected. And also they have to work with others, especially these representatives, the most diverse group of Dems.
Especially these guys:
Benny’s B & D is open. Have one on the house and contribute your tweet, news, video. Jukebox is welcome too, this is an open thread.
Sen. Bernie Sanders late Thursday implored President-elect Joe Biden and the incoming Democrat-controlled Congress to make a robust coronavirus relief bill containing $2,000 direct payments the “first order of business” upon taking power, warning that failure to quickly deliver real material aid in the midst of devastating crises could lead to electoral backlash on the scale of the 2010 midterms.
“Remember what happened in 2010? Democrats got wiped out,” Sanders (I-Vt.), the incoming chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said in an appearance on CNN Thursday evening. “They had the power, but they did not deliver for the American people.”
To avoid a repeat of 2010—when Republicans won control of the House and gained seats in the Senate, ending a brief period of unified Democratic control during the Obama presidency—Sanders said the new Congress must urgently pursue “an aggressive agenda that says we understand that millions of people… are lining up in their cars in order to get emergency food, people can’t pay their medical bills, people are going deeper and deeper into debt, people are facing eviction.”
“We have to act and act now,” Sanders said, arguing that Democrats must be “bold in a way that we have not seen since FDR in the 1930s.”
“The first order of business, by the way,” the Vermont senator continued, “is to pass an emergency Covid-19 bill which, among many other things, says to working-class Americans, ‘We know you’re in pain, and we’re gonna get you a $2,000 check… We are on your side.'”
Watch:
"Let me just be very clear as the incoming chairman of the Senate Budget Committee: Remember what happened in 2010. Democrats got wiped out. They had the power, but they did not deliver for the American people. We must have an aggressive agenda." @BernieSanders #ChairmanSanders pic.twitter.com/QOB7rWwPrS
— People for Bernie (@People4Bernie) January 8, 2021
Sanders’ remarks came days after Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff won their runoff races in Georgia, positioning Democrats to take control of the U.S. Senate by the narrowest possible margin.
The Democratic victories in Georgia were credited in part to a last-minute push for $2,000 direct payments in the days leading up to the pivotal runoffs, an effort led by Sanders and members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
While Senate Republicans ultimately blocked Sanders’ attempt to force a vote on a House-passed bill that would have provided one-time $2,000 payments to most Americans, Warnock and Ossoff both embraced the checks on the campaign trail and slammed their GOP opponents for standing in the way of desperately needed relief. President-elect Joe Biden also backed the demand, promising that the election of Warnock and Ossoff would “put an end to the block in Washington on that $2,000 stimulus check.”
Following the Democrats’ victories, soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters Wednesday that “one of the first things that I want to do when our new senators are seated is deliver the $2,000 checks to the American families.”
The Washington Post reported Wednesday that “it’s unclear how quickly Congress could actually vote on the checks. That depends on when the elections in Georgia are certified, which could be delayed by GOP challenges, making the timing uncertain.”
The certification deadline for Georgia counties is January 15, and the state deadline is January 22—two days after Biden’s inauguration.
“Additionally, it’s not clear whether the House and Senate would vote on the checks as stand-alone legislation, or as part of a larger package that could also include items like state and local aid and an extension of unemployment benefits,” the Post noted. “Congressional aides cautioned that discussions with the Biden team over how to proceed were in early stages.”
More news, tweets, videos in the comments. TGIF!
