News July 24

Senator Sanders

Obama ‘Disingenuous’ on Student Loans President Barack Obama has teamed up with congressional Republicans to push a student loan bill that Sen. Bernie Sanders said will raise college costs for students and parents, Roll Call and the Washington Examiner reported. Sanders said it was disingenuous for the White House to tout lower rates in the bill’s first year while trying to sweep under the rug interest costs that will soon balloon, according to WCAX-TV and WPTZ-TV. LINK, VIDEO, VIDEO, LINK, LINK,

Obama Sold Out to Republicans The compromise negotiated in the Senate closely hews to what House Republicans passed earlier this year — a sticking point for Sanders and several other senators, The Associated Press reported. "At a time when Democrats control the White House and the U.S. Senate, we should not support bad legislation almost identical to that passed by a very conservative, Republican-led House," said Sanders. “Our job is to listen to the people who elected us and stand up for working families and their kids, not make their lives more difficult,” Sanders added in The Washington Post online. LINK, LINK

Rising College Costs Sen. Sanders said the current bill does nothing to address the larger issue of rising student debt loads due to skyrocketing higher education costs, the Portland (Maine) Press Herald reported. Sanders said the proposal will actually make the student financial burden worse, WAMC-FM reported. , LINK, LINK

The Sanders Amendment. In a bid to shore up Democratic support, Majority Leader Harry Reid said the Senate would vote on amendments, including one by Sen. Sanders to sunset the compromise bill in two years before interest rates are expected to rise, The Boston Globe and Rochester, N.Y., Democrat and Chronicle reported. "The idea of passing legislation that in a few years down the road is going to make the situation much worse is absolutely absurd," he said. Sanders wants to work out a better solution during the upcoming reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, Congressional Quarterly reported. LINK, LINK, LINK

Think Harder Under the Senate proposal, “today’s student borrowers would receive slightly lower rates that would be paid for by charging higher rates to future borrowers. Congress should buy … some time with a simple one- or two-year extension of the lower rate and take the time to listen to Sens. Patrick Leahy and Sanders and Rep. Peter Welch,” Scott Giles of the Vermont Student Assistance Corp. said in a Burlington Free Press column published today.LINK

Government Profits on Students Democrats in the Senate argue that the bill does nothing to end the profit center that these loans have become for the government. Sanders said that over 10 years, the government will make $184 billion in student loan profits, according to Bloomberg’s Jim Rowley. In a conference call with reporters, Education Secretary Arne Duncan called Sanders’ assertion “neither accurate nor fair,” according to a transcript posted by CQ. LINK

Domestic Spying Several Democrats and Republicans in Congress have proposed legislation to rein in National Security Agency domestic surveillance programs, reported MSNBC. Sen. Sanders put forth a proposal to restrict Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act. Sens. Patrick Leahy, Ron Wyden and Mark Udall have proposed similar changes. LINK

Transportation Spending Republican senators who voted to send an initial appropriations bill to the floor said they intended only to open a forum for debate on spending and were not acceding to a higher budget cap favored by Democrats. Sen. Sanders told CQ/Roll Call that moving to the bill was only a minor accomplishment. “What this vote indicates is that an appropriations bill coming before the United States Senate can actually be debated,” he said. “We’re dealing with an extremely low bar here.” LINK

Global Warming Sanders, addressing the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on the topic of climate change, said: "The fact is that the overwhelming majority of 98 percent of scientists who have published peer-reviewed articles believe not only that global warming is real but that it is man-made." The Caledonian-Record denies it. “Sanders may know that his 98 percent statement is false,” an editorial asserted, “but he continues to use it to advance his campaign to defeat global warming by raising gasoline, diesel, heating oil, and electricity prices paid by Vermonters.” LINK

World

Syria House and Senate intelligence committees have approved a proposal to ship weapons to opposition fighters in Syria, The Washington Post reported. Meanwhile, the Pentagon provided Congress with a detailed assessment of the nation's military options in war-torn Syria saying that heightened involvement would be expensive and with a high-risk of backfiring, The New York Times reported. LINK

LINK

Iraq Jailbreaks Al Qaeda claimed credit Tuesday for this week's assaults on two Iraqi prisons, reported The New York Times. The terror group said 500 prisoners had escaped, a number contested by Iraqi officials who reported that 800 fled and 400 had been recaptured or killed. LINK

Austerity Linked to Rising Debt Struggling European countries which undertook austerity programs are still seeing their debt loads rise, according to The Huffington Post. In many cases, austerity measures lowered tax revenue and raised the cost of government services for the poor and unemployed. LINK

National

Obama Speech President Barack Obama will deliver a speech Wednesday in an effort to pivot the political debate back to the economy, ABC News reported. LINK

Revolving Door Robert S. Khuzami, a former top federal enforcer at the Securities and Exchange Commission, has joined Kirkland & Ellis, a major corporate law firm, The New York Times reported. His case exemplifies the revolving door between regulatory agencies and private industries, which critics argue undermines an agency's independence. LINK

Keystone XL Senate Republicans are threatening to push an amendment on the Keystone XL pipeline that could derail an energy efficiency bill sponsored by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Rob Portman, The Hill reported. LINK

Rich Want More Two-thirds of millionaires do not consider themselves to be wealthy, according to an investor sentiment report from UBS cited by Think Progress. Surveyed rich investors say that it takes at least $5 million to feel wealthy. LINK

Government Shutdown Senate Republicans, including two members of the leadership, are coalescing around a proposal to block any government funding resolution that includes money for the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, The Hill reported. LINK

Defense Firms Fare Well Despite significant budget cuts to defense programs with the federal sequester, The Washington Post reported that the nation's largest defense contractors are still posting massive profits. LINK

Approval of Obama, Congress Falls in New Poll Rising frustration over partisan gridlock in Washington has damaged faith both in President Barack Obama and lawmakers on Capitol Hill, with disapproval of Congress hitting an all-time high, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found. LINK

Vermont

Revenue Forecast Two economists said Vermont's revenue forecast is improving, with the general fund and transportation fund expected to be up for the next fiscal year. According to an Associated Press report, forecasts for growth remain optimistic in spite of "headwinds that exist from federal fiscal policy." LINK

Downtown Tax Credits Gov. Peter Shumlin announced Tuesday nearly $2 million in tax credits to revitalize the state's downtowns, reported The Associated Press. The tax credits will support building improvements and investments, including the reconstruction of an historic block in St. Johnsbury that was damaged by fire. LINK

F-35s In court papers, a Bristol lawyer claimed that the Air Force's new F-35 jets would bring significant enough changes to trigger a regulatory review under Act 250, the Burlington Free Press reported. City attorney Brian Dunkiel said Act 250 regulations do not apply to lands used for federal purposes. The city argues that the Vermont Air Guard base has been in continuous federal control for a federal purpose. LINK

Jim Condos Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos has been elected to a national post within the National Association of Secretaries of State, AP reported. Condos will sit on the group's executive board as it tries to promote the exchange of information between states and foster increased cooperation. LINK