Thank you very much for visiting my campaign web-site. As Vermont’s senator, as one of the most progressive members of Congress and as the longest serving Independent in American history, I am helping to lead the fight against the Big Money interests in Washington.
At the same time, working with activists in Vermont and across the country, we are hard at work building a strong grass-roots movement which is attempting to change our national priorities. As someone who does not accept corporate PAC money, I very much appreciate the help that tens of thousands of Americans have given my campaign.
Without that grass-roots support I would not have made it to the Senate.
As you know, the United States today faces the most serious set of crises since the Great Depression. Almost 17% of our workers are either unemployed or under-employed, 46 million Americans lack health insurance while health care costs soar, global warming threatens the planet, our infrastructure is collapsing, we continue to fight two wars and middle class families are finding harder and harder to afford college or childcare. Meanwhile, largely as a result of Bush’s policies, we have a $12 trillion national debt and record-breaking deficits.
Here is a very brief overview of some of the issues that I am working on. WALL STREET AND THE ECONOMY: The greed, recklessness and illegal behavior of a number of huge Wall Street financial institutions has driven this country into the worst economic decline since the Great Depression. I have recently introduced legislation that would break up these giant Wall Street entities. In my view, if a financial institution is “too big too fail, than it is too big too exist.” This bill also addresses the very serious problem of the concentration of ownership within the financial industry where four major banks write half the mortgages, issues two out of three credit cards and control more than forty percent of bank deposits. I have also introduced legislation which would put a cap on credit interest rates and bring transparency to the Fed.
HEALTH CARE: In my view, the only way that the United States will ever achieve universal, comprehensive and cost-effective health care is through a Medicare for All – Single-Payer system. And that is why, for the first time ever, I brought that legislation to the floor of the Senate. The recent health care bill signed into law by President Obama is in my view a step forward, but much more must be done to make sure quality health care is available to every American, regardless of income. I was pleased that my effort to significantly expand funding for primary health care, through the federally qualified health care center program and the National Health Service Corps, was part of the new law. Additionally I was successful in securing language that gives those states that want to go forward with a single-payer approach the option to do so.
GLOBAL WARMING: As the Chairman of the Green Jobs Subcommittee and a member of both the Environmental Committee and the Energy Committee, I am working hard to break our nation’s dependency on fossil fuels, move this country into energy efficiency and sustainable energy and, in the process, create millions of good paying jobs. I have authored several major pieces of legislation which are now providing billions for the creation of wind, solar, bio-mass and geo-thermal projects. I am working hard with Vermont communities to maintain our position as the leading state in the country in terms of energy efficiency.
FOREIGN POLICY: As one of the leaders in Congress in opposing the war in Iraq, I worry very much about the direction we appear to be going in Afghanistan. The last thing in the world we need is to get bogged down in Afghanistan in a never-ending war which causes the loss of more and more lives and more and more money. I will do my best to bring our troops home from both Iraq and Afghanistan as soon as possible.
And these are really just a few of the issues that my office is working on.
It goes without saying that, when I come up for re-election in 2012, I will be on the hit-list of the Republican Party and well-funded special interests. Please help our re-election effort. If you live in Vermont, tell us what volunteer role you would like to play. We have begun doing some political meetings around the state and could use your help. If you live outside of Vermont, please make a campaign contribution. It’s important that we have the financial resources to respond to the lies and distortions that are sure to come.
Once again, thanks for visiting my campaign web-site. Please stay in touch.
WALL STREET AND THE ECONOMY: The greed, recklessness and illegal behavior of a number of huge Wall Street financial institutions has driven this country into the worst economic decline since the Great Depression. I have recently introduced legislation that would break up these giant Wall Street entities. In my view, if a financial institution is “too big too fail, than it is too big too exist.” This bill also addresses the very serious problem of the concentration of ownership within the financial industry where four major banks write half the mortgages, issues two out of three credit cards and control more than forty percent of bank deposits. I have also introduced legislation which would put a cap on credit interest rates and bring transparency to the Fed.
HEALTH CARE: In my view, the only way that the United States will ever achieve universal, comprehensive and cost-effective health care is through a Medicare for All – Single-Payer system. And that is why, for the first time ever, I brought that legislation to the floor of the Senate. The recent health care bill signed into law by President Obama is in my view a step forward, but much more must be done to make sure quality health care is available to every American, regardless of income. I was pleased that my effort to significantly expand funding for primary health care, through the federally qualified health care center program and the National Health Service Corps, was part of the new law. Additionally I was successful in securing language that gives those states that want to go forward with a single-payer approach the option to do so.
GLOBAL WARMING: As the Chairman of the Green Jobs Subcommittee and a member of both the Environmental Committee and the Energy Committee, I am working hard to break our nation’s dependency on fossil fuels, move this country into energy efficiency and sustainable energy and, in the process, create millions of good paying jobs. I have authored several major pieces of legislation which are now providing billions for the creation of wind, solar, bio-mass and geo-thermal projects. I am working hard with Vermont communities to maintain our position as the leading state in the country in terms of energy efficiency. 
FOREIGN POLICY: As one of the leaders in Congress in opposing the war in Iraq, I worry very much about the direction we appear to be going in Afghanistan. The last thing in the world we need is to get bogged down in Afghanistan in a never-ending war which causes the loss of more and more lives and more and more money. I will do my best to bring our troops home from both Iraq and Afghanistan as soon as possible.