As, perhaps, the most progressive member of the United States Senate and as the
longest serving Independent in congressional history, I want to take this
opportunity to provide you with another of our updates as to what I am doing in
Washington and the status of my campaign for re-election.
INCOME INEQUALITY
One of the
most interesting pieces of information that I've seen in the last few weeks
comes from a recent study done by University of California economist Emmanuel
Saez. This study, based on an analysis of American tax returns, showed that in
2010, 93 percent of all new income growth went to the top one percent of
American households. Everyone else, the bottom 99 percent, divided up
the remaining seven percent.
In other words, the outrageous income and
wealth inequality in America continues to get worse. Almost all new income is
going to the wealthiest people in our country, the people who need it the
least, while the middle class continues to collapse and tens of millions of
Americans struggle daily just to put food on the table, fill up their gas tanks
to get to work and pay for their housing. We have not seen this level
of greed from the people on top in the last 100 years.
Later today, I expect that the Democratic Leadership in the Senate will bring up the "Buffet Rule" legislation. This bill is a modest effort to ensure that millionaires, who currently enjoy the lowest effective tax rate in decades, experience a tax rate that is at least the equivalent of what middle-class workers pay. Not surprisingly, it is likely that Republicans in the Senate, whose main interest in life is to represent the rich and the powerful, will move to defeat this measure.
The "Buffet Rule" is a progressive step forward,
but we must go further. Not only must we create a fair and progressive personal
income tax system, but we need to end the enormous loopholes that large and
profitable corporations currently enjoy.
CITIZENS UNITED
As a Vermonter, I am very proud to tell you that my state
is helping to lead the effort to overturn the horrendous Citizens
United Supreme Court ruling that was passed two years ago. In early March,
on Town Meeting Day, citizens in some 70 Vermont towns voted to demand that
Congress pass a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United.
Just last week our State Senate, by an overwhelming vote, did the same. Vermont
now becomes the third legislature in the country, along with those in Hawaii and
New Mexico, to demand that Congress put an end to this absurd Supreme Court
ruling which asserts that a corporation is a person and can spend as much as it
wants on political campaigns.
Citizens United is undermining
American democracy by giving enormous new power to billionaires and
corporations. I and other senators have introduced strong constitutional
amendments to overturn it, and we are gaining more and more support for this
effort throughout the country. Please study this issue and urge your local and
state governments to get involved. A strong national grass-roots movement to
get corporate money out of politics can force reluctant politicians in
Washington to do the right thing.
SAVING THE POSTAL
SERVICE
Last Thursday, demonstrations across the
country were held by postal workers, local business owners and citizens who are
concerned about proposals from the U.S. Postal Service that would downsize the
Postal Service by eliminating some 200,000 employees, shutting down 3,700 rural
post offices and hundreds of mail-processing plants and slowing down mail
delivery service.
I am very pleased that many of the postal unions are
supporting legislation that I have introduced which would protect jobs at the
Postal Service while, at the same time, change its business model so that the
USPS develops the flexibility to bring in substantially more revenue in the
digital age. The Postal Service must change, but there are ways to bring about
that change without decimating this service which is so important to the people
of our country.
It is possible that Postal Reform
legislation may be on the floor of the Senate this week. Please
contact your senators and urge them to defend the U.S. Postal Service and the
hundreds of thousands of jobs that are at stake.
END THE WAR
AGAINST WOMEN
I don't think I have to tell you that the
Republican Party is mounting a full-scale attack on women and women's rights.
In addition to their unrelenting attempts to defund Planned Parenthood,
Republicans in the Senate recently brought forth the Blunt amendment, which
would have allowed any employer to cite "moral reasons" and thereby refuse to
cover any kind of health care service -- contraception, mammograms, birth
control, HIV coverage or prenatal care -- for single mothers. Fortunately, the
measure did not pass the Senate, but only narrowly, by a vote of
51-48.
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