( – promoted by Jack McCullough)

At Town Meeting this week, Vermonters in nearly 60 towns spoke with a clear voice when they rejected the Supreme Court’s bizarre notion that a corporation is a person. Their vote comes as the spigot of money — opened wide by Citizens United — is flooding the presidential election landscape. Unchecked spending by Super PACs is giving Americans a disturbing preview of coming attractions if this horrible decision is not overturned.

The voices of Vermonters on Town Meeting Day gave a boost to the national movement to overturn Citizens United with an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. As we work towards that goal, I am taking two concrete steps to limit the influence of Super PACs before the November elections.

First, I am calling on President Obama to use his constitutional authority to fill the five openings on the six-member Federal Election Commission (FEC) during the next recess of the United States Senate. Partisan gridlock at the FEC and in the Senate has rendered the FEC feckless at a moment when their guidance and enforcement is needed most. The very agency that is supposed to be the elections cop on the beat is paralyzed as Super PACS run amok in an election landscape muddied by Citizens United.

Second, I am calling on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to investigate whether nonprofit 501(c)(4) organizations affiliated with Super PACs are in violation of federal law. Groups qualifying for nonprofit tax-exempt status are prohibited by law from engaging in substantial political activity. Simply put, the IRS should take appropriate action against any organization masquerading as a nonprofit at the expense of the taxpayer.

Vermont has a proud history of leading the nation on issues of profound national importance. By speaking up this week on Citizens United, our small state is again assuming a leadership role on another issue of historic significance. And our voice is again being heard.

( – promoted by odum)

I noted with interest the views of Green Mountain Daily contributors regarding a letter I recently signed to the so-called congressional Super Committee, which is charged with getting the federal debt under control.  I signed this letter because I am working hard to preserve vital human service programs and rebuild our struggling economy.  
 
Specifically, I signed it for three reasons:  
 
1) Those of us concerned about ensuring economic security and maintaining vital human services programs need to step into the fray as the committee seeks consensus.  A failure to do so will lead to decisions made about the future of Medicare and other important programs without progressive voices offering alternatives.  My view is one shared by Nancy Pelosi and other leading progressive voices in Congress like Peter DeFazio, Emmanuel Cleaver, and Jared Polis.
 
For example, rather than cutting Medicare benefits, we should be urging the committee to adopt reforms that will make Medicare sustainable for current recipients and future generations.  We should empower the federal government to negotiate with big pharmaceutical companies over the price of Medicare prescription drugs.  Right now, due to a deal the Tom Delay Congress struck with Pharma, the federal government is explicitly forbidden from using its bulk purchasing power to get a better deal for seniors and taxpayers.  Doing so would save $160 billion over the next 10 years.  We should also root out widespread Medicare fraud by assigning a U.S. attorney to every congressional district to stop unscrupulous actors in the health care industry from taking advantage of seniors to illegally line their pockets.  Finally, we should adopt a more sustainable provider payment system pioneered by Vermont that rewards health care providers for good health outcomes rather than for the number procedures they can perform.
 
2) The letter calls for the committee to take a balanced approach that includes sacrifice from those who can most afford it.  Allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire would save $4 trillion over ten years. Freeing themselves from the handcuffs of the Grover Norquist anti-tax pledge, 40 Republicans signed this letter in the face of rabid Tea Party opposition.  That is a gutsy move that I hope will lead to far less pressure to slash vital human services programs.
 
3) A failure of the Super Committee to reach agreement by November 23 will trigger automatic and indiscriminate across-the-board cuts in the very programs we have fought to create and fund over the years, including education, child care, child nutrition, health care, and the environment.  That is an unacceptable outcome.
 
While I can't predict the outcome of this debate, I am certain of two things:  1) the debt problem facing this country is real and a threat to the job security and prosperity of every American, and 2) as Vermont's sole representative in the House, it is my job in this debate to try to preserve programs important to vulnerable Vermonters, ensure that those who can afford to contribute to a solution do so, and create good jobs for working Americans.  
 
Peter Welch

( – promoted by odum)

Needless to say, we’re not there yet. But by sending the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights to President Obama’s desk for signature today, we’ve made real progress – progress in limiting the arbitrary and capricious tactics credit card companies use against consumers and progress in making clear to the industry that it is on thin ice.

GMD readers know as well as anybody that credit card companies have been taking us to the cleaners for too long. They’ve fought every reform we’ve proposed tooth and nail. And until President Obama took office, they’ve had a regulator who looked the other way. Today we made it very clear that those days are over.

My only regret about today’s vote is that Sen. Sanders and I weren’t able to amend the bill to cap interest rates at a reasonable level. As I wrote in the Free Press last month, the 30 percent rates these companies charge would make the Mafia blush. Though we weren’t able to cap interest rates in this bill, believe me, we’re going to keep pushing for it.

Credit card companies can consider this a shot across the bow.