Bernie Sanders

Bernie (Bernard) Sanders is an openly socialist Independent member of the United States Senate, representing Vermont. Sen. Sanders was born in 1941 in Brooklyn, New York. He is the son of Jewish Polish immigrants. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006 after serving 16 years in the United States House of Representatives. He is married to Jane O'Meara Sanders.^[1]

Sanders graduated from the University of Chicago with a B.A. in political science in 1964. Then he moved to Vermont, where he worked as a carpenter, filmmaker, writer and researcher, among other jobs, before starting his political career.

Socialists Gather for Amazon Unionizing Rally

Socialist Alternative NC Triangle Facebook Post Dated April 22, 2022

An X post dated April 23, 2022 by the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill branch of Socialist Alternative^[2],^[3] and Facebook Post^[4],^[5]

"Join ALU and Amazon workers THIS SUNDAY at 3:30 pm either in-person or virtually on the Socialist Alternative Facebook as they hold a rally in advance of this critical vote. Hear from Kshama Sawant, Bernie Sanders, Teamsters President Sean O'Brien and ATA-CWA President Sara Nelson, members of ALU and other workers as they discuss the weight of the [LDJ5 Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York] LDJ5 vote and how to beat Amazon AGAIN on Staten Island!"

Founders of Progressive International

In 2018 DiEM25 teams up with The Sanders Institute to launch the Progressive International.

DiEM25 is teaming up with The Sanders Institute to launch the Progressive International, a movement that will mobilise people around the world behind a shared vision of democracy, prosperity, sustainability, and solidarity.

The announcement will take place at The Sanders Institute Gathering in Burlington, Vermont (November 29 – December 1 2018), which will bring together an array of activists, thinkers and politicians to discuss pressing issues like climate change, workers rights, and healthcare.

DiEM25’s Yanis Varoufakis will participate in an international roundtable with Bernie Sanders (Vermont Senator), Niki Ashton (Member of Canadian Parliament), and David McWilliams (Irish author and economist) that will discuss the need for international cooperation in an age of rising authoritarianism.

Following the roundtable discussion, The Sanders Institute Founder and Fellow Jane Sanders will join Yanis Varoufakis in issuing an ‘Open Call’ to progressives around the world, inviting individuals and organisations to join as signatories.

It is time for progressives of the world to unite. Join us. Join Progressive International.^[6]

Presidential campaigns

For more information to Bernie Sanders Presidential Campaign 2016 and People for Bernie, Women for Bernie and Labor for Bernie.

For Bernie Sanders Presidential Campaign 2020.

Early life

Born in Brooklyn, Bernie Sanders was the younger of two sons in a modest-income family. After graduation from the University of Chicago^[7]in 1964, he moved to Vermont, where he worked as a carpenter, filmmaker, writer and researcher, among other jobs, before starting his political career. Early in his career, Sanders was director of the American People’s Historical Society. Elected Mayor of Burlington by 10 votes in 1981, he served four terms. Before his 1990 election as Vermont’s at-large member in Congress, Sanders lectured at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and at Hamilton College in upstate New York.

Student activism

Early 1960s arrest Chicago

After one year at Brooklyn College, Sanders spent four years at the University of Chicago, where he joined the Young Peoples Socialist League, youth wing of the Socialist Party USA, the Congress of Racial Equality and the Student Peace Union. He also worked briefly for the communist led United Packinghouse Workers Union. At the end of his junior year Sanders worked in a mental hospital in California as part of a project for the American Friends Service Committee.^[8]

Pro-Soviet kibbutz

Yossi Melman, a longtime Haaretz writer, remembers an interview he did with Bernie Sanders in 1990, the year he was elected to represent Vermont in the House. Sanders said he had spent several months in 1963 working on Kibbutz Sha’ar Ha’amakim, near Haifa in northern Israel, as a guest of the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement.

The movement, whose Hebrew name translates to “The Young Guard,” was a socialist, Zionist secular Jewish youth group founded in 1913 in Galicia, Austria-Hungary, and shared the name of a workers’ party in pre-1948 Palestine. The original 1990 article was titled “The First Socialist” and said that after spending time on the kibbutz with his wife at that time, Mr. Sanders seems to have lost his connection “to Israel, Zionism and Judaism,”

Mr. Sanders’ brother, Larry Sanders, who recently failed in his bid for the British Parliament (standing for the Green Party), also spent time on two communal farms, in Kibbutz Matzuva (in western Galilee) and Kibbutz Yotvata (in the southern Negev), Haaretz reported.

According to New Yorker Albert Ely, who is 79 and once managed the orchard, on Sha’ar Ha’amakim, “you care about your brother or your neighbor or whoever it is.” The kibbutz was founded in Romania in 1929 and established in pre-state Israel in 1935. It saw the Soviet Union as a model, and often flew the red flag at outdoor events.

“I know that we left an imprint on those people,” Mr. Ely said. “The imprint was believe in people, and be responsible for them. Not only for yourself.”

Volunteers would work for six hours in the morning, usually in agriculture, and then partake in cultural events in the afternoon.^[9]

Kibbutz Sha'ar Ha'amakim had been co-founded by Aharon Cohen, the Arabist, who was a regular critic of Israel and opponent of its policy. He was arrested for spying for the USSR in the 50s.

Hashomer Hatzair was a Marxist organization. While the USSR purged most Zionist and Jewish groups, they waited until 1927 to ban Hashomer Hatzair making them the last group to be outlawed. Other left-wing groups described them as Leninist and even Stalinist.

Stalinist

The commune's founder, Ya'akov Hazan, described the Soviet Union as a second homeland and eulogized Stalin, writing how shocked he and his comrades were, "to hear of the terrible tragedy that has befallen the nations of the Soviet Union, the world proletariat and all of progressive mankind, upon the death of the great leader and extolled commander, Josef Vissarionovich Stalin. We lower our flag in grief in memory of the great revolutionary fighter, architect of socialist construction, and leader of the world's peace movement. His huge historical achievements will guide generations in their march towards the reign of socialism and communism the world over."

Al Hamishmar, the movement's paper, had a headline which read, "The Progressive World Mourns the Death of J.V. Stalin"

While Hashomer Hatzair is described as Marxist-Zionist, its own position was Marxist, not Zionist. Like American Communists, it was the Communist part that mattered. Not the American part. Hashomer Hatzair contended that its cooperation with Zionists was a temporary expedient that would pave the way for a revolution.

It viewed Israel's independence as a transitional phase that would end up with a bi-national Socialist state that would destroy Israel.

Eliezer Hacohen, one of Hashomer Hatzair's ideological leaders, said, "Marxism was the key to renewing our spiritual creativity." Hashomer Hatzair pledged its allegiance to the Soviet Union.

As late as 1969, well after Bernie's 1963 visit, Dissent was describing Hashomer Hatzair kibbutzim as "Stalinist".

Western lefties with a Hashomer Hatzair background include Noam Chomsky. Chomsky wrote that he was fairly close to "Hashomer Hatzair, but couldn't join because it was split between Stalinists and Trotskyites."

Bernie Sanders wasn't there because he liked Israel. Hashomer Hatzair did not like Israel. It ultimately wanted to destroy it. He was there because he was far left. Perhaps even further left than he has admitted.^[10]

Civil rights activism

Sanders volunteered with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) as a student at the University of Chicago. He participated in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. He endorsed Jesse Jackson during his 1988 bid for the presidency.^[11]

Vermont activism

Sanders moved to Vermont in the mass migration of hippies and anti-Vietnam War activists in the mid-1960s. He worked as a carpenter and journalist, was married and fathered a son, Levi Sanders . In 1971, he became a candidate for the U.S. Senate for the far-left Liberty Union Party -- an alternative to the Democratic and Republican parties. Sanders picked up 2 percent of the vote.

Sanders ran as candidate for Liberty Union three more times, achieving 6 percent of the vote before finally quitting. Sanders promoted programs that included nationalizing all U.S. banks, public ownership of all utilities, ending compulsory education and establishing a worker-controlled government.^[12]

Peter Diamondstone, socialist co-founder of the Vermont-based Liberty Union Party that gave Bernie Sanders his first exposure to politics in the 1970s claims that “In 1980 Sanders wanted to be connected to a socialist name. He asked me to talk to the Socialist Party about getting him the vice presidential nomination and I did but it was too late, they already nominated” someone else.

In 1977 Sanders quit the Liberty Unity Party.^[13]

Letter to Thatcher

In May 1981 Mayor Bernie Sanders and Councillor Terrill Bouricius wrote a letter to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher over treatment of Irish Republican Army prisoners.

FBI interest

The FBI took an interest in Bernie Sanders' socialist views in 1981.

Socialist Party endorsement

The national Socialist Party USA endorsed Sanders in his 1996 bid for Congress, but when the Socialist presidential ticket of Mary Cal Hollis and Eric Chester went to Vermont to campaign, they denounced Sanders and turned their backs on their own party’s endorsement of him.

“That was a big break in the Socialist Party,” Peter Diamondstone remembered. “A big rift.”^[14]

Becoming a Democrat

According to Peter Diamondstone;

“In ’84 he became a full-time Democrat. People say he was an independent. That’s probably how he got into the Democratic caucus in Congress. When he first applied, the caucus said it’s up to your state committee and the state committee of the Democratic Party said NO. So he went to Leahy and Dean. They had a backroom deal. Nobody knows what the deal was. We hear rumors about it,” said Diamondstone. “When he campaigned for Mondale I followed him around and opposed him. My leaflet referred to him as a quisling. At that point it was no longer a friendly rivalry. It was a rift that divided us never to be healed to this day.”^[15]

All in the family

Bernie Sanders used campaign donations to pay his wife and stepdaughter more than $150,000 for campaign-related work since 2000, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Jane O'Meara Sanders, his second wife for the past 20 years, is president of Burlington College. They have four adult children. Jane Sanders received $91,020 between 2002 and 2004 for "consultation" and to negotiate the purchase of television ând radio time-slots for Sanders' advertisements, according to records and interviews.

Approximately $61,000 of that was "pass-through" money that was used to pay media outlets for advertising time, Jane O'Meara Sanders said in an interview.

The rest, about $30,000, she kept as payment for her services, she said. Carina Driscoll, daughter to Jane O'Meara Sanders and Bernie's stepdaughter, who had been a member of Burlington City Council, picked up $65,002 in "wages" between 2000 and 2004, campaign records show. She had been her stepfather's campaign manager in 2000, his fundraiser and office manager in 2003; she was his database manager in 2004.^[16]

Backing Andrew Pulley

According to Greg Guma, “I think I’d make a good candidate,” said Bernie Sanders. We were sitting across a small table in the Fresh Ground Coffee House, the same place the FBI had labeled a “known contact point” for extremists a few years earlier. As far as I knew no spooks were listening.

In October 1980, most people were focused on the presidential race between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. But a few of us were looking beyond the two-party system. Sanders supported Socialist Workers Party candidate Andrew Pulley, on the Vermont ballot that year along with four other “minor” party hopefuls. Greg Guma backed Barry Commoner, who had formed the Citizens Party a year earlier. ^[17]

Foreign policy

In his 1997 memoir, Outsider in the House, Sanders asked, “how many cities of 40,000 [like Burlington] have a foreign policy? Well, we did.”

Soviet flag

Sanders hung the Soviet flag in the mayoral office in Burlington, to honor the city's Soviet sister city Yaroslav.^[18]

1983 war against Nicaragua was illegal and immoral

Bernie Sanders supported the Nicaraguan Sandinistas;

Many Burlingtonians, including myself, supported the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. President Reagan did not. We disagreed with him. We expressed our displeasure.

Somewhere in the Reagan archives, or wherever these things are kept, is a letter from the mayor of Burlington on this subject. There are also official proclamations from the Burlington Board of Alderman, made after long and emotional public hearings. "Stop the war against the people of Nicaragua! Use our tax dollars to feed the hungry and house the homeless. Stop killing the innocent people of Nicaragua."

This was an issue that many of us in the progressive movement felt very strongly about. Not only was the war against Nicaragua illegal and immoral, it was an outrageous waste of taxpayer money. As a mayor, I wanted more federal funds for affordable housing and economic development. I did not want to see taxpayer dollars going to the CIA for an appalling war. ^[19]

Nicaragua visit

In 1985, while mayor of Burlington, Sanders celebrated the sixth anniversary of the Sandinista victory in Managua, with Daniel Ortega.^[20]

Sanders was the highest-ranking American official to visit Nicaragua at the time, and met with President Daniel Ortega. In his book, he called the trip “profoundly emotional” and praised Ortega. Burlington and Managua, Nicaragua’s capital, became sister cities.^[21]

Reflecting on the tour of revolutionary Nicaragua, Sanders marveled that he was, “believe it or not, the highest ranking American official” to attend a parade celebrating the Sandinista seizure of power.^[22]

Meeting Ortega

In 1985 Sanders travelled to New York City to meet with Daniel Ortega just weeks after Nicaragua imposed a “state of emergency” that resulted in mass arrests of regime critics and the shuttering of opposition newspapers and magazines. While liberal critics of Reagan’s Nicaraguan policy rounded on the Sandinistas (talk-show host Phil Donahue told Ortega that his actions looked “fascist”), Sanders refused to condemn the decision. He was “not an expert in Nicaragua” and “not a Nicaraguan,” he said during a press conference. “Am I aware enough of all the details of what is going on in Nicaragua to say ‘you have reacted too strongly?’ I don’t know…” But of course he did know, later saying that the Sandinistas’ brutal crackdown “makes sense to me.” ^[23]

Anti-American rally

In July 1985, Bernie Sanders traveled to Nicaragua, where he attended an event that one wire report dubbed an “anti-U.S. rally.”

The leftist Sandinista government was celebrating the sixth anniversary of the revolution that saw it take power from an American-backed dictator, Anastasio Somoza. Sanders was in a crowd estimated at a half million people, many of whom were clad in the Sandinistas’ trademark red-and-black colors and chanting “Here, there, everywhere/the Yankee will die.”

Onstage, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega accused the U.S. government of “state terrorism” for supporting the rebels who were seeking to overthrow him. The Sandinistas and the CIA-backed Contras would fight into the next decade, with allegations of human rights abuses on both sides. At the 1985 rally Sanders attended, Ortega vowed the Sandinistas would “defend the revolution with guns in hand.”

Sanders was being hosted by the Sandinistas as part of a delegation of American “solidarity groups.” He told reporters their decision to show “support” for the Nicaraguan government was “patriotic.”

“We want to show support for a small country trying to be independent, and we want to tell the truth to the American people when we return,” Sanders said.^[24]

A "lesson"

Sanders thought Managua’s Marxist-Leninist clique had much to teach Burlington: “Vermont could set an example to the rest of the nation similar to the type of example Nicaragua is setting for the rest of Latin America.”^[25]

Nora Astorga

In 1987 Sanders hosted Sandinista politician Nora Astorga in Burlington, a woman notorious for a Mata Hari-like guerilla operation that successfully lured Gen. Reynaldo Perez-Vega, a high-ranking figure in the Somoza dictatorship, to her apartment with promises of sex. Perez-Vega’s body was later recovered wrapped in a Sandinista flag, his throat slit by his kidnappers. When Astorga died in 1988 from cervical cancer, Sanders took the occasion to publicly praise Astorga as “a very, very beautiful woman” and a “very vital and beautiful woman...”^[26]

Honeymoon in the Soviet Union

Sanders honeymooned in the Soviet Union. Sanders married his current wife, Jane, in May of 1988 and the next day left for their “romantic honeymoon” to Yaroslavl, in the then-Soviet Union. The trip was an official delegation from Burlington to cement the two cities’ sister-city relationship. “Trust me. It was a very strange honeymoon,” Sanders writes.^[27]

Cuba

He also visited Cuba with Jane in 1989 and tried to meet with Fidel Castro, but it didn’t work out and he met with the mayor of Havana and other officials instead.

The trip was organized by the Center for Cuban Studies, a pro-Castro group based in New York, hoping to come away with a “balanced” picture of the communist dictatorship. The late, legendary Vermont journalist Peter Freyne sighed that Sanders “came back singing the praises of Fidel Castro.”

“I think there is tremendous ignorance in this country as to what is going on in Cuba,” Sanders told The Burlington Free Press before he left. It’s a country with “deficiencies,” he acknowledged, but one that has made “enormous progress” in “improving the lives of poor people and working people.” When he returned to Burlington, Sanders excitedly reported that Cuba had “solved some very important problems” like hunger and homelessness. “I did not see a hungry child. I did not see any homeless people,” he told the Free Press. “Cuba today not only has free healthcare but very high quality healthcare.”

Sanders had a hunch that Cubans actually appreciated living in a one-party state. “The people we met had an almost religious affection for [Fidel Castro]. The revolution there is far deep and more profound than I understood it to be. It really is a revolution in terms of values.” It was a conclusion he had come to long before visiting the country. Years earlier Sanders said something similar during a press conference: “You know, not to say Fidel Castro and Cuba are perfect—they are certainly not—but just because Ronald Reagan dislikes these people does not mean to say the people in these nations feel the same.”

Sanders recalled “being very excited when Fidel Castro made a revolution in Cuba” in 1959. “It just seemed right and appropriate that poor people were rising up against a lot of ugly rich people.” In an interview with The Progressive, almost 30 years later, Sanders was still expressing admiration for the Cuban dictatorship: “And what about Cuba? It’s not a perfect society, I grant, but there aren’t children there going hungry. It’s been more successful than almost any other developing country in providing health care for its people. And the Cuban revolution is only 30 years old. It may get even better.” ^[28]

Sanders is proud of Burlington’s international diplomacy efforts. “Burlington had a foreign policy because, as progressives, we understood that we all live in one world,” he writes.^[29]

Revolutionary arts

Through the Mayor’s Council on the Arts, Sanders tried to bring some revolutionary third-worldism to Vermont when he funded cable-access television that showed “films from Cuba [and] daily television fare from Nicaragua.” At a press conference, Sanders highlighted the grants that allowed the importation of “films produced in Nicaragua, that appear on Nicaraguan [state] television, on Channel 15. We have films from Cuba on Channel 15.”^[30]

Radical connections

As a mayor, Sanders made forays into foreign policy that included meetings with representatives of hostile nations, rebel groups and Canadian separatists. ^[31]

I.F.Stone's endorsement letter

In October 1988, journalist I. F. Stone, a former secret Communist Party USA member and Soviet agent, wrote a letter endorsing Burlington mayor Bernie Sanders' congressional run.

Dear Friend,

I've been politically active all my life. I was a member of the Executive Committee of the Socialist Party in New Jersey, before I was old enough to vote.

Now I'd like to ask you to join me in a historic step forward in American politics. My favorite Mayor -- Bernie Sanders of Burlington, Vermont -- is running for Congress, and with our help he can win an unprecedented victory for us all.

Bernie is a unique figure in our political system. He's an unapologetic socialist who has been elected Mayor of Vermont's largest city four times. He has proved that a socialist, running as an Independent against the combined opposition of Republicans and Democrats, can be successful by speaking out for working people, the elderly and the poor.

Under Bernie's leadership, Burlington has become a vibrant, innovative city, nationally recognized for its accomplishments. The U. S. Conference of Mayors recently gave it the "Most Liveable City" award, and even the conservative U.S. News and World Report has spotlighted Bernie as one of the country's Top Twenty Mayors (December 21, 1987).

Bernie has been a leader in the struggle for peace and justice . His activism was instrumental in Vermont's strong support of the Nuclear Freeze in its town meetings in 1982. He has traveled to Nicaragua to speak out against the Reagan Administration's war, and to establish a Sister City relation between Burlington and Puerto Cabezas. More recently, he went to the Soviet Union to set up a Sister City program with Yaroslavl.

While socialism has a long and proud history in America, extending back to the utopian experiments of the early 1800s, it's been a long time since we've had a socialist voice in Congress. Not since Victor Berger of Milwaukee in the twenties , has the debate gone beyond the limits set by the conventional two-party system.

Having Bernie in Washington will widen out the limits of political discussion. He'll speak up loudly, as he has in Vermont, for real alternatives. He'll show that we need a pragmatic socialism to deal with the grave problems of our economic system.

I.F. STONE

Addressed Communist Party USA, front meeting

An ad/notice was placed in the Guardian, November 8, 1989, concerning an upcoming U.S. Peace Council national conference. The text of the notice was:

"End The Cold War Fund Human Needs" U.S. Peace Council's Tenth Anniversary National Conference - Boston, Mass., Nov. 10-12, 1989

Speakers Included:^[32]

Leslie Cagan
Rep.John Conyers - (D-Mich)
Prof.Gerald Horne
Prof. Michio Kaku
Robert Krimsky
Prof. Manning Marable
Jack O'Dell - Rainbow Coalition Operation PUSH
Dennis Rivera - Local 1199 Drug & Hospital Workers Union
Angela Sanbrano- CISPES
Bernie Sanders
Holly Sklar
Zehdi Terzi - Palestine Liberation Organisation
Dessima Williams - Grenada Foundation
Gunther Drefahl of the East German “Peace Council also spoke.^[33]

Six Workshops include:

Saving the Environment/Redirecting National Priorities/Converting the Economy to Civilian Production/World Without Intervention/New Thinking on Disarmament/Human Rights as a Peace issue.

Registration: $25.000 - Contact: U.S. Peace Council, 11 John Street/Ste. 806, New York, NY, 10038, tel. 212-962-0480

Election to Congress

In 1990 Sanders was elected to Congress from Vermont, as a socialist, on a third party ticket. At the time Sanders was a leading member of the National Rainbow Coalition. He was supported by the AFL-CIO, environmentalists, anti-Apartheid activists and Democratic Party leaders.^[34]

CPC founders

The Congressional Progressive Caucus was founded in 1991 by freshman Congressman Bernie Sanders. Sanders' CPC co-founders included House members Ron Dellums, Lane Evans, Tom Andrews, Peter DeFazio, and Maxine Waters.

1993 NCIPA National Steering Committee

As of Spring 1993, the National Committee for Independent Political Action Steering Committee included Bernie Sanders.

Socialist Scholars Conference 1990

The Socialist Scholars Conference 1990, held September 6-8, at the Hotel Commodore, New York, included panels such as:^[35]

The Democratic Party and Electoral Strategy for the Left

Sponsor: Democratic Socialists of America
Bernie Sanders, former mayor, Burlington, Vermont
Jim Shoch, former Democratic Socialists of America Director
Christine Riddiough, Democratic Socialists of America Vice Chair; former Director National Gay and Lesbian Clubs

Socialist Scholars Conference 1992

Speakers at the Opening Plenary at the Tenth Annual Socialist Scholars Conference, Whose New World Order? included Bernie Sanders, Member of Congress, Vermont, Joseph S. Murphy, Political Science, CUNY Graduate Center, Dennis Rivera, President, SEIU Local 1199 Health & Hospital Workers Union and Ellen Willis, author, Beginning to See the Light. The conference was held April 24-26, 1992 at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, New York City^[36]

Socialist Scholars 1997

In March 28-30 1997 Democratic Socialists of America convened their annual Socialist Scholars Conference at Borough of Manhattan Community College, New York.

The conference was themed "Radical alternatives on the eve of the millenium".

Invitees were asked to join Doug Henwood, Robert Heilbroner, Paul Sweezy, Harry Magdoff, Bill Tabb, Frances Fox Piven, Robert Fitch, Jane Slaughter and Ellen Meiksins Wood "as they debate changes in the labor movement, Marxist theory, the state of the economy, market socialism, and other areas where theory and practice meet".

Or "listen to the United States' only independent and socialist congressman", Rep. Bernie Sanders, "dialogue with" Joel Rogers of the New Party and In These Times' ....Salim Muwakkil on independent politics..^[37].

Anti NAFTA Bill

In 1995 Marcy Kaptur, Peter DeFazio, Nydia Velasquez, Gene Taylor and Bernie Sanders co-sponsored a Bill, to force the US to withdraw from NAFTA within 90 days. The bill was unsuccessful. ^[38]

"The Progressive Challenge: Capitol Hill Forum"

On January 9, 1997, over 600 people attended "The Progressive Challenge: Capitol Hill Forum" sponsored by the House Progressive Caucus, Democratic Socialists of America, and a host of other progressive organizations.

The primary goal of this day-long "kick-off" forum was to "identify the unifying values shared by progressives at this point in US history, to help define core elements of a forward-looking progressive agenda, and to pinpoint ways to connect that agenda with the concerns of millions of disillusioned people who lack voices in present politics and policy-making."

After a welcome by Representative Bernie Sanders, an impressive array of legislators, activists, and thinkers offered their insights. Senator Paul Wellstone, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Patricia Ireland of NOW, Richard Trumka of theAFL-CIO, Noam Chomsky, William Greider of Rolling Stone, and DSA Honorary Chair Barbara Ehrenreich were among the many who spoke.

Some emphasized the importance of the conventional, if difficult, process of progressive candidates building grassroots campaigns that treat voters with intelligence and challenge prevailing wisdom regarding what values and issues motivate ordinary Americans struggling to make ends meet-as opposed to using polls and focus groups to concoct "designer" campaigns to appeal to upscale "soccer moms." Other speakers reminded those present that great changes are made by people acting outside of the corridors of power to define justice and "political reality," and the electoral and legislative processes are not the only arenas worthy of activists' attention.^[39]

Progressive State of the Union Address, 1999

January 19, 1999, members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and Institute for Policy Studies, talked about issues that they are planning to address in the upcoming year, at the Progressive State of the Union Address. Some of the issues they intend to address are poverty in the United States, national defense, the global economy, Medicare, and education. Rep. Conyers stated that the House disregarded the views the majority of the American people when the House impeached the president.

Speakers were Tammy Baldwin [D] Wisconsin, John Cavanagh Co-Director Institute for Policy Studies, John Conyers, [D] Michigan, Peter DeFazio [D] Oregon, Karen Dolan, Coordinator Institute for Policy Studies, Earl Hilliard, [D] Alabama, Maurice Hinchey, [D] New York, Stephanie Tubbs Jones, [D] Ohio, Barbara Lee, [D] California, Jerrold Nadler, [D] New York, Grace Napolitano, [D] California, Major Owens, [D] New York, Bernie Sanders, [I] Vermont, Jan Schakowsky, [D] Illinois.^[40]

Progressive Caucus SOTU Address

On Thursday, January 27 2000, from 3:30pm to 5:00pm in 2253 of RHOB, the Congressional Progressive Caucus held its 3rd Annual Congressional Progressive Caucus' State of the Union Address. This event was also sponsored by the Institute for Policy Studies' Progressive Challenge coalition whose Fairness Agenda for America is endorsed by 200 public interest groups nationally.

Caucus Chair Rep. Peter DeFazio(D-OR) stated "The Progressive Caucus Alternative State of the Union will provide a much needed reality check to politicians who would rather ignore the priorities of Americans left out of the economic boom -- priorities like access to quality health care and education, repairing crumbling schools, addressing the growing gap between the rich and poor, and creating a sustainable global economy that works for everyone, not just the corporate architects."

Anticipated speakers included: Peter DeFazio (D-OR), House Minority Whip David Bonior (D-MI), Earl Hilliard (D-AL);Dennis Kucinich (D-OH); Cynthia McKinney (D-GA);. Major Owens (D-NY)Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Tammy Baldwin (D-WI);. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY);Barbara Lee (D-CA); Jerrold Nadler (D-NY); and Lynn Woolsey(D-CA). John Cavanagh, director of the Institute for Policy Studies also made some remarks regarding public interest groups support of a progressive agenda.^[41]

The Congressional Progressive Caucus, Chaired by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), consists of over a quarter of the House Democrats, one Independent and Senator Paul Wellstone. The Caucus will be releasing position papers on Health Care and Income Inequality, with reports on the Alternative Federal Budget, Social Security, Minimum Wage, Education and the Global Economy.

Back to Basics conference

A Back to Basics conference on the future of the American Left, was held in Chicago October 9-11, 1998. Speakers included: Sen. Paul Wellstone, Rep. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Cynthia McKinney, Barbara Dudley, Quentin Young and Jim Hightower. The conference was sponsored by Sponsored by In These Times^[42].

"Michael Harrington and Today's Other America"

In 1998, a new film based on late Democratic Socialists of America leader Michael Harrington was released. "Michael Harrington and Today's Other America-Corporate Power and Inequality" featured interviews with Bogdan Denitch, Congressman Bernie Sanders, Frances Fox Piven, John Kenneth Galbraith, Rush Limbaugh, Senate Ted Kennedy, Jim Chapin, Robert Kuttner, Charles Murray, Robert L. Hellbroner, Joanne Barkan, Joseph Murphy and Bob Herbert. ^[43]

"Jobs and Investment Bill"

On October 7, 1994, Congressional Progressive Caucus members Bernie Sanders, Maurice Hinchey, Nydia Velasquez and Major Owens, introduced the "Jobs and Investment Bill" into Congress, which would appropriate $42 billion over several years for "make work" construction and infrastructure projects.^[44]

"Living Wage, Jobs for all Act"

In 1995, Nancy Pelosi, Bernie Sanders, David Bonior, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Cynthia McKinney, Maurice Hinchey, Major Owens, Nydia Velasquez, John Conyers, Bob Filner, Alcee Hastings, Lane Evans, Edolphus Towns, Jim McDermott, supported Democratic Socialists of America member rep. Ron Dellums' "Living Wage, Jobs for all Act"

Staffer's 2000 trip to Cuba

In February 2000, Sandra Caron from the office of Congressman Bernie Sanders spent six days in Havana, Cuba, for the purpose of "fact-finding, study effects of U.S. embargo". The trip cost $1,778.47 and was paid for by the Christopher Reynolds Foundation.^[46]

Clinton/Chile letter

February 24, 2000, 31 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have sent a letter to President Clinton requesting full U.S. cooperation with the Spanish case against former Chilean General Augusto Pinochet, a thorough investigation into the car-bomb assassination of Orlando Letelier and American citizen Ronni Moffitt, and the release of all U.S. documents pertaining to human rights abuses in Chile.

Dear President Clinton,

We would like to take this opportunity to commend your Administration's recent activity concerning the ongoing investigation into former Chilean General Augusto Pinochet's role in the 1976 car bombing of Orlando Letelier and Ronni Moffitt in Washington D.C. We also appreciate your efforts to release documents pertaining to human rights abuses in Chile.

Signatories were George Miller (D-CA), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sam Gejdenson (D-CT), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), Jim McGovern (D-MA), John Conyers (D-MI), Barney Frank (D-MA), Pete Stark (D-CA), Henry Waxman (D-CA), Lane Evans (D-IL), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Maxine Waters (D-CA), Tim Roemer (D- IN), Howard Berman (D-CA), John Olver (D-MA), Mel Watt (D- NC), Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Patsy Mink (D-HI), Marcy Kaptur (D- OH), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), John Tierney (D-MA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Xavier Becerra (D-CA), Martin Sabo (D-MN), and Bob Filner (D-CA).^[47]

Ties to Democratic Socialists of America

Sanders has long standing ties to Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Sanders is a regular speaker at DSA conferences and the organization is a major fund-raiser for his campaigns.

Socialist chief of staff

In 2023 Misty Rebik was Chief of Staff for Senator Bernie Sanders.

"End the Forever War"

END THE FOREVER WAR PLEDGE

The United States has been in a state of continuous, global, open-ended military conflict since 2001. Over 2.5 million troops have fought in this “Forever War” in over a dozen countries – including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Jordan, Niger, Somalia, and Thailand. I pledge to the people of the United States of America, and to our military community in particular, that I will (1) fight to reclaim Congress’s constitutional authority to conduct oversight of U.S. foreign policy and independently debate whether to authorize each new use of military force, and (2) act to bring the Forever War to a responsible and expedient conclusion.

2020 signatories of the Common Defense pledge.

Presidential Candidates

Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Julian Castro, John Hickenlooper, Beto O'Rourke, Mike Gravel, Andrew Yang.

Rutgers conference

In 1982 Rutgers Democratic Socialists of America hosted a statewide conference October 1-2 featuring Stanley Aronowitz, Noam Chomsky, Bogdan Denitch, Kate Ellis, Michael Harrington, Frances Fox Piven, Bernie Sanders and Cornel West.^[48]

Talk on Nicaragua

Bernie Sanders addressed a Democratic Socialists of America sponsored event in Los Angeles in July 1986.

"Revolution can be done through the government"

Reading Times, 1/3/88

Bernie Sanders, Mayor of Burlington Vermont received the third annual Maurer-Stump Award from the Reading-Berks Democratic Socialists, an affiliate of Democratic Socialists of America, at a meeting at the Crystal Springs restaurant, January 1988. About 50 people attended. Michael Harrington, leader of Democratic Socialists of America, who shared the award with Sanders was unable to attend. The award was given by Robert J. Millar, chair of Reading-Berks Democratic Socialists.

Sanders told Deidre Riley of the Reading Times "Revolution can be done through the government, if you raise the right issues." ^[49]

1990 conference

In 1990 the Democratic Socialists of America Political Action Committee endorsed two Congressional candidates, "DSAer Democrat" Neil Abercrombie seeking to regain the House seat representing Honolulu and Vermont independent candidate Bernie Sanders.^[50]

1991 conference

Democratic Left, Nov./Dec. 1991

In November 1991, Sanders spoke at the Democratic Socialists of America national convention at Mundelin College, Chicago.^[51]

1995 town meeting

In 1995, DC/MD/Northern VA. Democratic Socialists of America co-sponsored the first of DSA's national series of town meetings on economic security. This hearing was held in a church on September 27 and was scheduled to feature three members of Congress: Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Maxine Waters (D-CA). ^[52]

Socialist biographer

In 1995 Stephen Soifer, author of , "The Socialist Mayor. Bernard Sanders in Burlington, Vermont", (Bergin and Garvey), was a member of Democratic Socialists of America .^[53]

1996 endorsement

In July 1996, the Democratic Socialists of America Political Action Committee endorsed Bernard Sanders, Vermont At Large, in that year's Congressional elections.^[54]

1999 keynoter

In November 1999 Bernie Sanders was keynote speaker at D.S.As national convention in San Diego. hH was introduced by local congressman Bob Filner.

DSA Banquet honor

From a Spring 2000 Democratic Left editorial;^[55]

Electoral tactics are only a means for DSA; the building of a powerful anti-corporate and ultimately socialist movement is the end. Where third party or non-partisan candidates represent significant social movements DSA locals have and will continue to build such organizations and support such candidates. DSA honored independent socialist Congressperson Bernie Sanders of Vermont at our last convention banquet, and we have always raised significant funds nationally for his electoral campaigns. .

Take Back America Conferences

Bernie Sanders was on the list of 129 speakers at the 2005 Take Back America conference, which was organized by the Institute for Policy Studies, and Democratic Socialists of America dominated Campaign for America's Future.^[56]

He was back in 2006, 2007.

Take Back the American Dream Conference 2011

Bernie Sanders was one of the 158 speakers who addressed the Take Back the American Dream Conference 2011 . The Conference was hosted by the Institute for Policy Studies, and Democratic Socialists of America dominated Campaign for America's Future, ^[57]

Democratic Socialists of America Atlanta conference

In November 2007, Rep. John Lewis was a special guest at the national Conference of Democratic Socialists of America held at the IBEW union hall in Atlanta, Georgia.^[58]

Congressman Lewis Introduced Bernie Sanders to the conference.

The program of the first Atlanta Douglass-Debs Dinner, held at the Democratic Socialists of America conference on Friday November 9 was;^[59]

Special Guest: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I- Vt.), Hon. John Lewis (D-GA)
Honorees: Charlie Flemming, North Georgia Labor Council; Alice Lovelace, Organizer, US Social Forum

Senator Bernie Sanders addressed the Convention and guests at the Atlanta local’s First Annual Douglass-Debs Dinner on November 9, 2007. From his speech to the conference;^[60]

I want to thank the DSA for the support that they gave me in the last campaign. And I want to thank DSA, not only for what they are doing today, but also for keeping alive what in my view is the most important vision that we as human beings can hold. It’s a vision that has been passed on from generation to generation, literally for thousands of years: the vision of peace, the vision of brotherhood. Nothing new; it’s in the Bible. But to remember the work, the sacrifices of people like Eugene V. Debs, Frederick Douglass, to remember Norman Thomas, Michael Harrington, and to remember a man who is buried in this city itself, one of the great Americans certainly of the 20th century, Martin Luther King Jr. And what was that vision? That radical but simple vision is solidarity. It means that all of us are in this thing called life together, that if we work together, if we share together, all of us can prosper and do well. And that when we reach out to other people, rather than to say “me, me, me,” we grow as human beings. And the vision tells us that peace is better than war, that greed should not be the dominant factor in our society today, and that people can come together beyond race and creed and country of origin to create a very different world than the world in which we are living today.

"Progressive voices in the United States Senate"

From Democratic Left, Fall 2012 page 14.

The Left must now build upon the accomplishments of Occupy. Democratic socialists must work to build a multi-racial coalition of working people, the unemployed, indebted students and the foreclosed that is capable of forcing politicians to govern democratically.

The first task of a movement to defend democracy is to work for maximum voter turnout in the 2012 election.

Building such a mass social movement for democracy is DSA’s major task; the 2012 elections are only a tactical step on that strategic path. Thus, while working to defeat the far Right, DSA and other progressive forces should work to increase the size of the Congressional Progressive, Black and Latino caucuses and to elect pro-labor candidates to state legislatures.

The election this year of Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), along with the re-election of Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), would increase the number of progressive voices in the United States Senate.

Detroit conference

Bernie Sanders, and Detroit DSA leader David Green, June 25th, 2006

Sanders addressed the Greater Detroit Democratic Socialists of America conference, June 2006.

DSA support in Senate campaign

DSA's 2005 National Conference in Los Angeles committed the organization to supporting Sanders' 2006 U.S. Senate race-and using it to recruit some new members along the way;^[61]

From now through November 2006, the Sanders for Senate campaign in Vermont will focus national media attention on the most serious socialist electoral effort in the United States since the Debsian period. Bernie Sanders has been an articulate voice for democratic socialist politics among the 435 members of the House of Representatives and has spoken at DSA events on many occasions.

Sanders would become a much more visible national spokesperson for socialist politics if and when he serves as one of 100 members of the more powerful United States Senate.

His election is by no means assured and he will need the financial and organizational help of the broad democratic left around the country. In addition, Sanders support work provides a natural vehicle in any locality for DSA to reach out to—and potentially recruit—unaffiliated socialists and independent radicals.

Thus, this convention commits itself to:

a. The national staff and NPC developing feasible, legal, ways that DSA locals, networks, individuals, and campus groups can aid the Sanders for Senate campaign.

b. The national leadership providing guidance as to how local groups engaged in aiding the Sanders campaign can utilize such efforts to recruit for and build DSA.

In 2006 Bernie Sanders received $15,387 from the Democratic Socialists of America Political Action Committee for his campaign as Independent candidate for the Vermont seat in the U.S. Senate primary and general elections.^[62]

Boston Democratic Socialists of America leader David Knuttunen and DSA National Political Committee wrote in The Yankee Radical August 2006;^[63]

So it is no surprise that DSA’s National Convention, in November 2005, voted to make support for Bernie Sanders a priority for the organization.

DSA’s staff and leadership responded to the Convention vote by forming a Political Action Committee (the Democratic Socialists of America, Inc. PAC), which then launched a project to hold house parties across the country to raise money for the Sanders Campaign. The events are organized by DSA activist volunteers, who pay the associated costs out of their own pockets —all proceeds go directly to the Sanders Campaign. The list of house party locales reminds one of the words of “Joe Hill”: “from San Diego on up to Maine...” To date, the DSA PAC campaign has resulted in events in Boston, Atlanta, Detroit, Central Ohio, Portland ME and Boulder CO. Events are being planned for San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Central Indiana, Washington DC, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York City, and Springfield MA, with a few more under discussion. Over $28,000 has been raised for the Sanders Campaign so far. DSA PAC expects that the campaign will eventually generate well over $50,000 – not bad for a tiny little organization, and a campaign run almost entirely with volunteer effort.

Even more important than the fundraising, though, in the eyes of many DSAers, is the opportunity for political education. The house parties give DSA volunteers the opportunity to expose people to DSA and political ideas that Bernie Sanders and DSA both hold.

The Democratic Socialists of America PAC raised over $50,000 nationally to support Sanders' campaign.^[64]

Institute for Food and Development Policy/Food First

Bernie Sanders is on the list of Congressional Representatives who have participated in hearings/briefings since 1998, with the very radical Institute for Food and Development Policy/Food First, founded by Frances Moore Lappe (Democratic Socialists of America, Institute for Policy Studies) and Joseph Collins (Institute for Policy Studies), authors of the book "Food First".^[65]

Proof of DSA membership

Enlargement

Madison Democratic Socialists of America confirmed Senator Sanders' long suspected DSA membership on page one of their Fall 2014 newsletter (though getting his state of origin incorrect).

Equally important , we featured a petition to encourage Bernie Sanders - the independent Maine Senator and DSA member - to run for president, collecting over 75 signatures.^[66]

DSA covert support

Democratic Socialists of America’s support for Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has been explicit. The national organization website announces “Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) strongly supports Senator Sanders as the strongest candidate for President of the United States.”

DSA national director Maria Svart, in her guidance to locals, said “Our political goal is to generate support for Bernie through visibility and momentum, and do what we can to influence his campaign to have better perspective and platform around institutional racism. Our organizational goal is to GROW DSA so that after the election, we are significantly stronger and can continue fighting for democratic socialism.”

Svart noted that there are a fair number of things that locals can do as locals, including creating forums or other events with titles like “What is Democratic Socialism and Why Does Bernie Support It?” Other moves include contacting other independent organizations that might be interested in the campaign, including “People for Bernie,” a group led by Occupy veterans.

But, she emphasized, “We are running an UNCOORDINATED campaign. This means we are not communicating with the Bernie Sanders official campaign. If individual DSAers show up to a Bernie campaign event in a DSA T-shirt, that’s OK, but not coordinating with the campaign in any way.”

In particular, the organization will not, for the present, do any official fundraisers. In a May 24 update in response to questions from locals around the country, Svart emphasized “No one should organize a fundraiser as DSA. You should not have DSA literature. You should not introduce yourself as a DSAer if you give remarks. You should not use a DSA list to invite people.”^[67]

SR 59 endorser

By February 20 2019 endorsers of Ed Markey's SR 59 (Green New Deal) included Bernie Sanders.

Caban supporters and endorsers

The La Boom Nightclub in Woodside, Queens, was packed wall to wall with hundreds of supporters. People were chanting “Sí se Puede” and “Black and brown lives matter.” That was the scene at approximately 11:15 pm June 25 2019 when Tiffany Caban declared herself the winner in the Democratic primary for district attorney.

Tiffany Caban was a virtually unknown public defender until February 2019. Cabán built a grassroots campaign that brought in community organizations, such as Make The Road, and political groups, including the Working Families Party, Citizen Action, and the Democratic Socialists of America.

Cabán was endorsed by Larry Krasner, the District Attorney from Philadelphia who led the way in the movement for transformative justice. Her national endorsers included Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as well as Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

Local endorsers included: NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer; NYS Senators Jessica Ramos, James Sanders, Julia Salazar, and Michael Gianaris; NYS Assemblymember Ron Kim; and NYC council members Jimmy Van Bramer and Antonio Reynoso.

Actress Susan Sarandon tweeted this morning; “@CabánForQueens victory over the ‘machine’ in Queens makes me proud to be from Jackson Heights and shows once again that a people’s movement can bring real change, real justice.”^[68]

Supporting bus strike

When bus drivers on Martha's Vineyard struck at the height of the tourist season in 2019, solidarity from longtime residents, including some DSA activists, helped them win. Key issues for the drivers were wages, which after 14 years of service are capped at $23.50 per hour, and health care, which covers only individual workers, not their families.

Founding DSA member and union-side labor attorney Jules Bernstein, along with DSA member Virginia Diamond and other progressive residents, helped lead the solidarity effort among residents. An op-ed by Bernstein in the July 10 Martha’s Vineyard Times, under the headline “Union-busting lands on Martha’s Vineyard shores” laid out a strong case for supporting the striking drivers. Management, he pointed out, seemed determined to break the strike and the union to reassert total control over working conditions. Massachusetts senators Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren, along with Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, supported the union.^[69]

Clinton/Pinochet letter

On October 21, 1998, many Members of Congress wrote a letter to President Bill Clinton, urging him to release information to a Spanish judge investigating former Chilean President Pinochet for alleged crimes committed during and after the overthrow of the Marxist Allende government.

Dear Mr. President:

The October 17 arrest of General Augusto Pinochet in London is a good example of how the goals you outlined in your anti-terrorism speech at the United Nations can be put into practice. Indeed, when the rule oflaw is applied to combat international lawlessness,humanity's agenda gains...we call upon you to ensure that the U.S. government provides Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon material related to Pinochet's role in international terrorism -- material and testimony that the U.S. government has thus far withheld.

Signatories included Rep. Bernie Sanders.^[70]

Colombia Support Network letter

In 2002, the Colombia Support Network organized a :dear colleague" letter to President Andres Pastrana Arango, of Colombia, through Ned Steiner, a staffer in Rep. Sam Farr's office.

The letter called on President Pastrana to end a military blockade on the Colombian town of San Jose de Apartado, a sister community of Madison Wisconsin, where the Colombia Support Network is based.

We write to you to bring your attention to the humanitarian crisis facing the civilian population of the Peace Community San Jose de Apartadó and its outlying settlements.

We urge the appropriate authorities of your government to dismantle the paramilitary checkpoint on the road between San Jose and Apartadó, ensure the continued safety of the road, and fully investigate recent threats and attacks on the Peace Community.

The Peace Community San Jose de Apartadó and its settlements, including the village of La Union, receive the permanent accompaniment of international organizations.

These include Peace Brigades International (PBI), as well as the U.S. Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), which currently has two US citizens in La Union. We support the work of these two respected organizations as well as the Peace Community in its effort to build a non-violent alternative to the conflict.

Representatives who signed the Colombia Support Network inspired letter in 2001 included Bernie Sanders. ^[71]

2006 letter to Condoleezza Rice on Colombia

Alleged Colombian Army killings prompted Fellowship of Reconciliation to work with Representative Sam Farr to forge a response that would impact the 17th Brigade, the unit allegedly responsible for the violence against San José de Apartadó and communities throughout northwestern Colombia.

As a result, Reps. Sam Farr and Jim McGovern, wrote a letter to their colleagues in Congress urging them to join in calling on Secretary Condoleezza Rice to cut funding for the Colombian military.

Letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

(Deadline for Congressional representatives to sign: February 22)

We applaud the decision, noted in your certification letter of August 2005, that the US "will not consider providing assistance to the 17th Brigade until all significant human rights allegations involving the unit have been credibly addressed." Because the Brigade is a component of the Colombian Armed Forces' command structure and has been implicated in the above referenced human rights violations, we implore you to abide by both the letter of the law and the spirit of the law by withholding human rights certification for Colombia until the following conditions are met:

Signatories included Bernie Sanders.^[72]

Progressive States Network Gala

April 19, 2007, Progressive States Network’s first annual gala honored U.S. Senator Jon Tester, U.S. Representative Keith Ellison, and Deborah Rappaport. Awards were also presented to Iowa State Senator Joe Bolkcom, Kansas State Senator Donald Betts, and Washington State Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles. Participants talked about promoting their legislative agenda and public policy advocacy. They also talked about issues such as operations in Iraq, grassroots organizing and recruitment, and public participation.

Other speakers included Joel Barkin Executive Director Progressive States Network, Steve Doherty Founding Co-Chair Progressive States Network, Senators Al Franken and Bernie Sanders, Lisa Seitz Gruwell Chief Operating Officer Skyline Public Works, Washington (State) Tom Matzzie Director MoveOn.org, David Sirota Founding Co-Chair Progressive States Network.^[73]

Backed by Barack Obama and Ted Kennedy

Obama campaigning for Bernie Sanders

Barack Obama and Ted Kennedy traveled to Vermont to campaign for Bernie Sanders during the Congressman's successful 2006 U.S. Senate race.

According to Democratic Socialists of America's Democratic Left, Spring 2006, page 4;^[74]

The Democratic Party is not mounting a serious challenge, although a candidate may occupy the Democratic line. A number of prominent Democrats, including Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy and Illinois Senator Barack Obama, already have campaigned with Sanders.

Sanders/Warren relationship

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren first met nearly two decades ago when Warren was invited to speak at a dinner party for liberal lawmakers at the Washington home of Representative Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat.

Warren, who had not yet published “The Two-Income Trap,” the 2003 book that would vault her to national attention, recalled passing out photocopies of her research on the housing market to Sanders, who was then a little-noticed member of the House.

“Bernie started in with the questions,” Warren said. “We got into a deep conversation about it. What it meant. Why it was happening. What we could do to help.”

Over the years, Warren returned several times to DeLauro’s dinner salons, offering her views on the economic forces chipping away at the middle class. Sanders was there every time, she said. Then they talked in his office and by phone.

“It was organic,” Warren said of the relationship. “It kind of grew up.”

The two bonded over Warren’s research that showed how easy it was for middle-class families to go bankrupt if they experience a crisis like a medical emergency or job loss.

“That was the heart of it,” Warren said. “That is what Bernie and I talked about. How it was that the American middle class became so vulnerable.”

On WDEV, where he hosted “The Bernie Sanders Show,” Sanders invited Warren to discuss her findings from her home in Cambridge. The two were earnest and in constant agreement.

“Was it wonderful radio?” said Squier, the station owner. “I can’t say that.”

But the relationship became an important one to both of their careers. In 2008, Sanders, then a senator, invited Warren to speak at a series of town hall meetings in Vermont.

At one meeting, in the Montpelier High School cafeteria, he described constituents forced to split wood to heat their homes because of the high cost of heating oil, while Warren displayed bar graphs on a screen that showed how mortgage payments and health insurance costs had devoured paychecks between 1970 and 2000.

Two years later, Sanders urged President Obama to pick Warren to help set up the new Consumer Protection Financial Bureau, and when he did, applauded the president for turning to “a tough and brilliant advocate” to ensure Americans would not be “ripped off by large banks and financial institutions.”

When Warren ran for the Senate against Scott Brown in 2012, Sanders campaigned for her in the towns in the Berkshires that are so much like his home state of Vermont.

“I knew Elizabeth Warren before she was Elizabeth Warren,” Sanders told about 200 politicians and union activists at a breakfast event in Pittsfield that year. “I knew her when she was writing books and working as an educator.”

The two faced their greatest rift earlier this year, however, when Warren refused Sanders’ repeated entreaties to endorse his run for the presidency.

Given their shared values and history, her stance angered many on the left, but Sanders’ aides insist he bears no grudge.

They point out that Warren was the only Democratic woman in the Senate not to endorse Hillary Clinton early in the primary and that she waited until June to back Clinton, after the former secretary of state had effectively secured the nomination.

“The fact that she chose not to endorse until the voting was over is a big deal,” said Tad Devine, a Sanders adviser. “That’s something that anyone would appreciate.”

Last month, in a fence-mending gesture, Warren accepted Sanders’ invitation to join him at a Clinton campaign rally in Colorado. There, she paid tribute to his failed campaign.

“To every person who ‘felt the Bern’ during the primary, America and the Democratic Party know the power and energy of the progressive movement,” Warren told the crowd.

Now, as Democrats face a grim and uncertain future under a Trump White House and a Republican-led Congress, Warren and Sanders have been among the most vocal party figures trying to chart a path forward.

Paul Kirk, who was Massachusetts’ interim senator from 2009 to 2010, after Edward M. Kennedy died, said Warren’s voice will be vital as a leading critic of Wall Street. And Sanders’ influence may grow, Kirk said, because his campaign, like Trump’s, showed how much voters want to dismantle the political establishment.

“Senator Sanders arguably has more credibility than before because, for the Democrats, he was the authentic change agent,” said Kirk, a former Democratic National Committee chairman who endorsed Sanders in the primary. “His voice, on the Democratic side of the aisle, will have even more resonance.”

On that point, even detractors agree.

“They’re going to be a voice within the party that has to be listened to,” said former senator Judd Gregg, a New Hampshire Republican, who pointed out that Warren and Sanders have pushed for single-payer health care, tax increases on the wealthy, and debt-free college. “They’re carrying the mantle of socialism, and it’s on the rise in the Democratic Party.’’^[75]

European Socialist ties

The Party of European Socialists dialogue with the US Democrats and the Transatlantic partnership "was a priority over the last years" (written in 2009).

Delegations, meetings and exchanges of information were held on a regular basis. After the victory in the Congress, where the Democrats won the double majority, a Party of European Socialists Delegation, led by PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, discovered the new mood in Washington D.C., on 15-18 April 2007. It had meetings with Governor Howard Dean, Chair of the DLC; Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA), Chairman of the Committee on Financial Services; Senator Bernie Sanders and with Senator Ben Cardin; John Podesta, CEO of the Center for American Progress, Former Chief of staff of President Clinton; John Sweeney, President of the AFL-CIO and Andy Stern, Chair of Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The underlying motive of the delegation was reiterated with the need for US and EU progressive forces to actively prepare for the post-Bush EU-US relations. ^[76]

Peace Action support

In 2006, Peace Action PAC helped to elect several peace candidates like Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH).

Peace Action endorses and contributes directly to worthy candidates, sometimes with cash contributions through Peace Action PAC, more often by hiring experienced organizers to work on candidates’ campaigns in order to mobilize the peace constituency. We are the only peace organization in the peace movement that utilizes both of these political strategies, especially at the grassroots level.

We can help change the direction of our country next year by electing more progressives who reflect Peace Action’s values. The first steps toward developing real change in this country begins by electing candidates who believe real security comes through international cooperation, the abolition of nuclear weapons and the transfer of Pentagon bloat to government programs for human needs. Once elected, they’ll have the political power to throw off the yoke of the radical right^[77]

Congressional Progressive Caucus

As of February 20 2009 Bernie Sanders was listed as a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.^[78]

Vietnam delegation

U.S. Sen. Al Franken is part of a Senate delegation that will travel to Vietnam July 2010.

The group will "look into environmental remediation of dioxin and the joint funding of medical services for people with disabilities, and meet with Vietnamese government officials to discuss education initiatives, labor issues and trade relations."

Other Senators on the Vietnam leg of the trip are: Democratic Sens. Tom Harkin of Iowa, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Jeff Merkley of Oregon).^[79]

Meeting Vietnamese PM

Vietnam attaches importance to its cooperation with the US and wishes to develop the relationship both bilaterally and multilaterally, said National Assembly (NA) Vice Chairman Nguyen Duc Kien.

Kien made the statement while receiving a US parliamentary delegation led by Senator Tom Harkin, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labour and Pensions (CHELP), in Hanoi on July 7, 2010.

He acknowledged positive and effective developments in the relations between the two countries in general and between the two parliaments in particular.

The NA Vice Chairman requested that the US parliamentarians, with their influence, make active contributions to developing the bilateral ties, especially in economics, trade and investment, facilitate Vietnamese exports to the US market as well as the implementation of existing commitments between the two countries in health, education and training and in addressing the consequences of Agent Orange/dioxin in Vietnam.

For his part, Senator Harkin said that during his first return to Vietnam since 1995, he has witnessed rapid changes in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City . He expressed his wish to make more contributions to strengthening bilateral relations in health, education and trade.

Regarding the settlement of the AO/dioxin consequences in Vietnam , the senator said he considers it a moral obligation and an important issue. He promised that with his role and duty, he would contribute more to addressing this issue.

On the same day, the US delegation was received by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, who highly valued Senator Harkin's great contributions to boosting the normalisation of Vietnam-US ties as well as his support for the US government's activities to help Vietnam overcome the aftermaths of AO/dioxin.

PM Dung also suggested the US government and parliament increase their assistance for Vietnam to redress serious effects caused by the toxic chemical, especially in cleaning dioxin-contaminated land areas and seeking over 300,000 Vietnamese people missing in the war.

He expressed his wish that Senator Harkin, Enhanced Coverage Linking as the CHELP Chairman, continues fostering the bilateral ties in health, education, labour and climate change.

The US delegation also had a working session with Minister of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan during which the two sides expressed that they are ready to strengthen cooperation and information exchange on issues relating to labour and the rights of labourers.

On the occasion, the US parliamentarians held a press briefing to inform about the results of their Vietnam visit.

Speaking at the meeting, Senator Harkin affirmed that based on statistics collected during their trip to witness dioxin cleaning activities in the central city of Da Nang, one of the hardest-hit localities by US bombs during the war, the clearance of the toxic chemical is totally feasible.

He also pledged that as a senator, he would try his best to accelerate the dioxin clearance process in Vietnam .

Regarding the two countries' 15-year-old diplomatic ties, the senator said that members of both the US Senate and House of Representatives had a positive response to the development of the bilateral ties.

"We can not change the past but we can make the future better", he added.

Sharing views with Harkin, Senator Bernie Sanders said he was proud of great achievements in the Vietnam-US relation over the past 15 years and vowed to further develop the bilateral ties in the future.

About the AO/dioxin issue, he said that it is the issue of not only Vietnam but also US war veterans as they themselves and their families have been seriously affected by the toxic chemical.^[80]

Supported by Council for a Livable World

Bernie Sanders is very close to the Council for a Livable World.

Electoral support

The Council for a Livable World, founded in 1962 by long-time socialist activist and alleged Soviet agent, Leo Szilard, is a non-profit advocacy organization that seeks to "reduce the danger of nuclear weapons and increase national security", primarily through supporting progressive, congressional candidates who support their policies. The Council supported Bernie Sanders in his successful Senate run as candidate for Vermont.^[81]

"Is the Pentagon Budget Increase Needed?"

February 3, 1999 Council for a Livable World convened a seminar in Rayburn House on "Is the Pentagon Budget Increase Needed?"

Participants were;

Robert Borosage - Co-Director Campaign for America's Future
John Conyers - [D] Michigan
Peter DeFazio - [D] Oregon
Barney Frank - [D] Massachusetts
William Greider - Editor Rolling Stone
Jim McGovern- [D] Massachusetts
Michael O'Hanlon - Research Associate Brookings Institution
Major Owens - [D] New York
Nancy Pelosi- [D] California
Grace Reef - Childrens Defense Fund
Bernie Sanders - [I] Vermont
Jan Schakowsky - [D] Illinois
Lynn Woolsey - [D] California^[82]

Drinan Award

The Father Robert F. Drinan National Peace and Human Rights Award was established in 2006. The award is annually presented by the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation and Council for a Livable World to individuals who exemplify the late Father Drinan's commitment |to peace and human justice".

2008 - Senator Dianne Feinstein, Congressman John Hall, Actor Richard Schiff^[83]

Council for a Livable World Peace PAC Chair and former Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-CO) introduced the Council’s first honoree, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), a "leader and expert on nuclear weapons issues who is also dedicated to bringing our troops home from Iraq".

Following Feinstein’s speech, Sen. Bernie Sanders addressed the crowd and shifted the discussion from nuclear weapons to the U.S. military budget. Sanders noted that with the money America spends on one week of the war in Iraq, the United States could ensure that every man, woman and child in the United States has primary health care. He also mentioned Vermont’s new claim-to-fame: it’s the only state that Bush has never visited in his time in the White House – a fact that drew laughs and cheers from the audience.^[84]

2012 CLW Senate victories

2012 CLW Senate Victories were;

Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Bob Casey (D-PA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Angus King (I-ME), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Chris Murphy (D-CT) Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Jon Tester (D-MT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).^[85]

When backing Sanders again in 2012, the Council website explained;^[86]

Bernie, as he is universally known, has a perfect record on Council for a Livable World’s voting scorecard on key national security issues, marred only by one voting absence in four years. He opposed the authorization for war in Iraq when in the House and supported measures in both the Senate and House to withdraw troops...

He also opposed additional funding for national missile defense and efforts to cut U.N. peacekeeping funds. He enthusiastically endorsed the New START treaty and opposed all Republican attempts to cripple the agreement.

Progressives were electrified in December when Bernie Sanders launched a one-man filibuster against the Obama tax cut deal that lasted for 8 hours and 37 minutes. That’s Bernie. He speaks his mind and does not fear the political implications.

Indeed, he has consistently fought to keep the Democrats from conceding too much to Republicans eager to adopt legislation to shred the social safety net and cut back domestic spending programs...

Council for a Livable World endorses Bernie Sanders for U.S. Senate with the greatest enthusiasm. His frank, open, no-nonsense style is a breath of fresh air in the U.S. Senate. He is committed to the elimination of weapons of mass destruction, opposes preemptive wars and works hard on these issues.

CLW Inauguration event

Council for a Livable World and the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation hosted an event on Monday, January 21, 2013 celebrating the second inauguration of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden and theirr endorsed candidates in the 113th Congress. The event was held at the Phoenix Park Hotel ballroom across from Union Station and just two blocks from the U.S. Capitol.

A number of prestigious guests attended the event, including Senators Tammy Baldwin, Martin Heinrich, Angus King and Bernie Sanders, U.S. Representatives Suzan DelBene, Lois Frankel and Mark Takano, United Steel Workers International President Leo Gerard, host of The Ed Show on MSNBC, Ed Schultz and Vicki Hansen Thackray from the executive committee of Democrats Abroad.

Gary Collins, President of the board of Council for a Livable World, kicked off the celebration with a short speech highlighting the work of the Council during the 2012 election cycle.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the longest serving independent in Congressional history, was our next speaker. Sen. Sanders electrified the room as usual, and used his time in front of the audience to discuss economic inequalities in the United States and what is necessary to address this pressing issue..^[87]

The Progressive

Sanders has been a contributor to the liberal magazine, The Progressive.

Venezuelan gas

He rankled the Bush administration in 2006, by orchestrating a deal with Venezuela's government-owned Citgo oil company to provide low-cost heating oil to poor Vermonters. That provided fodder to critics who cast Sanders as a soulmate of Hugo Chavez, the leftist Venezuelan President.^[88]

The John Graham Emergency Service Shelter in Vergennes, Vermont witnessed the commitment of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to work towards aiding the poor, be they in Venezuela, the United States, or in any other place in the world.

Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) joined Venezuelan Ambassador Bernardo Alvarez, CITGO CEO Felix Rodriquez, Citizens Energy President Joseph Kennedy, and representatives of the Vermont Fuel Dealers and the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity (CVOEO) for the first delivery of fuel under the new discounted heating oil program established by the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the State of Vermont. The first delivery was made to the John Graham Emergency Service Shelter.

Under the deal brokered by Rep. Sanders, more than 2.5 million gallons of discounted heating oil will be brought into Vermont. Of that, 2.4 million gallons of the oil will be sold at a 40 percent discount to individual participants of Vermont's Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), Crisis Fuel Assistance Program, and WARMTH Program. The remaining 108,000 gallons of heating oil will be distributed free of charge to homeless shelters throughout Vermont.

I am very pleased that we were able to establish this program and bring much-needed relief to thousands of senior citizens and low-income families, said Rep. Sanders. At a time when home heating oil costs are skyrocketing, this discounted fuel will help ensure that no one in Vermont goes cold this winter. I want to thank the Venezuelan government, CITGO, Citizens Energy, CVOEO, the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association and the State of Vermont for their hard work in making this happen,? he continued.

Under the program, CITGO will work with CVOEO and Citizens Energy, both non-profit organizations, to distribute the discounted oil. Citizens Energy will purchase over 2.5 million gallons of heating oil at a 40 percent discount from CITGO. The State of Vermont and CVOEO will be responsible for identifying low-income families and individuals using the same criteria used for the distribution of federal heating assistance benefits under LIHEAP, the Crisis Fuel Program and WARMTH.

"This is not about politics, nor is it not about oil. This is about our government in Venezuela acting as a good neighbor, and stepping in to do the right thing. This arrangement represents the strong ties between the people of the U.S. and the people of Venezuela, helping each other through tough times, since we are all Americans," said Ambassador Alvarez.

"We are happy to give back to the communities in which CITGO does business. Low-income Americans were hit hard by rising fuel prices following the hurricane tragedies, and with this gesture, hopefully no one in Vermont will be left out in the cold this winter," said Felix Rodriguez, CEO of CITGO Petroleum Corporation.

"We're proud to work with my good friend, Congressman Bernie Sanders, and CITGO to help relieve the burden of high energy prices on the poor," said Citizens Energy Chairman Joseph P. Kennedy II. "Congressman Sanders has devoted his whole career to helping those in need. For their part, Felix Rodriguez and CITGO have shown extraordinary concern for ordinary people who are struggling to stay warm. Together, we're working to make sure that no one is left out in the cold."^[89]

Supporting Coalition of Immokalee Workers

Rep. John Conyers, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (speaking) and Sen. Dick Durbin, joined by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney (second from left) gathered in the shadow of the Capitol building in Washington, DC, March 13th 2008

.

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers' petition drive to end sweatshop conditions in Florida's tomato fields received a warm welcome in Washington, DC. Senator Dick Durbin joined Senator Bernie Sanders, Representatives Dennis Kucinich and John Conyers, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and representatives from dozens of human rights, religious, labor, and student organizations joined the CIW's call to end sweatshops and slavery in the fields.

Senator Sanders decried the "desperate conditions, conditions that in some cases are so extreme that even the Bush Administration has brought slavery charges," in Florida's fields, and announced that a hearing into those conditions is scheduled for April 15th.

Senator Durbin announced that a letter had been sent to "seven companies -- Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Winn-Dixie Stores Inc., Kroger Co., Publix, Safeway Inc., US Food Service, Supervalu Inc., and Sysco Corp. -- asking them to join McDonald's and Yum Brands in the extra penny a pound program."^[90]

Thanks from progressives

In 2012 several progressive groups thankedd Senator Sanders for his support.

Communist John Case, on "Sanders for President"

In response to an organized campaign to draft Sanders for a presidential run in 2012, Communist Party USA member John Case wrote on the Political Affairs blog;^[91]

To use Carl Davidson's excellent slogan around which left and working class forces can mobilize-- "peace and prosperity vs war and austerity" -- this is clearly a time when we can qualitatively expand the base of support for the principles the slogan expresses. The question is: can we do this and not end up playing a Nader-like spoiler role, that concludes by electing the Right, in those campaigns, primaries, etc where our main objective is to move the political center lelftward, and strengthen the hand of center forces against the right. Of course, in those campaigns where the left coalition has winning chances, where the center is ready to be led by left forces, tactics differ.

The complexity of the US political process at this moment requires shrewd and careful AND BOLD calculations There are few, if any, politicians on the left more shrewd than Bernie Sanders. I am not convinced about Bernie's denials. I got to know him somewhat in my years as a UE rep in Vt, and later as DO for the Communist Party in N. New England. With a few arguable exceptions, he has always -- both ideologicaly and politically -- pursued a working class line. As important, he become a demonstrated master of very concrete tactics directed at isolating the right, without appearing irresponsible or reckless to center forces. He kept focused on the concretes -- especially economics, and non-corrupt governance -- that blunted repeated attempts by the right to isolate him.

He would have to run as a Democrat in the 2012 primaries, in order not to be counted as a spoiler. Unlike Nader, Bernie has never been a 'spoiler' politician. But running as a Democrat, after years of success as an Independent is something I think he would be temperamentally loath to do. Part of his success at independence is due to some very peculiar features unique to Vermont political history, that would not be practical to reproduce nationally. Nonetheless, I am sure he will be tempted.

Personally, at this point, I think a primary challenge against Obama is a mistake -- the history of such challenges is not encouraging for defeating Republicans. Obama is not a Blue Dog-er, IMHO, but rather a liberal doing what Presidents do -- not straying too far from the Center. I think we should focus our primary challenge energies against the blue dogs and in local and state campaigns where we can strengthen and galvanize our grass roots base. But I am willing to be persuaded otherwise -- only if we ourselves--the Left are grown-up enough to be as shrewd and smart and flexible as Kucinich on health care, or Sanders through most of his career.

Anti "speculator" bill

in April 2012 Ben Cardin joined a group of his Senate colleagues in sponsoring a bill, S. 2222, which "will give federal regulators immediate authority to invoke emergency powers to rein in speculators who are responsible for rapidly rising gasoline prices".

There is broad agreement among energy experts and economists that speculators are one of the causes for the rapidly rising price of gas. Domestic oil production has risen to its highest level in a decade, oil supplies are greater today than they were three years ago and demand for oil in the United States is lower today than it was in 1997. Yet gas prices continue to soar.

There is something wrong with this equation. There is no logical reason why gas prices should continue to rise if oil supplies are up and demand is down.

The American Trucking Association, Delta Airlines, the Petroleum Marketers Association of America, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and other experts all say excessive oil speculation in the futures markets significantly increases crude oil and gasoline prices. A Feb. 27, 2012 article in Forbes Magazine cited a recent report by the investment bank Goldman Sachs pointing out that excessive oil speculation adds 56 cents to the price of a gallon of gas.

This "speculators" bill would set a 14-day deadline for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to take emergency steps to stop excessive speculation by Wall Street traders in the crude oil, gasoline and other energy futures markets. Also co-sponsoring the measure were: U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Al Franken (D-MN), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Bill Nelson (D-FL).^[92]

FightingBobFest speaker

Bernie Sanders has been a guest speaker at Wisconsin's annual progressive Fighting Bob Fest, in 2003, 2005, 2009, 2011.^[93]

San Francisco for Democracy event

San Francisco for Democracy, in association with Progressive Perspectives, proudly presented an evening with Senator Bernie Sanders Friday, February 25, 2011.

Senator Sanders is the most progressive member of the U.S. Senate. He understands that the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a few is fundamentally incompatible with democracy -- and he acts on that understanding in ways that can inspire all of us. In his talk Bernie will be speaking about several key issues:

Co-sponsors were - Institute for Policy Studies ~ San Francisco Labor Council ~ Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club ~ San Francisco for Democracy ~ Unitarian Universalists for Peace/SF ~ Senior Action Network ~ Democracy for America/Marin ~ Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club ~ Progressive Democrats of America ~ Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club.^[94]

Hi IPS rating

In 2012 “Congressional Report Card for the 99 Percent" , the Institute for Policy Studies examined 40 different legislation actions in the House and Senate—votes and legislation introduced—to ascertain the real allegiances of sitting members of Congress. These include votes to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, levy a Wall Street speculation tax, invest in infrastructure, and protect workers and student financial aid.

The Report Card also graded politicians for their commitment to reducing inequality and boosting the 99 percent. The report’s “Honor Roll” gave an A-plus grade to 5 members of the U.S. Senate, including Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Al Franken (D-MN), Bernie Sanders (VT-I), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).^[95]

"Strengthen Social Security" bill

Sens. Tom Harkin and Bernie Sanders introduced a bill. March 2013, to "strengthen Social Security by making the wealthiest Americans pay the same payroll tax that everyone else already pays". It is co-sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The companion bill in the House was introduced by Rep Peter DeFazio. ^[96]

Working America

Working America, the AFL-CIO’s more than 3 million-member community affiliate for people without unions, celebrated its 10th anniversary 2013. To mark the occasion, Working America unveiled its “50 in 5” initiative to expand into all 50 states in five years, as well as new efforts to organize workers at their workplaces. Said Working America Executive Director Karen Nussbaum:

Every day, we talk to people struggling to support their families or piece together a living with their current jobs. These are people who want to see changes in their communities or on the job. This expansion allows working people to make a difference in new states and communities.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said, “Working America is an example of the way the AFL-CIO’s door has to be—and will be—open to any worker or group of workers who want to organize and build power.” The expansion to 50 states, he said, means that every week, at front doors, workplaces and community gatherings all over America, thousands of people can build power locally.

Along with its expansion efforts, Working America will continue its year-round community organizing and electoral and legislative work, as well as pilot different methods of organizing workers on the job. Those models and tactics include a workplace organizing site set to launch in May called FixMyJob.com.

In 2013 , Working America was in a dozen states, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Colorado, New Mexico, Michigan and Oregon. It recently opened offices in Texas and North Carolina.

Working America hosted a “50 in 5” launch at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C., that included Trumka, AFL-CIO President Emeritus John Sweeney, American Bridge 21st Century President Rodell Mollineau, U.S. Sens. Al Franken (D-Minn.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and other guests.^[97]

Wall Street speculators bill

Sens. Tom Harkin and Bernie Sanders introduced a bill on March 2, 2013, to tax Wall Street speculators (S 410). A companion bill in the House was introduced by Rep. Peter DeFazio (HR 880). "Both the economic crisis and the deficit crisis are a direct result of the greed, recklessness, and illegal behavior on Wall Street," said Sanders. "This bill will reduce gambling on Wall Street, encourage the financial sector to invest in the job-creating productive economy, and significantly reduce the deficit," with an estimated $352 billion over 10 years.^[98]

Cuba visit

With an annual cost of roughly $2 million per detainee, the 13-year-old Guantanamo Bay Detention Center needs to be closed, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont, said Monday.

Tester, who toured Guantanamo early February 2014,, said then the subject comes up later this year, he will push to close the facility, where the Department of Defense houses 155 detainees, many without trial, some since Jan. 11, 2002 and the beginning of the war in Afghanistan.

Tester toured Guantanamo Bay on Saturday as part of a two-day visit to Cuba, with Sens., Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

The senators also met with American Alan Gross, who has been jailed in Cuba since 2010 for setting up unrestricted Internet access for Jewish groups. Cuba considered Gross’ actions subversive and sentenced the Marylander to 15 years detention.

Tester said there was also talk with Cuban officials about the Cuban trade embargo launched in 1960 after the Cuban Revolution ushered Fidel Castro’s communist government into power. There is talk in the United States of easing the embargo and lawmakers from farm states see an opportunity for trade if that occurs.

Tester said the rule of Fidel Castro’s brother, Raul, could present the best opportunity for normalizing relations with Cuba without presenting a threat to the Fidel Castro legacy. But Raul Castro is old and the opportunity might not last forever.

“Raul is 83 years old and in very good health. He’s one of the few people who could do this from a Cuban perspective,” Tester said.^[99]

Chicago elections/communists

Bernie Sanders and Scott Marshall

In April 2015, just a weekend away from Election Day in Chicago's mayoral and City Council races, two progressive candidates and their supporters pre-emptively declared victory in bringing forth a new kind of peoples movement.

"Together we've already fundamentally changed the conversation," said Susan Sadlowski Garza, candidate for alderman in the city's 10th ward.

Chicago Mayoral candidate Jesus Garcia, speaking alongside Garza, mirrored the explosive enthusiasm of the crowd of 700 gathered Thursday evening in Chicago's far southeast side. Thirty years after the shutdown of every one of the area's four major steel mills, the ward's neighborhoods are still reeling from the poverty and despair created by these acts of corporate greed.

The rally's list of speakers ranged from Sadlowski Garza, Garcia and Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, district Steelworker retiree leader Scott Marshall and East Side Methodist minister Rev. Z. L. Zocki. It was a snapshot of a movement growing on multiple levels.

"People are hungry to take Chicago back," said Garcia. He made it clear by "people" he meant working class. "You always treat working people with the highest dignity and respect and put their interests first," he continued, adding, "I need Susan in the City Council. We need someone who comes from Chicago's working classs." No one uses the eumphemism "middle class" in describing the 10th ward and its residents.

Sadlowski Garza is a school counselor in the same local elementary school that she, her four children and even her mother attended. She laid out a solid progressive agenda to "revitalize and unite" the 10th ward, leading with a call for a clean environment without toxins in the air and water and a call to direct tax dollars to developing green jobs at living wages.

Garza was introduced by Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis who made a surprise appearance, and the gathering reacted emotionally as she approached the stage slowly but deliberately, supporting herself on a walker. Lewis is recovering from surgery following the discovery of a brain tumor months ago. She recruited Jesus Garcia to run for mayor last Fall after her medical diagnosis forced her to drop out of the race against corporate Democrat Rahm Emanuel.

Lewis guided those gathered to look at a long-range picture: "This has got to be the start of a movement. We have the opportunity to change the political landscape," she said calmly and slowly, allowing the crowd a moment to look at itself and see a mass of steelworkers, teachers, high school students, Sierra club members, Working Families partisans and iron workers of many ages and hues. "It's messy, but this is what political democracy looks like," she concluded.

The Chicago Teachers Union made a conscious push after its 2012 strike to recruit and support candidates like Sadlowski Garza as viable candidates for the Chicago City Council. Tara Stamps, a fifth grade teacher, forced another Emanuel supporter into a run off in the West Side's 37th ward. Social Studies teacher Tim Meegan missed a run off by only two votes in the Northside 33rd ward. All the teacher candidates emphasized funding for schools, $15 hour minimum wage and opposition to privatization of public services.

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders elaborated on the theme of building a peoples movement. "What we are doing is not just to make the 10th ward better," he said, "but demonstrating when people stand together there's nothing we can't accomplish."

Then he laid out what looked to the enthusiastic crowd a lot like a platform for the 2016 presidential race.

"We re gonna ask the richest people - billionaires and corporations - to start paying their fair share," he said right off the bat. Next he spoke of putting millions to work at green and living wage jobs by "investing in the crumbling infrastructure" and creating energy systems that cut carbons. He advocated free tuition in public colleges and universities, Medicare for All, raising Social Security benefits, overturning Citizens United and public funding for elections.

The rally took place in a former Steelworkers Union hall, just a stone's throw from the field where 10 striking steelworkers were gunned down by Chicago police on behalf of Republic Steel Corporation in May 1937 during the infamous Memorial Day Massacre.

"As the people from all walks of life band together to fight against a new era of corporate greed, the steelworkers who made the ultimate sacrifice would understand our struggle now," said Sadlowski Garza, the descendent of three generations of mill workers.

Change is in the air, observed steelworker retiree Marshall. "A powerful movement, led by labor, is being born."^[100]

Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act of 2015

S 299, the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act of 2015, principal sponsors are Sens. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.^[101]

By May 20, it had accumulated 33 co-sponsors, mostly Democrats, but including 5 Republicans, and two Independents - Angus King, and Bernie Sanders. ^[102]

Courting Hollywood

With the dust still settling after Barack Obama’s and Hillary Clinton’s glitzy fundraising trips to Hollywood early June 2015, Clinton’s first official Democratic rival — Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders — slipped quietly into town Saturday for a pair of low-key events that didn’t raise seven-figure sums, but did warm the hearts of two overflowing crowds of Hollywood progressives.

Sanders’ supporters might be called the entertainment industry’s irreconcilables — the left flank of the Hollywood Dems’ most progressive faction, with activists deeply disappointed in Obama, who they supported, and unwilling to sign on to a Clinton presidential campaign. In the former Secretary of State they see another moderate waiting to happen.

Early Saturday morning, they filled the already blazing front yard of actress Mimi Kennedy’s Van Nuys home, and — at midday — the living room of long-time activists Betty and StanleySheinbaum’s sprawling Brentwood Park mansion, to hear the program of a candidate they see as everything Hillary is not.

“I’m here with my wife and my friends because we believe Bernie is providing us with the opportunity to have a voice and a role in the Democratic process at a time when progressives are on the rise,” said former California state Senator Tom Hayden, who introduced Sanders at the Van Nuys event.

“Bernie has launched a very critical campaign in several states,” Hayden said. “He’s actually doing well in the early polls. He has an opportunity to change the conversation in the country. He has an opportunity to be an effective debater (against Clinton) in the primaries. He has an opportunity to attract Libertarians and Republicans, as well as Democrats and Socialists. It always was a motley crew — the progressive coalition.”

With Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren definitely out of the race, Sanders — a self-described Democratic socialist — is the candidate who checks all the progressive boxes, earning him a devoted Los Angeles following. About 300 people turned out for Sanders’ two events on Saturday. Attendees included Days of Our Lives actress Deidre Hall, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas producer Richard Foos, Sister Act producer Cindy Gilmore Asner, filmmaker James H. Stern and actress/producer Sheila Emery.

In Van Nuys, Sanders told the crowd that the best part of running for president is being able to talk about the issues the other candidates are avoiding.

“Our campaign is catching fire,” he said. “It’s for one simple reason: We are telling the truth. And I think that’s what the American people want to hear. The truth may not be necessarily pleasant, but we can’t go forward unless we have the courage to take a hard look at where we are today. And where we are today is not in a good place.”^[103]

Netroots Nation 2015

Speakers at Netroots Nation 2015, in Phoenix Arizona, one of the largest gatherings of progressives and the Democratic activist base, included Bernie Sanders, Martin O'Malley, Elizabeth Warren, Rosa DeLauro, Donna Edwards, Keith Ellison, Ruben Gallego, Raul Grijalva, Hank Johnson, Robin Kelly, Mark Takano.^[104]

PDA support

Conor Boylan PDA, Bernie Sanders

In late April 2015, when he announced that he would enter the presidential race, Bernie Sanders was the relatively unknown junior U.S. Senator from Vermont. Now he’s everywhere.

Though the “Sanders surge” seemed to come from nowhere, it was long in the making. Sanders’ rapid rise in the polls, and his increasing visibility over the past few weeks, are in part the result of behind-the-scenes work by organizations like Progressive Democrats of America (PDA).

PDA was founded in 2004 by progressives at the Democratic National Convention who were disappointed with the party’s presidential nominee, John Kerry, but were unwilling to give up on electoral politics. One evening, at the convention’s conclusion, about 200 people met to chart a path forward.

“PDA was founded that night with an inside-outside strategy—to bring outside energy inside the party,” said Conor Boylan, who began working for PDA in 2009 and has been its co-director since 2014. “It was almost an insurgency: We’ll be members of the party, but we’ll also form our own chapters and hold the party accountable.”

PDA now has about 90,000 people on its email list. Of those, about 35,000 members actively support and participate in its work. It is funded by donations from its membership.

In early 2014, PDA began a petition drive to persuade Sanders to run for the presidency. When Sanders attended its tenth anniversary celebration in May of that year, PDA presented him with the petition. That event marked the beginning a strong push by the organization to encourage him to run for the Democratic nomination.

The effort paid off this spring when Sanders announced his candidacy. “We’ve just caught fire since then,” Boylan said. “So it has grown from this small idea—that we have to get Bernie to run—to him actually announcing. And I’m starting to think now that he could actually win this thing. It’s been amazing the way it’s gone the past 15 or 16 months. And where’s it going to end?”

Along with its sister organization, People Demanding Action (which focuses on advancing a policy agenda rather than electoral politics), PDA’s priorities are healthcare reform, campaign finance reform and environmental and economic justice.

House parties are central to PDA’s work. Its website allows people interested in volunteering for the Sanders campaign to sign up to organize a party or find one that’s scheduled near them. PDA sends organizers a kit with information on the basics of hosting a party and assigning people to different tasks, like handing out flyers and maintaining a social media presence. (Continued)

PDA’S early and energetic supporter of Sanders gives it a unique relationship with the campaign, Boylan said. “We were the first group to lead this effort. We stuck to our guns from the very beginning, when a lot of other people were focused on Elizabeth Warren.”^[105]

PDA 2018 endorsement

In 2018 Progressive Democrats of America endorsed Bernie Sanders, for US Senate.

ARA connections

ARA endorsement, 2012

The Alliance for Retired Americans endorsed Bernie Sanders in 2012.^[106]

2013 ARA conference

Keith Ellison, Jan Schakowsky, Bernie Sanders, and David Cicilline addressed Alliance for Retired Americans 2013 conference.

2015 ARA National Legislative Conference

400 activists came to Washington, DC for the Alliance for Retired Americans’s 2015 National Legislative Conference in July . The activists reached more than 150 offices on Thursday’s Lobby Day, when they met with their Members of Congress and Senators and voiced their concerns about retiree issues. Alliance members lobbied their elected officials with very specific goals in mind, including: expand earned Social Security benefits; protect Social Security Disability Insurance; preserve Medicare and allow no cuts to it; and oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Trade Agreement.

Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO, began the conference with a fiery speech on Tuesday. Several elected officials addressed the attendees: House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA), Senators Bernie Sanders (VT), Debbie Stabenow (MI), and Elizabeth Warren (MA) and Representatives Keith Ellison (MN) and Ruben Gallego (AZ). On Wednesday evening, the President’s Award was presented to Judy Cato, Executive Vice-President Emerita, for her activism and years on the Alliance Executive Board.^[107]

March on Mississippi

Citing a pattern of civil rights abuses by Nissan against its predominantly African-American workforce in Mississippi, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, actor Danny Glover, NAACP President Cornell William Brooks and hundreds of workers, civil rights leaders, and social justice advocates converged on the automaker’s factory in Canton, March 4, 2017, to demand that the company respect its workers’ right to vote for a union free from fear and intimidation.

The March on Mississippi – expected to be the largest protest to hit the Magnolia State in years – follows a series of rallies at Nissan dealerships that swept across the South last month.

“I am proud to join in fighting to give workers at Nissan’s Canton, Mississippi, plant the justice, dignity and the right to join a union that they deserve,” said Sen. Sanders. “Nissan has union representation at 42 out of its 45 plants around the world. The American South should not be treated differently. What the workers at the Nissan plant in Mississippi are doing is a courageous and enormously important effort to improve their lives.”

The march was organized by the Mississippi Alliance for Fairness at Nissan (MAFFAN), a coalition of civil rights leaders, ministers and worker advocates. In addition to Sen. Sanders, Glover and Brooks, a diverse coalition of politicians and civil rights leaders including U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, former Ohio State Sen. Nina Turner, Mississippi NAACP President Derrick Johnson, and Sierra Club President Aaron Mair joined the march.

“Powerful corporations like Nissan are the poster-child for America’s rigged economy,” said Danny Glover. “Nissan’s arrival in Canton promised good jobs for the community, but instead the company has committed rampant safety and health violations and denied its workers their basic right to vote for a union free from fear and intimidation. Nissan workers in Canton have my full support for their fight for fairness and respect at the workplace.”

The March on Mississippi began with pre-march speeches by Sanders, Glover and others at 12:30 p.m. CST at the Canton Sportsplex, 501 Soldiers Colony Road, in Canton. Protestors then marched approximately two miles to Nissan’s assembly plant to deliver a message to the company: Workers’ rights equal civil rights.^[108]

Visiting Lumumba

Senator Bernie Sanders visited Chokwe Antar Lumumba in March 2017.

Resolution to Honor Civil Rights Hero Fred Korematsu

February 6, 2017, Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley introduced a resolution honoring Fred Korematsu, who challenged the internment of Japanese Americans.

Wyden and Merkley said the resolution honoring Korematsu’s work and advocacy of the civil rights and liberties of all people is timely, given the president’s executive order establishing a Muslim ban.

"Fred Korematsu’s brave advocacy for the civil rights of 120,000 Japanese Americans remains a timeless example of courage that resonates today and every day,“ Wyden said. “I am committed to fighting for the continued advance of civil rights he spent his life defending, and against those who would betray both the law and our history to impose an unconstitutional religious test on immigrants."

"Heroes like Fred Korematsu demonstrate the importance of fighting fiercely for our core American values, even when it is hard,” said Merkley. “His story reminds us that the time is always right to stand up for what is right. We must keep fighting for the freedom and equality that define our nation, and ensure that the Statue of Liberty continues to stand as a beacon of hope around the world."

The resolution is cosponsored by Senators Mazie Hirono, Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker, Brian Schatz, Sherrod Brown, Sheldon Whitehouse, Maria Cantwell, Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, Tim Kaine , Patty Murray, Chris Coons, and Dick Durbin.

A broad coalition of advocacy organizations support the resolution, including the Fred T. Korematsu Institute, the Bill of Rights Defense Committee & Defending Dissent Foundation, Demand Progress, Free Press Action Fund, Restore the Fourth, The Yemen Peace Project, and Fight for the Future.^[109]

Yemen

The US House of Representatives passed a potentially historic resolution on February 13, 2019, calling for an end to US military support for the Saudi-led coalition’s intervention in Yemen that began in 2015. Although the US government has never formally declared its involvement in the war, it assists the coalition with intelligence and munitions and supports the aerial campaign with refueling and targeting.

What is already historic about the resolution (introduced by Democratic Representatives Ro Khanna of California and Mark Pocan of Wisconsin) and its Senate counterpart (introduced by Independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Republican Mike Lee of Utah and Democrat Chris Murphy of Connecticut) is their invocation of the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which restrains a president’s capacity to commit forces abroad. Aimed to prevent “future Vietnams,” the act gives Congress the authority to compel the removal of US military forces engaged in hostilities absent a formal declaration of war.

Anti-war activists in the United States have been organizing against US support for the Saudi intervention in Yemen since 2015. While these efforts made an impact on the public debate about Yemen, they failed to move the policy needle—until an unexpected chain of events in late 2018 gave the campaign new traction and occasioned a momentous grassroots mobilization. The national organizing campaign is led by a combination of Yemen-oriented groups (the Yemen Peace Project, the Yemeni Alliance Committee and others) along with more established anti-war organizations like Just Foreign Policy, Win Without War, Code Pink and Peace Action. The addition of the ascendant Democratic Socialists of America contributed to the momentum. Yet it was the confluence of events outside the control of these groups—but to which these groups were well-positioned to rapidly respond—that propelled the campaign into broad Congressional support for War Powers resolutions in early 2019.

Unlike in 2016, when Bernie Sanders seemed to shy away from foreign policy issues, foreign policy has become a major focus as he enters the presidential race for 2020. In recent months he has issued an internationalist manifesto and delivered a major foreign policy address at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. With Sanders’ timely leadership on ending US involvement in the war in Yemen, his increasingly critical views on US-Saudi relations and his broader anti-authoritarian internationalist vision, the contours of a Sanders-administration foreign policy are taking shape and could become a reality: Every poll shows Sanders beating Trump in a general election. As with domestic issues, Sanders’ influence over the terms of the Democrats’ foreign policy debate will be significant.

Single Payer Bill

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) unveiled Wednesday September 13, 2017 a new version of his plan to give everybody government-run health insurance, potentially opening a new chapter in the ongoing debate over how to make health care in the U.S. more affordable and available.

The plan calls for an overhaul of American health insurance with a souped-up, more generous version of Medicare replacing nearly all private health insurance ― and government exerting far more control over the cost of medical care. It would arguably be the most ambitious social welfare initiative in U.S. history, but Sanders told HuffPost in an interview Tuesday that he believes America is ready for it.

“The American people are catching on to where the Republicans are coming from, they see the limitations of the Affordable Care Act and they’re looking at the alternatives,” Sanders said. “And this is a rational alternative.”

That roster of co-sponsors includes a who’s-who list of potential Democratic presidential candidates for 2020, including Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Kamala Harris of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Also backing the bill are Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Al Franken of Minnesota, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall of New Mexico, Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.^[110]

Democracy for America

Bernie Sanders, U.S. Senate, Vermont, was endorsed by Democracy for America in 2018.

AFGE conference

February 2018 1,000 American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) attended t the union’s annual legislative-political conference in Washington DC. led by union President J. David Cox.

Speakers included Sens. Tim Kaine of Virginia, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

All the speakers spent a lot of their time on AFGE’s issues, denouncing Trump’s proposed pay freeze for federal workers, his call to virtually institute a spoils system in hiring and firing and praising the role of unions in creating, sustaining and defending the middle class, among other things. The difference was those three spoke more generally.

Kaine, the party’s vice-presidential nominee in 2016, led off the parade at the conference’s first working session on Feb. 12 by lambasting Trump’s knowledge, or lack of it, of the U.S. constitution.

“You take an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution and so do I,” the normally low-key Kaine declared. “I don’t want to give a power-hungry president an easier hand to sack people for doing your jobs, just because we insist on holding him accountable.”

And unionists are right to doubt Trump, Kaine said. “He’s worried people’s loyalty may be to the Constitution, not to him=,” the senator explained.

Booker, shouting through the occasional wind at a Feb. 14 Capitol Hill rally, was even more expansive and more general.

Evoking the power of love of country and opposition to hate symbolized by the civil rights movement, the up-and-coming New Jersey senator praised the U.S. people in general – and unionists in particular – for the “power of love” that movement showed, and for courage in “storming the beaches of Normandy to fight the Nazis and in refusing to move to the back of the bus” in Birmingham, Ala., the 1956 start of the modern civil rights crusade.

“Hatred comes in many forms,” Booker declared. They include “bigotry and homophobia, but also in attacking the basic dignity of men and women who work at full-time jobs but who still earn (pay) below the poverty line.”

“And we see voting rights, civil rights, women’s rights and labor’s rights being attacked every day” by Trump and the GOP, Booker said, though he did not mention the president’s name. “That is unacceptable in a nation dedicated to liberty and justice for all.”

“This is calling out for us, as agents of love,” to end that poverty and discrimination, Booker declared. “And we know we have work to do…You cannot love your country unless you love your country men and women.”

Sanders fell in between. He joined AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka as headliners at the union’s Feb. 13 rally in front of the federation’s building before its march on Veterans Affairs Department headquarters a block away.

And Sanders didn’t miss a chance to again sound key themes – demanding to reduce income inequality and enact single-payer government-run health care – which he pounded home on the campaign trail during his 2016 Democratic presidential nomination run.

“You are negotiating today on behalf of 300 million Americans who understand this country is about providing quality health care to veterans, the elderly, the poor and the sick,” the Vermonter declared. “Our job is not to allow Trump and his friends to privatize the VA. Our job is to strengthen the VA.”^[111]

JStreet PAC endorsement

In 2024 JStreet PAC endorsed Bernie Sanders.^[112]

Korea connection

Christine Ahn connections

Christine Ahn, Hyun Lee January 2019.

Teach-in with Ahn

Circa 2018 Christine Ahn joined Senator Bernie Sanders for a Move On teach-in commemorating the 15th anniversary of the U.S. war on Iraq, with 80,000 online viewers.^[113]

Congressional Progressive Caucus event

An article at In These Times by Rebecca Burns titled "Tax the Hell Out of the Rich, When They’re Alive and When They’re Dead" dated February 8, 2019 was also posted at the Congressional Progressive Caucus website:^[114],^[115]

"An incredible thing has happened in 2019: We’re actually talking seriously about taxing the rich. And the debate is not over whether to do it, but how.

Within the month of January, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders proposed separate measures that would, respectively, increase top marginal tax rates on income, levy a direct tax on wealth and interrupt intergenerational transfers of fortunes.

It’s important to note that these policies are not in any way mutually exclusive: When it comes to billionaires, we can tax them when they’re alive, and we can tax them when they’re dead!

But given that these proposals are already framing the terms of debate for the 2020 presidential contest, we can still ask which approach goes the furthest in abating inequality and removing the stranglehold of billionaires on our politics.

And, it turns out, there are a few different ways to answer that question. Warren’s wealth tax would raise the most money — around $2.75 trillion over the next decade, according to the calculations of experts backing her proposal. But the amount of money added to public coffers isn’t the only factor in evaluating a progressive taxation plan. Somewhat counter-intuitively, taxes on the super-rich should bring in less revenue over time because they are having a broader effect on reducing inequality and therefore the amount of concentrated wealth or income to be taxed.

That’s where two other sets of political considerations come in: How a plan to tax the rich will promote other beneficial effects, like shoring up worker bargaining power, and how it will send a political message and advance a broader working-class agenda.

There are of course also plenty of important details that go into how well a progressive tax plan actually works — how effectively it closes loopholes, how it identifies and counts assets to be taxed, etc. But those are highly technical in nature, and not as easily understood by the general public. So here, I’m going to consider the political messages that, to date, seem best conveyed through each approach.

Warren’s plan: It’s time for the rich to pay their fair share

Warren’s “ultra-millionaire” tax is sweeping in its ambition. It’s also the most radical, in the sense that we haven’t done it before.

Unlike higher income and estate taxes — which were in effect for decades — a wealth tax has primarily been the stuff of progressive economists’ fantasies. What’s more, one of the most popular proposals to date — put forward in a paper by the Institute for Policy Studies — has been a 1 percent tax on the wealthiest 0.1 percent, or those with assets of over $20 million. Warren’s proposal would tax fewer people — those with more than $50 million in assets, an estimated 75,000 families — but she would bump up the rate to 2 percent. Households with more than $1 billion in assets would get a 3 percent rate.

Warren’s proposal is extremely popular. A YouGov poll funded by Data For Progress found 61 percent overall support, including 76 percent support among Democrats and even a plurality of support among Republicans, 44 percent to 37 percent. It’s also earning accolades from center-left economists like Paul Krugman.

That doesn’t mean it’s not shaking up the status quo. At the heart of the policy is a legal argument that it’s not unconstitutional to tax wealth, and a moral and political argument that, in fact, we need to.

Where Warren’s proposal would probably be insufficient on its own is that it wouldn’t offer a particularly aggressive corrective to inequality over time. It would raise trillions for social programs, which is crucially important and would certainly have other beneficial political effects. But, as a result of the tax, the fabulously wealthy would be only slightly less fabulously so.

And while Warren has floated some potential programs that her wealth tax could pay for — universal childcare, student loan relief, millions of units of new affordable housing — campaigning on a wealth tax divorced from a specific political program could make it harder to mobilize people by laying out clear stakes.

Ocasio-Cortez: Tax the Rich or Torch the Planet

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez kicked off this blessed discussion last month, when asked during a “60 Minutes” interview how she would pay for a Green New Deal:

“You look at our tax rates back in the ’60s and when you have a progressive tax rate system. Your tax rate, you know, let’s say, from zero to $75,000 may be ten percent or 15 percent, et cetera. But once you get to, like, the tippy tops — on your 10 millionth dollar — sometimes you see tax rates as high as 60 or 70 percent.”

By even the most optimistic estimates, this would bring in only a quarter of the revenues Warren’s plan would generate.

But at a Wednesday forum hosted by Ocasio-Cortez and the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Economic Policy Institute President Thea Lee called hiking marginal rates for top earners the “obvious and optimal starting point.”

Among other political benefits, there’s evidence that higher income tax rates would change the behavioral calculus of owners and CEOs by curbing their bargaining for ever-higher earnings. If the last million dollars someone makes is going to go mostly to taxes anyway, there’s less incentive to fight for it by, for example, keeping employee’s pay stagnant.

Along these lines, the Institute for Policy Studies has proposed linking top income tax rates to the minimum wage.

Moreover, while wealth inequality is even greater than income inequality, the latter contributes to the former over time.

The Center for Economic Progress’ Eileen Appelbaum summarized this relationship at Wednesday’s forum. The top earners can’t spend their incomes on themselves, so they use them to buy more assets and continue to get wealthier.

“Unless we do something along the lines of what AOC has suggested, this situation will continue,” said Appelbaum.

Beyond these slightly more technical considerations, AOC’s framing has made the stakes crystal clear: If we want to save the planet, we can’t afford not to tax the rich.

Sanders: Abolish Billionaires

Bernie Sanders’ plan involves restoring top marginal tax rates on inheritances to where they were in the 1970s: 77 percent for estates over $1 billion.

The plan would also decrease the threshold for the inheritance tax from $11.18 million to $3.5 million and impose a 45 percent rate on this lower (but still very rich by any normal standard) tier. Even with this new threshold, just 0.2 percent of Americans would ever pay an estate tax. Thus, in the style of Occupy, the plan is called “For the 99.8 Percent Act.”

Again, Sanders’ plan would probably raise less revenue than Warren’s: About $315 billion over a decade. But by taking aim at the ultra-rich as a class, it also singles out the kind of dynastic wealth that allows a few families to wreak havoc on our political system. Just three families with multi-generational wealth — the Waltons, the Kochs, and the Mars — have a combined fortune of $343 billion, more than 3.5 million times the median wealth of U.S. families. And they use that wealth to fund all manner of right-wing policies.

The Right has steadily chipped away at the effectiveness of our existing estate tax for decades, painting it as a “death tax” on families who just lost loved ones. Admittedly, this plan would require billionaires to die before it raises significant revenue — an estimated $2.2 trillion.

Does that mean it’s vulnerable to the “death tax” rhetoric? Maybe. But in a delightfully petty move, the Sanders plan actually lists out how much money the rest of us would get when specific people like Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet depart this Earth — $101 billion, $74 billion and $64 billion, respectively.

Taken alongside Sanders’ broader efforts to target Bezos and the Waltons over worker pay, this plan sends a clear message: Billionaires are bad, and the sooner they and their unearned influence kick the solid-gold bucket, the better for the rest of us. And that message is gaining steam.

To achieve left priorities like a Green New Deal, Medicare for All and universal childcare, we probably need some version of all three of these types of taxes. But it’s important to evaluate not just how much of the price tag new progressive taxes would cover, but how they would transform the balance of power, invigorate our politics and mobilize Americans around achieving bold, transformative policies.

Meeting with Kim Jong-hoon

Kim Jong-hoon, a member of South Korea’s National Assembly and co-chair of the progressive Minjung Party, led a delegation to Washington on March 20-21 2018 to appeal to U.S. lawmakers about supporting efforts for peace on the Korean Peninsula.

The U.S. Congress and Senate should not just watch Trump’s maneuvers from the sidelines but play an active role to make sure the talks succeed in achieving genuine and lasting peace, he wrote in The Hill. The Minjung Party was borne out of the candlelight revolution that unseated former President Park Geun-hye and is composed of workers, farmers and the urban poor.

In a meeting with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Kim urged the senator to take the lead in building support for a successful summit:

No matter the motive for President Trump’s decision to meet with Kim Jong Un, dialogue is better than war. Military tension on the Korean peninsula had reached a feverish pitch last year, and real fear of impending war was shared by all Koreans, whether in the north or south. Leaders in Washington and the American people need to call on Trump to negotiate in good faith.

Senator Sanders expressed support for “peace talks between North Korea and the United States,” and the two lawmakers agreed to work together to facilitate dialogue between lawmakers of South Korea and the United States for a peaceful resolution of the U.S.-North Korea conflict.

Representative Kim also met with Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who also expressed support for the upcoming North Korea-U.S. summit. “Dialogue is the best path to peace,” she said and discussed the false missile alert that had caused terror among residents of Hawaii earlier this year. The two lawmakers agreed that the people of Korea and Hawaii share a stake in resolving the current crisis peacefully. Congresswoman Gabbard said she will introduce a House resolution in support of the upcoming North Korea-U.S. summit.

Representative Kim also met with Congressman Jim McGovern and Congressman Dwight Evans, who both agreed to support the peace process in Korea.

Representative Kim also met with Reverend Jesse Jackson. The two leaders released a joint statement in support of the upcoming peace talks, and Reverend Jackson agreed to travel to South Korea in the near future to meet with members of the National Assembly and civil society organizations to discuss joint efforts for peace.

Representative Kim also met with peace activists in Washington and New York. He thanked them for their solidarity for peace in Korea. For the grandmothers fighting against the U.S. THAAD system in the village of Soseongri, he said, “Let us work together and redouble our efforts to establish a lasting peace system on the Korean Peninsula.”^[116]

Korea Peace Now!

Korea Peace Now! Women Mobilizing to End the War Campaign Launch Posted on March 6, 2019:

Washington, DC — Following on the heels of the failed U.S.-North Korea summit in Hanoi, a delegation of South Korean women parliamentarians and civil society leaders will be in Washington, DC on March 11-13 to meet with U.S. members of Congress about getting diplomacy back on track for peace on the Korean Peninsula.

The South Korean Parliamentarians — Kwon Mi-hyuk, Lee Jae-jung, and Je Youn-kyung, all members of the Democratic Party of Korea — will hold closed-door meetings, roundtables, and a public event with members of the U.S. Congress. Among the members of Congress they are scheduled to meet with are Rep. Barbara Lee, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Rep. Andy Kim, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Rep. Grace Meng, and Rep. Carolyn Maloney.

Lee Jae-jung is the only woman on the Moon administration’s elite inter-Korean economic cooperation policy team.

The South Korean delegation is part of the official launch of the global campaign Korea Peace Now! Women Mobilizing to the End the War. Co-founded by Women Cross DMZ, Nobel Women’s Initiative, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, and the Korean Women’s Movement for Peace, the campaign is part of a growing movement pushing for an end to war and lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.^[117]

The delegation met with Sen. Bernie Sanders and urged him to introduce a Senate companion bill to H.Res. 152.

Members of the Korea Peace Now! delegation visit Sen. Bernie Sanders in Washington, D.C., on March 12, 2019. (photo by Allison Shelley)

National Nurses United lobby day

National Nurses United was live — in Washington, District of Columbia. May 8 2018;

Watch U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Keith Ellison, Rep. Ro Khanna and Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal address nurses at our annual lobby day. Over 150 nurses from 20 states have been on Capitol Hill today advocating for patient protections.

Anti-Pharma Bill

November 2018, Bernie Sanders and Ro Khanna unveiled a new bill that would direct the secretary of Health and Human Services to authorize generic competition for any name-brand drug whose average domestic cost exceeds the median price in five reference countries: Canada, the U.K., Germany, France and Japan.

“The government is giving an exclusive monopoly to pharmaceuticals,” Khanna told HuffPost. “If a company abuses that grant by fleecing American consumers, then they lose that privilege, that property grant, that subsidy from the government.”

If the bill — dubbed The Prescription Drug Price Relief Act — were to become law, experts anticipate that drug companies would dramatically reduce prices rather than risk ceding market share to a generic competitor. “No company would want to lose its legal monopoly as a consequence of charging U.S. residents prices higher than in the reference countries,” said Jamie Love, director of Knowledge Ecology International, a nonprofit that specializes in intellectual property issues.

The bill from Sanders and Khanna isn’t going to become law anytime soon. It faces fervent opposition from Republicans, who will still control the Senate when Congress reconvenes next year. Even getting a vote in the House will depend on whether the Democrats in charge of key committees decide to greenlight it ― a choice that will likely depend at least in part on the whims of top leadership.

But the legislation nevertheless sends a statement about the priorities of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and its intent to deliver on the campaign promises Democrats issued around the 2018 midterms, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s election night pledge to “take real, very, very strong legislative action to negotiate down the price control of prescription drugs.”

Pharmaceutical firms typically argue that long-term monopolies are necessary to justify the money they spend on research and development. And major drug companies do spend billions of dollars a year on R&D ― but not nearly as much as they spend on marketing, meaning that most of the costs recouped by monopoly profits aren’t essential to groundbreaking science. Nearly all research funded by pharmaceutical companies, moreover, piggybacks on government-backed research conducted by the National Institutes of Health. One study published earlier this year concluded that every one of the 210 new drugs approved by the FDA between 2010 and 2016 relied on at least some government-funded research, reflecting over $100 billion of public investment.

“American consumers pay far too much for drugs, not because it is costly to manufacture them, or even because of the expense of research and development,” said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, a public interest nonprofit. “We pay too much because the U.S. government grants patents and other monopolies to brand-name drug makers, and then stands aside as Big Pharma exploits those monopolies to price gouge.”

The United States is in a class by itself on prescription drug costs, but the five reference countries included in the Sanders bill are a relatively generous comparison pool. Three of them ― Germany, Japan and Canada ― are in the top five in per-capita pharmaceutical spending among OECD nations. International reference pricing is common among wealthy nations, with 29 of 31 European Union nations taking foreign drug prices into account when considering domestic price policy, according to the European Commission.

Patents on prescription drugs are a longstanding feature of both American law and international trade agreements, in part due to the outsized influence of the pharmaceutical lobby within the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. But international law provides various exceptions patent-holders’ privileges when it comes to public health ― which is why so many countries party to the World Trade Organization and other trade treaties can obtain lower drug prices than the U.S. does. Though Khanna and Sanders crafted their bill to crack down on the monopoly, the legislation would not technically violate a drug company’s patent ― just change the legal substance of what that patent secured.

“Drug corporations charge us hundreds of thousands of dollars for a drug that was created with taxpayer dollars because they can,” said Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works, a nonprofit that works extensively with Medicare costs and access. “We don’t have to let them rip us off.”^[118]

Relief of Iran sanctions letter

According to the NIAC website, in March 2020 a team of prominent members of Congress urged their colleagues to sign a letter to the White House calling for immediate relief of sanctions to help ordinary Iranians combat the Coronavirus pandemic.

This is a critically important effort coming amid the Iranian people's hour of need. We need to make sure that Iranians have all the support they need to get medicine and respirators, food and basic goods and services to weather the pandemic. By supporting AOC's letter, we can send a powerful message to the Trump administration: now is not the time to kick the Iranian people when they are down. The U.S. must ease sanctions and send aid to help combat the spread of Coronavirus.

Take action today: urge your Representative to sign AOC's letter calling for urgent humanitarian relief for Iran.

Original signers of the letter include: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Jared Huffman (D-CA), Joaquin Castro (D-TX), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Sens. Bernie Sanders (D-VT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Ed Markey (D-MA).^[119]

"Standing with the Iranian people"

NIAC Action Executive Director Jamal Abdi issued the following statement after the U.S. Senate voted to proceed to a dangerous Iran sanctions bill hours after ISIS claimed responsibility for attacks that killed at least 12 and injured 42 at Iran's parliament and the Imam Khomeini shrine:

"It is a shameful day for the U.S. Congress to choose to advance a new Iran sanctions bill mere hours after Iran's citizens were terrorized by ISIS. The U.S. Congress, along with the Trump administration, appear hell bent on throwing away the tremendous asset of the Iranian people's goodwill toward the United States. Few lawmakers even took the time to condemn the attack, and only seven Senators voted against proceeding to this dangerous bill at the worst conceivable time. Senators Tom Carper, Dick Durbin, Kirsten Gillibrand, Jeff Merkley, Rand Paul, Bernie Sanders and Tom Udall deserve credit for standing with the Iranian people and voting against the motion to proceed.

"This response diverges both from the empathetic reactions seen from our European allies, and from the show of support that Iran offered the United States following the attacks of September 11, 2001. The Senate's actions today do not reflect the values of the American people, who condemn hatred and terrorism, understand firsthand the pain and fear the Iranian people are experiencing, and stand in solidarity rather than against the Iranian people at this time."^[120]

Return to Iran Deal

From Mana Mostatabi National Iranian American Council.

Washington, D.C. March 20 2019 — Yesterday, reports emerged that 2020 presidential contenders Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders joined Elizabeth Warren in backing the United States’ return to the Iran nuclear deal, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

In response, NIAC Action Executive Director Jamal Abdi issued the following statement:

“We commend Senators Sanders, Harris, and Warren for committing to reversing Trump’s failed Iran policy, and for recognizing the urgent need to return to the JCPOA and the successes resulting from the diplomatic playbook first written under the Obama administration.

“Returning the U.S. to compliance with the JCPOA is a logical first step for the next U.S. president—and candidates like Harris, Sanders, and Warren know this. Their commitment to a policy centered on engagement with Iran advances the Obama administration’s multilateral diplomacy that successfully yielded real security gains. This starkly contrasts with Trump’s impetuous decision to withdraw from the accord and impose sanctions that do nothing more than devastate the Iranian people, increase the risk of a nuclear-armed Iran, and bolster the chance of a disastrous war.”

Abdi continued:

“Both Sanders and Harris elevate diplomacy as the way to address America’s many outstanding concerns with Iran. The reality is that without a return to the deal, the U.S. has no leverage to shape Iran’s calculations, including on human rights and regional issues. The Trump administration has clearly illustrated how America’s failure to abide by its JCPOA commitments has greatly hindered its ability to extract concessions from Iran. Worse yet, Trump has elevated war hawks to key positions in the administration, many of whom hope to drive the U.S. into war with Iran.

“As a JCPOA return emerges as the consensus position for 2020 candidates, we urge all those vying to replace Trump to publicly commit their support for a U.S. JCPOA return. Only by returning to the JCPOA can the U.S. ensure that Iran does not walk away from its far-reaching nuclear commitments and that the window for diplomacy with Iran remains open.”^[121]

NIAC praise

July 16 2019 Washington DC – Moments ago, Reps. Barbara Lee, Jan Schakowsky, and David Price introduced a resolution calling for the United States to return to compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or Iran deal, from which President Trump withdrew in May 2018.

In response, NIAC President Jamal Abdi issued the following statement:

“Donald Trump’s decision to abandon the Iran nuclear deal has put the U.S. on the brink of war with Iran and threatened to undo the hard won constraints against Iran’s nuclear program. Thankfully, many Members of Congress recognize that there is no military solution to the present crisis, and that the best way to de-escalate is for the U.S. to return to compliance with the nuclear deal. Representatives Lee, Schakowsky and Price should be commended for their years of leadership in advancing peace and diplomacy, including by introducing this important resolution.

“NIAC strongly supports a U.S. return to its JCPOA commitments and first issued a white paper in support of such a move last November. We proudly supported the DNC’s adoption of a resolution committing to return the U.S. to its JCPOA commitments. And we advocated for and welcome the strong majority of Democratic Presidential contenders who have also committed to returning to our diplomatic obligations — including Warren, Sanders, Harris, Buttigieg, Biden, Gabbard, and O’Rourke.

#StopPompeo

NIAC April 12, 2018 · NIAC Action is proud to stand alongside U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Brian Schatz , U.S. Senator Tina Smith, Rep. Ro Khanna, and Congresswoman Barbara Lee to demand that the U.S. Senate block the confirmation of Mike Pompeo. #StopPompeo

Thank you to MoveOn.org and all the other amazing organizations and grassroots activists for this event! We're lucky to have allies like Indivisible Guide, J Street, Center for Victims of Torture, Win Without War, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, CAIR, and many, many more!!!

Yasmine Taeb also spoke.

Democratic senators denounce West Bank annexation plan

(June 7, 2019 / JNS) Six Democratic senators introduced a non-binding resolution on Thursday denouncing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s campaign promise to annex parts of Judea and Samaria.

Two of them, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), are running for the Democratic nomination for president next year.

“Unilateral annexation of portions of the West Bank would jeopardize prospects for a two-state solution, harm Israel’s relationship with its Arab neighbors, threaten Israel’s Jewish and democratic identity, and undermine Israel’s security,” stated the resolution.

It mentioned that “the policy of the United States should be to preserve conditions conducive to a negotiated two state solution.”

The other senators who introduced the measure were Jeff Merkley (D-Wash.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).^[122]

Climate Justice Alliance connection

Climate Justice Alliance June 25 2019·

Frontline community leaders from across the country, representing the #CJAMember groups Black Dirt Farm Collective, Energy Justice Network, Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), Kentuckians for the Commonwealth and the National Family Farm Coalition met with Senator Bernie Sanders in his office on Capitol Hill, to discuss how we can move the #JustTransition to a #RegenerativeEconomy and push for #ClimateJustice

"Be HEARD" Act

April 9 2019, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), top Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, was joined by Congresswoman Katherine Clark (D-MA-5), Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus, and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-MA-7), to introduce the Bringing an End to Harassment by Enhancing Accountability and Rejecting Discrimination (Be HEARD) in the Workplace Act, legislation which takes critical steps to ensure businesses have more resources to prevent harassment and workers have more support when they seek accountability and justice, and sends a clear message to those who think they can get away with assault or harassment on the job: time is up.

Senator Murray announced the introduction at a news conference with survivors and advocates who shared their personal stories about workplace assault and harassment, including Adriana Cazorla, a Washington state domestic worker and advocate with National Domestic Workers Alliance, and Maria del Carmen Ruelas, farm worker with Justice for Migrant Women Advocates who also resides in Washington state. Additionally, leaders from the National Women's Law Center (NWLC), The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) participated and highlighted the urgent need to pass the legislation.

“No matter who you are or where you work—whether you are the only woman on the board, or a janitor, or farm worker, you should be treated fairly, respectfully, and with dignity. This should be true no matter your gender or race, your religion or sexual orientation or age—and regardless of whether you have a disability or are a veteran.” said Senator Murray. “For far too long and for far too many people in our country this hasn’t been true. So today, I’m proud to be standing up to fight for change and make clear that time is up.”

In addition to Senator Murray, the Senate bill is co-sponsored by U.S. Senators Kamala Harris (D-CA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Bob Casey (D-PA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL). The House bill is being introduced by Congresswoman Katherine Clark (D-MA-5), Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-MA-7), Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin (D-MI-8), and Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-FL-26).^[123]

“Unstoppable Women Workers”

Washington, DC -- From July 10-12 2019, in the midst a growing women’s movement, a delegation of domestic workers and farmworkers led by Jane Fonda and prominent activists lobbied Congress for safe and dignified workplaces.

The delegation, dubbed the “Unstoppable Women Workers,” included Ai-jen Poo of National Domestic Workers Alliance, Monica Ramirez of National Farmworker Women’s Alliance, Fatima Goss Graves of National Women’s Law Center, and others.

Guided by farmworker women and domestic workers, many of whom had experienced labor exploitation and sexual violence on the job, the delegation met with key lawmakers, including Senator Bernie Sanders (VT), Senator Patty Murray (WA), Senator Cory Booker (NJ), Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT), Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (WA).

Policy Demands Include:

Expanding Title VII of the Civil Rights Acts to extend protections to all workers.
Supporting the Fairness for Farm Workers Act to ensure that farmworkers receive overtime compensation.
Passing a Federal Domestic Workers Bill of Rights to provide the domestic workers with basic labor protections, including the development of a new framework and mechanism that can extend

safety-net benefits to domestic workers.

The delegation additionally held a congressional luncheon on July 11, and a public forum at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center on July 12 that included Jane Fonda as the keynote speaker.

“The issue of workers rights has been very important to me for a long time. But with the rise of the TIME’S UP and #MeToo movements, this is a new reality.” said Jane Fonda, Academy Award winning actress and activist. “If we are truly going to confront and solve the issues of dignity, equality, rights and safety, we have to stand in alliance with our sisters across all sectors. I am honored to be here with domestic workers and farm workers as we call on Congress for policies that will uphold their rights and dignity. We are here for the long haul.”

“Domestic workers and farm workers are proud to be a part of a growing movement of women that are transforming the way we live and work in America,” said Ai-jen Poo, executive director of National Domestic Workers Alliance. “The workers who have been the least visible and most vulnerable are now at the center of our solutions, which means that when we win, no one will be left behind.”

“As we speak, many farmworkers are working 15 hour days to cultivate and harvest the fruits and vegetables that we eat,” said Mily Trevino-Sauceda, co-director of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas. “Hundreds of farmworker women around the country are leading to create change for our community. It’s imperative that we work together to ensure safe and dignified working conditions for all working women.”

“As care workers, we provide care to our loved ones and our most precious possessions. Our work makes all other work possible, yet our exclusion from many labor laws makes us vulnerable to exploitation and abuse,” said Myrla Baldonado, domestic worker and organizer with Pilipino Workers Center. “We need to pass stronger laws and enforce them to protect all of us, not just some. We ask you to stand with us. We must change the way America cares.”

This effort builds on this year’s Unstoppable Day of Action, which for the first time brought together more than 100 domestic workers and farmworker women to the nation’s capital to push for an expansion of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act among other workplace laws.^[124]

Fracking ban bill

February 12, 2020 Press Release.Today, Reps. Darren Soto (FL-09) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) introduced H.R. 5867, the Ban Fracking Act, a federal bill to phase out fracking nationwide in the United States. A companion bill was introduced in the Senate by Senators Bernie Sanders (VT-I) and Jeff Merkley (OR-D).

The Ban Fracking Act would institute an immediate federal ban on all new federal permits for fracking-related infrastructure and a ban on fracking within 2,500 feet of homes and schools by 2021. Then, starting in 2025, it would ban fracking nationwide. The legislation also initiates a just transition for the working families in the fracking industry. The bill directs the Department of Labor to partner with other federal agencies and stakeholders, including representatives of organized labor, to develop a plan to prioritize the placement of fossil fuel workers into good-paying jobs in the communities in which they live as the United States moves quickly to an energy system based on sustainable energy and energy efficiency.

The bill highlights the dangers of fracking to public health, workers and communities, and averting climate change, and commissions a nationwide Environmental Protection Agency survey of fracked oil and natural gas wells.

“We cannot deny the overwhelming scientific consensus any longer—fracking is a threat to our health, safety and environment,” said Soto. “If we want to transition from fossil fuel emissions as we work towards building a 100 percent clean economy, pulling back from fracking is a critical first step. Failure to act will only make the crisis at hand even more detrimental for future generations of Americans.” ^[125]

Staff

The following have worked as staff members for Bernie Sanders:^[126]

'Top Economists to Advise Sanders on Fed Reform'

On October 20, 2011, Bernie Sanders released a press release titled "Top Economists to Advise Sanders on Fed Reform":^[127]

"WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 – Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and other nationally-renowned economists agreed today to serve on a panel of experts to help Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) draft legislation to reform the Federal Reserve.

Sanders announced formation of his expert advisory panel in the wake of a damning report that faulted apparent conflicts of interest by bank-picked board members at the 12 regional Fed banks.

Top executives from Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase, General Electric and other firms sat on the boards of regional Federal Reserve banks while their firms benefited from the central bank’s policies during the financial crisis, the Government Accountability Office investigation found. The dual roles created an appearance of a conflict of interest, according to the GAO.

After the report was issued Wednesday, Sanders said he would work with top economists to develop legislation to restructure the Fed and tighten rules on conflicts of interest, ensure that the Fed fulfills its full-employment mandate, increase transparency, protect consumers and reduce income inequality.

Sanders’ panel of experts includes:

Joseph Stiglitz, the 2001 winner of the Nobel Prize. The economics professor at Columbia University is a former chief economist for the World Bank.
Jeffrey Sachs, director of The Earth Institute and an economics professor at Columbia University. He also is special advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Robert Reich, Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. Reich has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He also served on President-Elect Obama’s transition advisory board. In 2008, Time Magazine named him one of the ten most successful cabinet secretaries of the century.
James K. Galbraith, Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. Chair in Government/Business Relations and Professor of Government at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin. Galbraith served in several positions on the staff of the U.S. Congress, including Executive Director of the Joint Economic Committee.
Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, the premier research organization focused on U.S. living standards and labor markets.
William Black, associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. He worked with the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation and the Office of Thrift Supervision.
Nomi Prins, a senior fellow at Demos, was a managing director at Goldman Sachs, a senior manager at Bear Stearns in London, a senior strategist at Lehman Brothers, and an analyst at the Chase Manhattan Bank (now JPM Chase)
William Greider, author of Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country, a monumental account of how the American central bank, cloistered and protected from public accountability, exercises its control over the US economy – workers, consumers, investors.
Jane D'Arista, an Economic Policy Institute research associate, has written on the history of U.S. monetary policy and financial regulation, The former Boston University School of Law professor previously served as a staff economist for Congress.
Tim Canova, professor of economic law and co-director of the Center for Global Law & Development at the Chapman University School of Law in Orange, Calif. He was an early critic of financial deregulation and warned of the dangers of the bubble economy.
Robert Johnson, senior fellow and director of the Project on Global Finance at the Roosevelt Institute. He was chief economist of the Senate Banking Committee and a senior economist for the Senate Budget Committee.
Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. He was a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a consultant for the World Bank and the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress.
Gerald Epstein, chair of the economics department at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Epstein also is the co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute.
Robert Auerbach, professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs with the University of Texas at Austin. Auerbach was an economist with the House banking committee during the tenure of four Federal Reserve Chairmen: Arthur Burns, William Miller, Paul Volcker, and Alan Greenspan. Auerbach also served as an economist in the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Domestic Monetary Affairs during the first year of the Ronald Reagan administration and as a financial economist with the U.S. Federal Reserve System.
Roger Hickey, Co-Director of the Campaign for America's Future. In the late 1980s he and Jeff Faux created the Economic Policy Institute.
Robert L. Borosage is the founder and president of the Institute for America's Future and co-director of its sister organization, the Campaign for America's Future.
Robert Pollin, co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute and economics professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He has worked with the Joint Economic Committee and the U.S. Competitiveness Policy Council.
L. Randall Wray, a professor of economics and research director of the Center for Full Employment and Price Stability at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and a Senior Scholar at the Levy Economics Institute.
Stephanie Kelton, associate professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and a research scholar at the Center for Full Employment and Price Stability.

The need for major reforms at the Federal Reserve was driven home by the GAO findings announced Wednesday and in an earlier report issued on July 21. Both unprecedented audits of the Federal Reserve were required by a Sanders’ amendment to last year’s Wall Street reform law...

PSOL Meets with American Members of Congress

Fernanda Melchionna Facebook Post Dated August 14, 2023 (L-R) Taliria Petrone, Nydia Velazquez, Celia Xakriaba, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Samia Bomfim and Fernanda Melchionna

On August 14, 2023, Fernanda Melchionna posted an image with Nydia Velazquez, Celia Xakriaba, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Taliria Petrone on Facebook:^[128]

"Very important the support of the US congressman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in defending our mandates. Preliminary reports of the representations against left-wing MPs begin reading on Wednesday at the Ethics Council. Ocasio-Cortez is in Brazil with a delegation of American congressmen who today participated in a technical meeting at the Commission of the Amazon and Native Peoples. She spoke about the need to defeat the extreme right in the world, including defending feminist, left-wing and fighting mandates."

It was reported at The Nation on August 22, 2023 in an article titled "AOC and Democratic Colleagues Learn Lessons From Latin-America’s Resurgent Left"^[129] that the tour included Brazil, Chile, and Colombia. Representatives Ocasio-Cortez and Nydia Velazquez of New York, Joaquin Castro and Greg Casar of Texas, and Maxwell Frost of Florida, along with Senator Bernie Sanders’s chief of staff, Misty Rebik. The trip was sponsored by the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

External links

References

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↑ MSNBC The 25 best things we learned from Bernie Sanders’ book 05/28/15 01:38 PM—Updated 05/28/15 07:17 PM By Alex Seitz-Wald
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↑ MSNBC The 25 best things we learned from Bernie Sanders’ book 05/28/15 01:38 PM—Updated 05/28/15 07:17 PM By Alex Seitz-Wald
↑ Daily Beast, Michael Moynihan Sanderistas02.27.16 11:01 PM ET When Bernie Sanders Thought Castro And The Sandinistas Could Teach America A Lesson
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[contactcongress-1] Contacting The Congress website: Bernie Sanders (accessed on Aug. 24, 2010)

[2] Socialist Alternative NC Triangle X Post Dated April 23, 2022 (accessed July 16, 2024)

[3] Archive Link Socialist Alternative NC Triangle X Post Dated April 23, 2022 (accessed July 16, 2024)

[4] Socialist Alternative NC Triangle Facebook Post Dated April 22, 2022 (accessed July 16, 2024)

[5] Archive Link Socialist Alternative NC Triangle Facebook Post Dated April 22, 2022 (accessed July 16, 2024)

[6] [1]

[7] ttp://www.politico.com/arena/bio/bernie_sanders.html

[8] Outsider in the House, By Bernie Sanders, Huck Gutman, page 14

[9] NY Times, Bernie Sanders’s Kibbutz Found. Surprise: It’s Socialist. By STEVEN ERLANGERFEB. 5, 2016

[10] Frontpage, BERNIE SANDERS SPENT MONTHS AT MARXIST-STALINIST KIBBUTZ February 4, 2016 Daniel Greenfield

[11] [http://www.dsausa.org/bernie_sanders_and_black_lives_matter_dl DL Bernie Sanders and Black Lives Matter Posted by Lawrence Ware on 07.22.15]

[12] PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW By Dateline D.C. Sunday November 12, 2006]

[13] ttp://dailycaller.com/2015/07/17/bernie-sanders-shunned-his-socialist-friends/ The Daily Caller, Bernie Sanders ‘Shunned’ His Socialist Friends Patrick Howley Political Reporter 9:53 PM 07/17/2015]

[14] ttp://dailycaller.com/2015/07/17/bernie-sanders-shunned-his-socialist-friends/ The Daily Caller, Bernie Sanders ‘Shunned’ His Socialist Friends Patrick Howley Political Reporter 9:53 PM 07/17/2015]

[15] ttp://dailycaller.com/2015/07/17/bernie-sanders-shunned-his-socialist-friends/ The Daily Caller, Bernie Sanders ‘Shunned’ His Socialist Friends Patrick Howley Political Reporter 9:53 PM 07/17/2015]

[16] PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW By Dateline D.C. Sunday November 12, 2006]

[17] Thursday, June 13, 2013 Tipping Point: Burlington's Progressive Revolution Greg Guma]

[18] [WSJ Sept. 24., 1990, page A16]

[19] Outsider in the House, by Bernie Sanders, p. 67 , Jun 17, 1997

[20] [WSJ Sept. 24., 1990, page A16]

[21] MSNBC The 25 best things we learned from Bernie Sanders’ book 05/28/15 01:38 PM—Updated 05/28/15 07:17 PM By Alex Seitz-Wald

[22] Daily Beast, Michael Moynihan Sanderistas02.27.16 11:01 PM ET When Bernie Sanders Thought Castro And The Sandinistas Could Teach America A Lesson

[23] Daily Beast, Michael Moynihan Sanderistas02.27.16 11:01 PM ET When Bernie Sanders Thought Castro And The Sandinistas Could Teach America A Lesson

[24] Yahoo Politics, CAMPAIGN 2016 Bernie Sanders’ radical past: How the Vermont firebrand started wearing a suit and gave up on taking over big companies Hunter Walker National Correspondent January 17, 2016

[25] Daily Beast, Michael Moynihan Sanderistas02.27.16 11:01 PM ET When Bernie Sanders Thought Castro And The Sandinistas Could Teach America A Lesson

[26] Daily Beast, Michael Moynihan Sanderistas02.27.16 11:01 PM ET When Bernie Sanders Thought Castro And The Sandinistas Could Teach America A Lesson

[27] MSNBC The 25 best things we learned from Bernie Sanders’ book 05/28/15 01:38 PM—Updated 05/28/15 07:17 PM By Alex Seitz-Wald

[28] Daily Beast, Michael Moynihan Sanderistas02.27.16 11:01 PM ET When Bernie Sanders Thought Castro And The Sandinistas Could Teach America A Lesson

[29] MSNBC The 25 best things we learned from Bernie Sanders’ book 05/28/15 01:38 PM—Updated 05/28/15 07:17 PM By Alex Seitz-Wald

[30] Daily Beast, Michael Moynihan Sanderistas02.27.16 11:01 PM ET When Bernie Sanders Thought Castro And The Sandinistas Could Teach America A Lesson

[31] Yahoo Politics, CAMPAIGN 2016 Bernie Sanders’ radical past: How the Vermont firebrand started wearing a suit and gave up on taking over big companies Hunter Walker National Correspondent January 17, 2016

[32] Guardian, November 8, 1989

[33] AIM Should the NSA Be Watching Senator Sanders? Cliff Kincaid — January 6, 2014

[34] PWW Nov. 10 1990, page 23

[35] Second Annual Socialist Scholars Conference program.

[36] SSE Tenth Annual Conference Program, 1992

[37] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20101104165328/http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/pen-l/1997m03.d/msg00084.htm

[38] PWW January 21 1995, page 4

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[68] PW Socialist-endorsed Tiffany Cabán wins Queens district attorney primary June 26, 2019 2:37 PM CDT BY TINA NANNARONE AND GABE FALSETTA

[69] [https://www.dsausa.org/democratic-left/community-solidarity-aids-striking-massachusetts-bus-drivers/ DL Community solidarity aids striking Massachusetts bus drivers AUGUST 27, 2019 by JACK CLARK]

[70] October 21, 1998, Members Of Congress Call On Clinton To Release Key Information On Gen. Pinochet To Spanish Judge

[71] DEAR COLLEAGUE LETTER CSN-MADISON, MAY 15, 2002

[72] FOR February 2006 Peace Presence Update

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[89] [ http://www.embavenez-us.org/_boston/news.php?nid=2403 Venezuela and Vermont Make Deal for Low-Income Community ]

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[92] Stop Wall Street speculation that drives up gas prices for families, Peoples World, by: U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, April 16 2012

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[103] Monday, 22 June 2015 20:49 Bernie Sanders Wows Hollywood Progressives at Two L.A. Fundraisers Written by Tina Daunt | The Hollywood Reporter

[104] PW, Netroots Conference seeks ignition of Democratic base by: Special to PeoplesWorld.org July 13 2015

[105] Progressive Democrats of America Bring Movement Pressure to Dems Through Bernie Sanders Campaign By carldavidson on Jul 14, 2015

[106] PAF

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[108] [2] PW Workers, civil rights leaders, elected officials to converge on Mississippi Nissan plant March 2, 2017

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[111] Before big union crowd, parade of pols trashes TrumpFebruary 14, 2018 4:06 PM CST BY MARK GRUENBERG

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[124] NDWA Contact: Marzena Zukowska, NDWA: marzena@domesticworkers.org, (872) 216-3684 From July 10-12, domestic workers and farmworkers lobbied DC lawmakers for safe and dignified workplaces

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