WASHINGTON, June 21 -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, issued the following news release and a letter: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), sent a letter today to Amazon Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy initiating a HELP Committee investigation into the abysmal safety record in Amazon's warehouses and the company's treatment of workers who are injured in those warehouses. Sanders also published a website where Amazon w  more

WASHINGTON, June 22 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release on June 21, 2023: Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) joined a Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on protecting the civil rights of LGBTQ+ Americans today. The hearing, titled "Protecting Pride: Defending the Civil Rights of LGBTQ+ Americans"responds to rising discrimination, threats, and hate crimes towards LGBTQ+ people across the country. A recent study noted that anti-LGBTQ+ attacks online and in-person increased 3  more

WASHINGTON, June 21 -- Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, issued the following news release on June 20, 2023: Oregon's U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley and Vermont's U.S. Senator Peter Welch teamed up with U.S. Representative Debbie Dingell (D-MI-06) today to introduce the End Price Gouging for Medications Act. The high cost of drugs forces many Americans to face an impossible choice between managing their health or putting food on the table. This bicameral bill would ensure that Americans would not be payi  more

WASHINGTON, June 23 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: One year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and stripped women of a fundamental constitutional right, Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) called for the restoration of abortion rights and joined legislation to protect and expand access to reproductive health care, including the Women's Health Protection Act, the Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act, and the Let Doctors Provide Reproductive Health Care Act  more

WASHINGTON, June 24 -- Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vermont, issued the following news release on June 23, 2023: Representatives Becca Balint (VT-AL) and Ritchie Torres (NY-15)- both Co-Chairs of the Congressional Equality Caucus - today reintroduced the "LGBTQI+ and Women's History Education Act of 2023" following a string of states that have proposed and/or implemented harmful and discriminatory anti-LGBTQI+ education laws. The bill authorizes the Director of the National Museum of American History   more

WASHINGTON, June 22 -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, issued the following statement on June 21, 2023: * * * Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), a senior member and former chair of the HELP Committee, today released the following statement announcing the HELP Committee will hold a hearing in the Fall on the disastrous Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade: "The fallout from the Dob  more

WASHINGTON, June 22 -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, issued the following news release on June 21, 2023: As the recent debt ceiling deal increased military spending to $886 billion for fiscal year 2024, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), along with Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), today introduced legislation that would   more

WASHINGTON, June 24 -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, issued the following commentary to the Fox News from June 23, 2023: * * * The Greed of Big Pharma Cannot Continue Half the new drugs hitting the market cost more than $220,000, while Big Pharma rakes in our cash. The American healthcare system is broken. Despite spending twice as much per capita on healthcare as the people of any other nation, nearly $13,000 per person, we have 85 million Americans who are uninsured or underinsured and m  more

WASHINGTON, June 21 -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, issued the following news release and letter: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), sent a letter today to Amazon Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy initiating a HELP Committee investigation into the abysmal safety record in Amazon's warehouses and the company's treatment of workers who are injured i  more

WASHINGTON, June 21 -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, issued the following news release on June 19, 2023: On Wednesday, June 21, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee will be marking up the most significant set of labor law reforms in modern American history. At a time when this country is experiencing more income and wealth inequality than ever before, the committee intends to pass legislation wh  more

WASHINGTON, June 23 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) introduced three bills to limit toxic substance exposure among veterans, educate servicemembers on the impact of burn pits and other airborne hazards, and improve data collection on veterans affected by toxic exposure. The bills build on passage of the landmark Honoring Our PACT Act of 2022, a bipartisan bill to expand health care and benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits and o  more

WASHINGTON, June 21 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release on June 20, 2023: Senators Peter Welch (D-VT) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) today introduced the End Price Gouging for Medications Act, legislation to lower drug costs for all Americans and end pharmaceutical price gouging. A 2021 study reported that Americans pay 2.4 times what people in other countries pay for prescription drugs. This legislation would require drug companies to offer prescription drugs in the Unit  more

WASHINGTON, June 23 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release on June 22, 2023: Senator Peter Welch's (D-VT) bipartisan bill, the Testing, Rapid Analysis, and Narcotic Quality (TRANQ) Research Act, passed the United States Senate today with unanimous support. The bill, co-led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), will direct the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to support research and other activities related to identifying xylazine, novel synthetic opioids, and   more

WASHINGTON, June 23 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release on June 22, 2023, and a letter: Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) joined Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN),Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, and Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, this week to send a letter to the CEOs of Meta, Alphabet, and Twitter, requesting information related to recent layoffs among staff dedicated to addressing disinformation during the 2024 e  more