WASHINGTON, May 16 (TNSres) -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, issued the following news release on May 15, 2024: As part of his investigation into the outrageously high price of Ozempic and Wegovy in the United States, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today released a stunning new report exposing the potential of weight loss drugs to bankrupt American health care. In the report, HELP Committee Majority Staff modeled h  more

WASHINGTON, May 17 -- Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: * * * Today, Reps. Grace F. Napolitano (D-CA-31) and Becca Balint (D-VT-At Large) introduced H.R. 8444, the Mental Health in Schools Act of 2024, to create two new grant programs within the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to help K-12 schools develop mental health education programs and to promote careers in mental health to high school students. "Stigma-reducing youth men  more

WASHINGTON, May 16 -- Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: * * * Today, Rep. Becca Balint introduced the Mental Health Emergency Needs in Disasters (MEND) Act. Following the devastating 2023 flooding in Vermont and as we face a growing climate crisis, Rep. Balint is introducing federal legislation to provide communities with the mental health support they need in disaster recovery. Congresswoman Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon (PR-AL) joins Rep. Balint as a co-lead of the   more

WASHINGTON, May 18 -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, issued the following news release on May 17, 2024: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), today introduced legislation to address the dental care crisis in America. The Comprehensive Dental Care Reform Act of 2024 would expand Medicare, Medicaid, and the VA to provide comprehensive dental coverage to all of our nation's seniors, veterans, and low-income children, indivi  more

WASHINGTON, May 15 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: In a recent letter to President Biden, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) joined with nine other senators from disaster-impacted states to urge the administration to reevaluate and resubmit its request for supplemental disaster funding. The letter comes as Congress is reviewing requests for FY2025 funding priorities and as communities across the country are still struggling to fully recover f  more

WASHINGTON, May 16 -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, issued the following news release on May 15, 2024: In a recent letter to President Biden, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) joined with nine other senators from disaster-impacted states to urge the administration to reevaluate and resubmit its request for supplemental disaster funding. The letter comes as Congress is reviewing requests for FY2025 funding priorities and as communities across the country are still struggling  more

WASHINGTON, May 15 -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, issued the following op-ed to The Guardian: * * * In 1776, Americans, living in a British colony, put their lives on the line and fought for independence from the king of England. They wrote the strongest democratic constitution that had ever been written as they created a new nation. That was a pivotal moment in American history. In 1861, civil war broke out in the United States and more than 600,000 Americans died in the war between the   more

WASHINGTON, May 18 -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, issued the following news release on May 17, 2024: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), today introduced legislation to address the dental care crisis in America. The Comprehensive Dental Care Reform Act of 2024 would expand Medicare, Medicaid, and the VA to provide comprehensive dental coverage to a  more

WASHINGTON, May 16 -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, issued the following news release on May 15, 2024: As part of his investigation into the outrageously high price of Ozempic and Wegovy in the United States, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today released a stunning new report exposing the potential of weight loss drugs to bankrupt American health c  more

WASHINGTON, May 17 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: BURLINGTON, VT - Today, U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) convened Vermont business owners and employers for a roundtable in Burlington, Vermont, on the rising costs of health care and prescription drugs. The roundtable comes ahead of Sen. Welch's participation in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing next Tuesday examining prescription drug prices, competition, and innovation, and how to ensure medications are  more

WASHINGTON, May 14 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: As America celebrated Mother's Day this weekend, U.S. Senators Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) unveiled the bipartisan Baby Changing on Board Act, legislation that would require each Amtrak train to be outfitted with baby changing stations in all accessible restrooms and to post adequate signage indicating their availability. The bill directs Amtrak to utilize current funding streams to inst  more

WASHINGTON, May 15 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: Today, U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) released the following statement applauding the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)'s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the use of terminal disclaimers, a practice often used by pharmaceutical companies to create "patent thickets" which prevent cheaper generic and biosimilar medications from entering the market. Senator Welch along with colleagues Sens. Mike Braun (R  more

WASHINGTON, May 13 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: In a Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security hearing last week, U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) highlighted the need to establish a new and independent federal agency through the Digital Platform Commission Act to regulate the tech sector to better protect consumer data and address emerging cybersecurity concerns. Senator Welch also questioned experts about ways   more

WASHINGTON, May 15 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, Vt. -- With federal funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) expiring, Senator Peter Welch, D-Vt., a member of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband, and Chair of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Rural Development and Energy, met with users of the ACP on Friday in White River Junction. Part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment   more

WASHINGTON, May 16 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) yesterday led a group of senators in calling on Congress to fund the Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program (Community Forest Program or CFP) in the upcoming FY25 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill. Created in the 2008 Farm Bill and administered by the U.S. Forest Service, the Community Forest Program helps local government entities, tribes  more

WASHINGTON, May 13 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) today led his colleagues in calling on Congress to uplift and adequately fund the ENERGY STAR program in the upcoming FY25 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill. ENERGY STAR is a voluntary, market-based program that underpins countless energy efficiency programs across the country, saves consumers billions of dollars annually, and eliminates billions in met  more

WASHINGTON, May 17 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) this week led his colleagues in calling on the Senate Appropriations Committee to fully fund the Substance Use Prevention, Treatment and Recovery Services (SUBG) Block Grant program in the upcoming Fiscal Year (FY25) 2025 Labor, Health, and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies appropriations bill. The grants provide states with the funding and resources they need to build  more

WASHINGTON, May 17 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) this week led nearly every Senate Democrat in calling on Congress to fund the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation (NeighborWorks America) in the upcoming FY25 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) Appropriations Bill. As a congressionally chartered national nonprofit, NeighborWorks creates opportunities for Americans to live in affordable and s  more

WASHINGTON, May 16 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: Wednesday evening, Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Chair of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Rural Development and Energy, delivered remarks on the Senate Floor urging Congress to work together to advance the Senate's recently-unveiled Farm Bill, the Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act. Senator Welch emphasized the Farm Bill's benefits to farmers, rural communities, and local and regional food systems, a  more

WASHINGTON, May 15 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) today released the following reaction to the announcement by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has paused plans to consolidate USPS facilities through a process called mail processing facility reviews (MPFR), which threatened to move mail sorting operations from Vermont's Essex Junction and White River Junction sorting hubs to Connecticut. This move lik  more

WASHINGTON, May 15 -- Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, issued the following news release: Today, U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Chair of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Rural Development and Energy, and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) introduced the Rural Innovation for a Stronger Economy (RISE) Reauthorization Act, a bill to reauthorize and improve the U.S. Department of Agriculture's RISE Program. Created in 2018, the RISE program provides federal grant funding to rural job acc  more