Bernie Sanders

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Bernie Sanders
United States Senator
from Vermont
Assumed office
January 3, 2007
Serving with Patrick Leahy
Preceded byJim Jeffords
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Vermont's At-large district
In office
January 3, 1991 – January 3, 2007
Preceded byPeter P. Smith
Succeeded byPeter Welch
Mayor of Burlington
In office
1981–1989
Preceded byGordon Paquette
Succeeded byPeter Clavelle
Personal details
Political partyIndependent
Other political
affiliations		Democratic (affiliated non-member)
Progressive (affiliated non-member)
Liberty Union
SpouseJane O'Meara
ChildrenLevi Sanders
ResidenceBurlington, Vermont
Alma materUniversity of Chicago (B.A.)
OccupationCarpenter
Filmmaker
Writer
Researcher

Bernard "Bernie" Sanders (born September 8, 1941) is the junior United States Senator from Vermont, elected on November 7, 2006. Before becoming Senator, Sanders represented Vermont's at-large district in the United States House of Representatives for 16 years. Sanders also served as mayor of Burlington, Vermont from 1981 through 1989.

Sanders is a self-described democratic socialist,[1][2] and has praised European social democracy. He is the first person elected to the U.S. Senate to identify as a socialist.[3] Sanders caucuses with the Democratic Party and is counted as a Democrat for the purposes of committee assignments, but because he does not belong to a formal political party, he appears as an independent on the ballot. He was also the only independent member of the House during much of his service there. He is one of two independent Senators in the 112th Congress, along with Joe Lieberman.

Early life, education and career

Sanders, the son of Jewish Polish immigrants to the United States, was born in Brooklyn. He graduated from James Madison High School in Brooklyn and later attended the University of Chicago, graduating with a B.A. in political science in 1964.[4] After graduating from college, Sanders spent time on an Israeli kibbutz, an experience which shaped his political views.[5] In 1964, Sanders moved to Vermont, where he worked as a carpenter, filmmaker, writer and researcher, among other jobs.[4]

Early political career

Sanders's political career began in 1971, when he joined the anti-Vietnam War Liberty Union Party in Vermont. Sanders was an unsuccessful Liberty Union candidate for election to the Senate in 1972 and 1974, as well as for governor of Vermont in 1972 and 1976. In his initial campaign, Sanders received only 2% of the vote, but his subsequent races for Senate and Governor were slightly more successful, his highest vote tally being 6%.

In 1979, Sanders resigned from the Liberty Union party and worked as a writer and the director of the non-profit American People's Historical Society. In 1981, at the suggestion of his friend Richard Sugarman, a religion professor at the University of Vermont, Sanders ran for mayor of Burlington and defeated six-term Democratic incumbent Gordon Paquette by 12 votes, in a four-way contest. (An independent candidate, Richard Bove, split the Democratic vote after losing the primary to Paquette).

Sanders won three more terms, defeating both Democratic and Republican candidates. In his last run for mayor, in 1987, he defeated a candidate endorsed by both major parties.

During Sanders' first term, his supporters formed the Progressive Coalition, forerunner of the Vermont Progressive Party. The Progressives never held more than six seats on the 13-member city council, but held enough votes to keep the council from overriding Sanders's vetoes. Under Sanders, Burlington became the first city in the country to fund community-trust housing. His administration also sued the local cable television provider, and won considerably reduced rates and a substantial cash settlement.

Sanders ran for governor for the third time in 1986. He finished third with 14.5% of the vote – enough to deny incumbent Democrat Madeleine Kunin a majority; she was then elected by the state legislature pursuant to Vermont law. In 1988, when seven-term incumbent Representative Jim Jeffords made a successful run for the Senate, Sanders ran for Jeffords's vacated seat in the House. Sanders narrowly lost to Peter P. Smith, the former lieutenant governor and the 1986 Republican candidate for governor. Sanders again ran against Smith in 1990. In an upset, he took 56% of the vote and defeated Smith by 16 points, becoming the first independent member of the House since 1950.

Sanders taught at Harvard University in 1989 and Hamilton College in 1991.

Representative

Rep. Sanders in 2006

Although relations between Sanders and House Democratic leadership were not always smooth, the Democrats never actively campaigned against Sanders after his first run for Congress as an independent. While Democratic candidates ran against him in every election except 1994 (when Sanders managed to win the Democrats' endorsement), they received little financial support[citation needed].

Sanders was reelected seven times and was the longest-serving independent member of the House. Despite his independent status, he faced only one difficult contest. It came in 1994, in the midst of the Republican Revolution that swept Republicans into control of the Congress. In a year when many marginal seats fell to Republicans, Sanders managed a narrow three-point victory. In every other election, he has won at least 55% of the vote. In his last House campaign in 2004, Sanders took 67% to Republican Greg Parke's 24% and Democrat Larry Drown's 7%.[6]

Sanders's lifetime legislative score from the AFL-CIO is 100%. As of 2006, he has a grade of "C-" from the National Rifle Association (NRA). Sanders voted against the Brady Bill and in favor of an NRA-supported bill to restrict lawsuits against gun manufacturers in 2005.[7] Sanders voted to abolish the so-called "marriage penalty" for taxes and also voted for a bill that sought to ban human cloning. Sanders has endorsed every Democratic nominee for president of the United States since 1992. Sanders is a co-founder of the House Progressive Caucus and chaired the grouping of mostly liberal Democrats for its first eight years.

Sanders voted against both resolutions authorizing the use of force against Iraq in 1991 and 2002, and opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq. But he later joined almost all of his colleagues in voting for a non-binding resolution expressing support for U.S. troops at the outset of the invasion, although he gave a floor speech criticizing the partisan nature of the resolution and the Bush administration's actions in the run-up to the war. In relation to the leak investigation involving Valerie Plame, on April 7, 2006, Sanders said, "The revelation that the president authorized the release of classified information in order to discredit an Iraq war critic should tell every member of Congress that the time is now for a serious investigation of how we got into the war in Iraq, and why Congress can no longer act as a rubber stamp for the president."[8] Sanders supports universal health care and opposes what he terms "unfettered" free trade,[9] which he argues deprives American workers of their jobs while exploiting foreign workers in sweatshop factories.

In June 2005, Sanders proposed an amendment to limit provisions that allow the government to obtain individuals' library and book-buying records. The amendment passed the House by a bipartisan majority, but was removed on November 4 that year by House-Senate negotiators, and never became law.[10] Sanders followed this vote on November 5, 2005, by voting against the Online Freedom of Speech Act, which would have exempted the Internet from the restrictions of the McCain-Feingold Bill.

In March 2006, after a series of resolutions calling for him to bring articles of impeachment against the president passed in various towns in Vermont, Sanders stated it would be impractical to impeach George W. Bush, given the "reality that the Republicans control the House and the Senate." Still, Sanders made no secret of his opposition to the Bush Administration, which he regularly attacked for cuts in social programs he supports.[11][12][13]

Sanders has also criticized Alan Greenspan. In June 2003, during a question-and-answer discussion with the then-Federal Reserve chairman, Sanders told Greenspan that he was concerned that Greenspan was "way out of touch" and "that you see your major function in your position as the need to represent the wealthy and large corporations."[14] Senator Sanders has maintained and warned (in 1998) that investment banks and commercial banks should remain as two separate entities.[15]

Republicans have attacked Sanders as "an ineffective extremist" for passing only one law and fifteen amendments in his eight terms in the House.[16][17] Sanders responded by saying that he had passed "the most floor amendments of any member of the House since 1996."[18] Former Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean has stated that "Bernie Sanders votes with the Democrats 98 percent of the time."[19]

Senate campaign

Main article: United States Senate election in Vermont, 2006

Sanders had mentioned on several occasions that he would run for the Senate if Jeffords (with whom he has a longstanding friendship) were ever to retire, and entered the race on April 21, 2005, following Jeffords's announcement that he would not seek a fourth term. New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, endorsed Sanders; Schumer's backing was critical, as it meant that any Democrat running against Sanders could not expect to receive any significant financial help on a national level.

Sanders was also endorsed by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, and Democratic National Committee chairman and former Vermont governor Howard Dean. Dean said in May 2005 that he considered Sanders an ally who votes with House Democrats. Sen. Barack Obama also campaigned for Sanders in Vermont. Sanders entered into an agreement with the Democratic Party to be listed in their primary but to decline the nomination should he win, which he did easily.[20]

Speculation abounded that the state's popular Republican governor, Jim Douglas, would enter the race as well. Many pundits believed Douglas was the only Republican who could possibly defeat Sanders. However, on April 30, Douglas announced he would seek a third term as governor. In the view of many pundits, this effectively handed the open seat to Sanders.

Sen. Sanders consistently led his Republican challenger, businessman Richard Tarrant, by wide margins in polling. In the most expensive political campaign in Vermont's history,[21] Sanders defeated Tarrant by an approximately 2-to-1 margin in the 2006 midterm election. Many national media outlets (including CNN) projected Sanders the winner before any returns came in.

Sanders is only the third Senator from Vermont to caucus with the Democrats — following Jeffords and Patrick Leahy. He made a deal with the Democratic leadership similar to the one Jeffords made after Jeffords became an independent. In exchange for receiving the committee seats that would be available to him as a Democrat, Sanders votes with the Democrats on all procedural matters unless he asks permission of Majority Whip Richard Durbin. However, such a request is almost never made and is almost never granted. He is free to vote as he pleases on policy matters, but almost always votes with the Democrats.[citation needed]

Senate career

Sanders and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) introduced the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act of 2007 on January 15, 2007. The measure would have provided funding for research and development on geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide, set emissions standards for new vehicles and a renewable fuels requirement for gasoline beginning in 2016, established energy efficiency and renewable portfolio standards beginning in 2008 and low-carbon electric generation standards beginning in 2016 for electric utilities, and would have required periodic evaluations by the National Academy of Sciences to determine whether emissions targets are adequate.[22]

On September 24, 2008, Senator Sanders posted on his website a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson against the initial bailout proposal, drawing more than 8,000 citizen co-signers in the first 24 hours.[23] On January 26, 2009, Sanders and Democrats Robert Byrd, Russ Feingold and Tom Harkin were the sole majority members to vote against confirmation of Timothy Geithner to be United States Secretary of the Treasury.[24]

On December 10, 2010, Senator Sanders delivered an 8½ hour speech against the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, the proposed extension of the Bush-era tax rates that eventually became law, saying "Enough is enough! [...] How many homes can you own?" (A long speech such as this is in the tradition of a filibuster, though because it did not block Senate action, it didn't technically qualify as a filibuster under US Senate rules.) [25]

In response to his "filibuster," "activists across the country started talking up the notion of a 'Sanders for President' run in 2012, either as a dissident Democrat in the primaries or as a left-leaning Independent."[26] Hundreds of people signed online petitions urging Sanders to run, and pollsters began measuring his support in key primary states.[26] Progressive activists such as Rabbi Michael Lerner and economist David Korten publicly voiced their support for a prospective Sanders run against president Barack Obama.[26] Sanders has disclaimed any interest in a presidential run, saying he was "very proud to be Vermont's senator," and maintained that "I am very content to be where I am, but I am flattered by that kind of response."[26]

On January 19, 2011, Sanders announced that his 8 1/2 hour speech given on December 10, 2010 will be published in February of 2011 by Nation Books. The book will be entitled The Speech: A Historic Filibuster on Corporate Greed and the Decline of Our Middle Class and authorial proceeds will go to Vermont charitable, nonprofit organizations. [27]

Committee assignments

Political positions

Senator Sanders describes himself as a democratic socialist.[1][2]

Health care

He is a staunch supporter of a single-payer universal health care system.[28]

Renegotiaton of NAFTA

He is a strong advocate for renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and is a strong opponent of the United States current trade policy towards Latin America and China. [citation needed]

Iraq War

Sanders has opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq from its start and voted against it in the House of Representatives.[29] He has called for a speedy withdrawal and increased veterans benefits.[citation needed]

Media freedom

Sanders has also been a leader in calling for media reform and opposes increased concentration of media outlets.[30] He appeared in Orwell Rolls in His Grave and Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism, two documentaries on the subject.[31]

Global warming and the environment

He warns about the dangers of global warming. [32]

US Federal Reserve audit

Sanders has introduced a Senate companion bill to H.R. 1207 which will conduct an audit of the Federal Reserve.[33]

Civil rights and women's rights

He is a vocal supporter of gay rights, supporting same sex marriage, and of pro-choice legislation.[4]

Nuclear power

Following the 2011 Japanese nuclear accidents, Sanders is called for a moratorium on the licensing of new nuclear plants and relicensing of existing ones, in an effort to slow down what's been touted as a nuclear renaissance in the United States.[34] Sanders wrote to President Barack Obama asking for him to appoint a special commission to review the safety of U.S. nuclear plants. Sanders also wants to repeal a federal law that he says leaves the taxpayers to pick up most of the costs of a major nuclear accident. He says "in a free-enterprise system, the nuclear industry should be required to insure itself against accidents".[34]

Personal life

Sanders is married to Jane O'Meara, president of Burlington College, and has one son, Levi Sanders, from a previous marriage.[35] His brother, Larry Sanders, is a Green Party District Councillor for Oxford East[36] in Oxfordshire, England. His nephew, Jacob, is a former Oxford city councillor for the Green Party. [citation needed]

Sanders is one of two sitting U.S. Senators who went to James Madison High School in Brooklyn (the other being Chuck Schumer). Before becoming a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Sanders's roommate was Richard I. Sugarman, a professor at the University of Vermont. Coincidentally, the only other Independent currently serving in the U.S. Senate, Joe Lieberman (I-CT) shared a suite with Professor Sugarman when the two attended Yale University in the 1960s.[37]

Sanders has regular guest appearances on the Thom Hartmann radio program for the Friday segment, "Brunch with Bernie".[38]

Sanders also stars in his own weekly five-minute show, "Senator Sanders Unfiltered",[39] hosted online at www.sandersunfiltered.com.

Electoral history

Most recent election shown below. For a complete list see: Electoral History of Bernie Sanders

2006 United States Senate election, Vermont
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Bernie Sanders 171,638 65.4 n/a
Republican Richard Tarrant 84,924 32.3 -33.2
Independent Cris Ericson 1,735 0.6 n/a
Green Craig Hill 1,536 0.5 n/a
Independent Peter D. Moss 1,518 0.5 n/a
Liberty Union Peter Diamondstone 801 0.3 -0.2
Write-ins 267 0.1 0
Majority 86,741 33.1
Turnout 262,419
Independent hold Swing

References

  1. ^ a b "Sanders Socialist Success". April 22, 2009. Retrieved April 19, 2010.
  2. ^ a b Lerer, Lisa (July 16, 2009). "Where's the outrage over AIG bonuses?". The Politico. Retrieved April 19, 2010.
  3. ^ Borger, Julian (2006-11-08). "Democrats pile pressure on Bush as glitches hit US poll". Guardian. Retrieved 2006-11-08.
  4. ^ a b c Leibovich, Mark (2007-01-21). "The Socialist Senator". The New York Times Magazine. The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-07-18. Cite error: The named reference "NYTSocSen" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  5. ^ Greaff, Christopher (1991-09-08). "Socialist in Congress Goes Where Democrats, Republicans Fear to Tread". The Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. Retrieved 2010-09-02.
  6. ^ "OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE CANVASSING COMMITTEE" (PDF). Vermont Secretary of State. Retrieved 2010-12-13.
  7. ^ "Final Vote Results for Roll Call 534". Office of the clerk, US House of Representatives. Retrieved 2007-07-18.
  8. ^ Yost, Pete (2006-04-07). "Libby: Bush, Cheney OK'd leak campaign". Associated Press. Retrieved 2007-07-18.
  9. ^ Home >> Issues >> (2007-01-15). "Congressman Bernie Sanders - International Trade". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 2007-01-15. Retrieved 2010-08-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ Message
  11. ^ [Previous Page]. "Bernie :: Release :: Sanders Blasts Bush'S Housing Secretary On Housing Cuts In Vermont". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 2006-09-26. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
  12. ^ By Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). "Have They No Shame? | TPMCafe". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 2007-11-14. Retrieved 2010-08-29. {{cite web}}: Text "bio" ignored (help)
  13. ^ "Bernie :: Multimedia :: Video". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 2006-09-26. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
  14. ^ [Previous Page]. "bernie :: statement :: Congressman Sanders' Questioning of Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 2006-09-26. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
  15. ^ "News Sept. 24 - Newsroom: U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (Vermont)". Sanders.senate.gov. 2008-09-24. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
  16. ^ National Republican Senatorial Committee
  17. ^ episode49, LLC and The Bivings Group. "National Republican Senatorial Committee". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 2006-10-03. Retrieved 2010-08-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  18. ^ » Bernie on GOP Hit List
  19. ^ Transcript for May 22 - Meet the Press, online at MSNBC - MSNBC.com
  20. ^ "U.S. Senate: Tarrant-Sanders duel set". Burlington Free Press. 2006-09-12. Retrieved 2006-11-08. [dead link]
  21. ^ Ring, Wilson (2006-11-07). "Sanders, Welch are winners in Vermont". Boston Globe. Associated Press. Retrieved 2007-01-25.
  22. ^ Climate Change Bills of the 110th Congress Environmental Defense, May 29, 2007.
  23. ^ "Newsroom - Video/Audio: U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (Vermont)". Sanders.senate.gov. 2008-09-24. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
  24. ^ "U.S. Senate: Legislation & Records Home > Votes > Roll Call Vote". Senate.gov. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
  25. ^ Memoli, Michael “Sen. Bernie Sanders ends filibuster”, Los Angeles Times, December 10, 2010
  26. ^ a b c d Nichols, John (2010-12-29) That 'Sanders for President' Talk is Real Enough, But Bernie's Not Going There, The Nation
  27. ^ Sen. Bernie Sanders' 8 1/2-hour Speech to be Sold in Book Form Burlington Free Press January 20, 2011. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
  28. ^ Jaffe, Sarah (2009-07-14). "Sanders Schools McCain on Public Healthcare". The Nation. Retrieved 2009-08-04. Senator Bernie Sanders is one of the Senate's fiercest advocates for real healthcare reform that puts Americans, not private insurance companies, first. Recently, Sanders told The Nation's Katrina vanden Heuvel, '[I]f you are serious about real healthcare reform, the only way to go is single-payer'
  29. ^ Michols, John (2002-10-10). "Many Dems Reject War Resolution". The Nation. Retrieved 2009-08-04. The 126 Democrats who opposed the resolution were joined by one independent member, Vermont's Bernie Sanders, and six Republicans -- John Duncan of Tennessee; John Hostettler of Indiana; Amo Houghton of New York; Jim Leach of Iowa; Connie Morella of Maryland; and Ron Paul of Texas.
  30. ^ Nichols, John (2003-07-03). "The Battle Over Media Ownership is Far From Over". Common Dreams NewsCenter. Retrieved 2009-08-04. Members of Congress are finding they cannot avoid talking about media issues because people really are upset with what the FCC did, and with the broader issue of who controls the media," says U.S. Rep. Bernie Sander, I-Vermont, a leading critic of the FCC rule changes [removing limits on the ability of individual companies to dominate more than 35 percent of television communications and to prevent "cross-ownership" schemes that allow corporations to buy up primary newspapers, radio and television stations and cable and Internet services in a city.] and a champion of media reform in the public interest. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  31. ^ "Vt. congressman interviewed for film". USA Today. 2004-07-26. Retrieved 2009-08-04. Rep. Bernie Sanders has a burgeoning second job: movie star. Vermont's lone congressman is one of many legislators, journalists and media watchdogs interviewed for "Orwell Rolls in His Grave" by director Robert Pappas, and Robert Greenwald's latest film, Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism.
  32. ^ Totten, Shay (2007-01-15). "Sanders to push global warming legislation in Senate". Vermont Guardian. Retrieved 2009-08-04. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, said Monday he was making good on at least one of a handful of campaign promises — introducing a bill designed to cut U.S. contributions to global greenhouse gas emissions in the next decade... Sanders added that construction of new power plants is "extraordinarily expensive" and he would prefer to see federal funding support used to expand the development of sustainable energy, as well as biofuels.
  33. ^ Thrush, Glenn (2009-06-18). "Hill wants reins on Fed". The Politico. Yahoo! News. Retrieved 2009-08-04. 'I just think it will be very hard for members of Congress to go back to their constituents and say, "I've got $2.2 trillion of your money at risk and I don't know where it's going," said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is pushing his own bill calling for names of banks aided under Fed lending programs.
  34. ^ a b "US Sen. Sanders: Slow down on nuclear relicensing". Businessweek. March 21, 2011.
  35. ^ "Project Vote Smart - Senator Bernard 'Bernie' Sanders - Biography". Vote-smart.org. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
  36. ^ "Councillor Larry Sanders". Retrieved 2010-10-11.
  37. ^ Scott MacKay (2006-08-06). "The fight of his life". The Providence Journal.
  38. ^ http://www.thomhartmann.com/radio
  39. ^ http://www.sandersunfiltered.com

External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Gordon Paquette
 Mayor of Burlington, Vermont
1981–1989 		Succeeded by
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Vermont's at-large congressional district
January 3, 1991 – January 3, 2007 		Succeeded by
U.S. Senate
Preceded by U.S. senator (Class 1) from Vermont
January 4, 2007 – present
Served alongside: Patrick Leahy 		Incumbent
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by United States Senators by seniority
61st 		Succeeded by

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