The National Security Agency secretly obtained telephone and Internet records on millions of innocent Americans using a controversial law called the USA Patriot Act. Bernie was among a small minority of House members who voted against the law in 2001. Now that the secret is out about the staggering scope of the surveillance, he wants Congress to reconsider what it did. Under Bernie’s “Restore Our Privacy Act,” authorities would have to establish a reasonable suspicion based on specific information to secure court approval to monitor a specific suspect. “We can effectively combat terrorism without sacrificing the civil liberties and constitutional protections which make us a free nation,” he said. “I believe that most Americans do not want to live in an Orwellian society where everything you do is recorded.”
Jobs, Not JailSenate leaders on Friday agreed to add a Bernie provision to an immigration reform bill that would put young Americans to work through summer and year-round jobs programs. Bernie argued that getting young Americans off the streets and into jobs was the least Congress should do in a bill that allows college students from around the world to take jobs that young Americans would otherwise perform. “Let us put our young people into jobs, not into jails,” he said.
Help for Seniors and TaxpayersBernie chaired a hearing Wednesday of his Senate Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging on how programs like Meals on Wheels not only reduce hunger and poverty among seniors but cut Medicare and Medicaid outlays for much more expensive nursing home and hospital care. “The simple truth is that we can feed a senior for an entire year for the cost of one day in a hospital,” he said. Bernie is helping to lead the fight to significantly increase funds for the Older Americans Act.
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