[A]fter the first weeks of the new Congress were consumed by a stalemate over funding for a border wall, Vermont’s lawmakers are getting started on their legislative priorities in Washington.
With strategic committee placements, two of Vermont’s three-member delegation are poised to have a prominent role in any investigation of President Donald Trump’s administration. The third is weighing another presidential bid.
Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., are at work on efforts to lower prescription drug prices, reform Social Security, strengthen privacy protections, and address climate change. Meanwhile, the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller looms large over the new Congress.
VTDigger spoke with Leahy and Welch about their plans and priorities. Sanders declined to be interviewed but sent a statement about his goals moving forward.
As the senior Democrat in the Senate, Leahy is looking to shore up consumer protection measures, investigate the findings of the special counsel’s Russian interference report, and limit the powers of border authorities away from international boundaries.
With another partial government shutdown averted, Leahy’s next item of business as vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee will be to review the president’s budget requests for the new federal fiscal year that begins Oct, 1.
Within the spending bills, Leahy will be looking for funding for clean water efforts for Lake Champlain, as well as federal money for initiatives including economic development and the opioid crisis.
Leahy, who is also a longtime member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the next two years will likely be shaped by the conclusion of special counsel Mueller’s investigation of Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election.
Leahy said his top legislative priorities include introducing bills to lower the cost of prescription drugs and to protect citizens’ privacy.
Leahy and Welch have joined together to reintroduce the CREATES Act, which would remove barriers in the U.S. to the availability of lower-cost generic prescription drugs, in the Senate and the House. Lowering prescription drug costs has been long been a goal for Sanders, and Welch has made it a centerpiece of his legislative platform as well.
Leahy said he will also be working to reauthorize the U.S.A. FREEDOM Act, a measure that places checks on the government’s surveillance powers, which expires in December. He will also be introducing the Email Privacy Act—legislation that would require law enforcement to get a search warrant before obtaining a suspect’s online data—and reintroduce the Consumer Privacy Protection Act.
Leahy will also reintroduce legislation to curb the powers of Border Patrol long distances from international boundaries. The bill would restrict the distance from an international border or ocean that border agents could conduct roadblocks and checkpoints to 25 miles. Currently, federal border authorities have broad powers up to 100 miles from the northern and southern borders, as well as inland from the oceans. Welch plans to reintroduce a counterpart bill in the House.
Meanwhile, Sanders plans to stick to his message highlighting income inequality and his push for legislation to protect the working class and the environment.
As the country waits to see if Vermont’s junior senator will enter the crowded 2020 Democratic presidential field, the independent has outlined a set of legislative priorities that will surprise few who have followed his political career, including Medicare-for-all, raising the minimum wage, and Social Security reform.
During the last Congress, Sanders led a campaign pressuring the online giant Amazon to offer employees an hourly wage of $15 an hour. Now, Sanders plans to keep up the push.
In a statement, Sanders said he believes his $15 minimum wage legislation will pass the House and the Senate this Congress and that he has a “decent chance to make progress” on his bills to lower prescription drug costs.
Sanders said he will reintroduce his Medicare-for-all bill, creating a single-payer health care system, in the coming weeks. The measure, which had the support of 16 other senators when he introduced it in 2017, “now has more co-sponsors than at any other time,” he said.
Sanders is also working with a number of other lawmakers on Green New Deal legislation.
The “bold” legislation aims to move the U.S. away from fossil fuels by invigorating the sustainable energy industry, he said. Sanders said this process will create millions of high paying jobs.
Broadly, the Green New Deal legislation laid out by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., sets goals to drastically cut carbon emissions across the economy, from electricity generation to transportation to agriculture. In the process, it aims to create jobs and boost the economy. Ocasio-Cortez and Markey introduced the framework for the legislation last week.
Sanders said within the next several weeks, he will also be putting forward bills to expand Social Security benefits and to make public colleges tuition-free.
Welch returns to the House in a new capacity, as a member of the powerful House Intelligence Committee. One of the most powerful oversight panels in Congress, the committee will likely be busy the next two years leading investigations into Russian involvement in the 2016 election and whether the president colluded with the foreign government.
Welch said it is important to understand the full role of Russian involvement and that he will be part of that investigation. However, he said he is also looking to investigate prescription drug prices. He is returning to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform; Welch has served for 12 years on this panel.
Welch is planning to co-sponsor a number of bills related to drug pricing this session, and the committee has already begun its investigations into how pharmaceutical companies price drugs.
As a returning member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Welch said he plans on making sure that any infrastructure bill the committee passes includes “green infrastructure” and rural broadband build out for rural communities.
Welch said he will also be working on legislation to accompany the Green New Deal in the Energy and Commerce Committee. Welch said the panel plans to take “concrete steps” to reduce carbon emissions, and that he plans to work with Republicans on energy efficiency strategies.
“There are a number of my Republican colleagues who are in favor of energy efficiency and that’s really an important component of our climate change initiative,” Welch said. “I can reach out to my Republican colleagues on energy efficiency, even though they have no interest in the Green New Deal.”
Welch said being a member of these three committees will allow him to achieve his overarching legislative goals for the new Congress.
Welch said his priorities including reestablishing public trust in Congress and oversight of the executive branch. He plans to work on legislation to give rural Americans access broadband internet as well as to lower prescription drug prices.
