Assistance Award Amendment - Hud: Fill & Download for Free

If by “legislative accomplishments” you mean “Has he authored a lot of bills that have been voted into law?” not very much. He’s not really a grand-stander. (NOTE: I’ve gotten some blow-back on this assertion because he ran for President (nearly won too). Nonetheless, I stand by my characterization.)His biggest accomplishments have been the hundreds of amendments he has gotten passed attached to bills introduced by other members of Congress (of both parties) that have improved those bills or made them less harmful to American’s freedoms.Bernie’s accomplishments(The actions I consider to be “legislative accomplishments” are shown in bold face type.)Elected by the state of Vermont 8 times to serve in the House of Representatives.The longest-serving independent in U.S. congressional history.Is by far the member of Congress best regarded by his constituents.He was dubbed the “amendment king” in the House of Representatives for passing more amendments than any other member of Congress.Ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee.Former student organizer for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).Led the first ever civil rights sit-in in Chicago history to protest segregated housing.In 1963, Bernie Sanders participated in MLK’s Civil Rights March. One of only 2 sitting US Senators to have heard MLK’s “I have a Dream Speech” in person in the march on Washington, DC.Former professor of political science at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and at Hamilton College.Former mayor of Burlington, VT. In a stunning upset in 1981, Sanders won the mayoral race in Burlington, Vermont’s largest city. He shocked the city’s political establishment by defeating a six-term, local machine mayor. Burlington is now reported to be one of the most livable cities in the nation.Co-founded the Congressional Progressive Caucus and chaired the group for its first 8 years.(BTW the CPC has for each of the last 7 budget years authored and published a Federal Budget proposal that would have created more jobs and reduced the National Debt significantly faster than the proposals of either political party or the Executive Branch. ‘The People’s Budget’: Analysis of the Congressional Progressive Caucus budget for fiscal year 2018)Both the NAACP and the NHLA (National Hispanic Leadership Agenda) have given Sanders 100% voting scores during his tenure in the Senate. Earns a D- from the NRA.1984: Mayor Sanders established the Burlington Community Land Trust, the first municipal housing land-trust in the country for affordable housing. The project becomes a model emulated throughout the world. It later wins an award from Jack Kemp-led HUD.1991: one of a handful in Congress to vote against authorizing US military force in Iraq. “I have a real fear that the region is not going to be more peaceful or more stable after the war,” he said at the time.1992: Congress passes Sanders’ first signed piece of legislation to create the National Program of Cancer Registries. A Reader’s Digest article calls the law “the cancer weapon America needs most.” All 50 states now run registries to help cancer researchers gain important insights.November 1993: Sanders votes against the Clinton-era North American Free Trade Agreement. Returning from a tour of factories in Mexico, Sanders says: “If NAFTA passes, corporate profits will soar because it will be even easier than now for American companies to flee to Mexico and hire workers there for starvation wages.”July 1996: Sanders is one of only 67 (out of 435, 15%) votes against the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act, which denied federal benefits to same-sex couples legally married. Sanders urged the Supreme Court to throw out the law, which it did in a landmark 2013 ruling – some 17 years later.July 1999: Standing up against the major pharmaceutical companies, Sanders becomes the first member of Congress to personally take seniors across the border to Canada to buy lower-cost prescription drugs. The congressman continues his bus trips to Canada with a group of breast cancer patients the following April. These brave women are able to purchase their medications in Canada for almost one-tenth the price charged in the States.August 1999: An overflow crowd of Vermonters packs a St. Michael’s College town hall meeting hosted by Sanders to protest an IBM plan to cut older workers’ pensions by as much as 50 percent. CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and The New York Times cover the event. After IBM enacts the plan, Sanders works to reverse the cuts, passing a pair of amendments to prohibit the federal government from acting to overturn a federal district court decision that ruled that IBM’s plan violated pension age discrimination laws. Thanks to Sanders’ efforts, IBM agreed to a $320 million legal settlement with some 130,000 IBM workers and retirees.November 1999: About 10 years before the 2008 Wall Street crash spins the world economy into a massive recession, Sanders votes “no” on a bill to undo decades of financial regulations enacted after the Great Depression. “This legislation,” he predicts at the time, “will lead to fewer banks and financial service providers, increased charges and fees for individual consumers and small businesses, diminished credit for rural America and taxpayer exposure to potential losses should a financial conglomerate fail. It will lead to more mega-mergers, a small number of corporations dominating the financial service industry and further concentration of power in our country.” The House passed the bill 362-57 over Sanders’ objection.October 2001: Sanders votes against the USA Patriot Act. “All of us want to protect the American people from terrorist attacks, but in a way that does not undermine basic freedoms,” Sanders says at the time. He subsequently votes against reauthorizing the law in 2006 and 2011.October 2002: Sanders votes against the Bush-Cheney war in Iraq. He warns at the time that an invasion could “result in anti-Americanism, instability and more terrorism.” Hillary Clinton votes in favor of it.November 2006: Sanders defeats Vermont’s richest man, Rich Tarrant, to be elected to the U.S. Senate. Sanders, running as an Independent, is endorsed by the Vermont Democratic Party and supported by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.December 2007: Sanders’ authored energy efficiency and conservation grant program passes into law. He later secures $3.2 billion in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for the grant program.September 2008: Thanks to Sanders’ efforts, funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program funding doubles, helping millions of low-income Americans heat their homes in winter.February 2009: Sanders works with Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley to pass an amendment to an economic recovery bill preventing Wall Street banks that take taxpayer bailouts from replacing laid-off U.S. workers with exploited and poorly-paid foreign workers.December 2009: Sanders passes language in the Affordable Care Act to allow states to apply for waivers to implement pilot health care systems by 2017. The legislation allows states to adopt more comprehensive systems to cover more people at lower costs.March 2010: President Barack Obama signs into law the Affordable Care Act with a major Sanders provision to expand federally qualified community health centers. Sanders secures $12.5 billion in funding for the program which now serves more than 25 million Americans. Another $1.5 billion from a Sanders provision went to the National Health Service Corps for scholarships and loan repayment for doctors and nurses who practice in under-served communities.July 2010: Sanders works with Republican Congressman Ron Paul in the House to pass a measure as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform bill to audit the Federal Reserve, revealing how the independent agency gave $16 trillion in near zero-interest loans to big banks and businesses after the 2008 economic collapse.March 2013: Sanders, now chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, and backed by seniors, women, veterans, labor unions and disabled Americans, leads a successful effort to stop a “chained-CPI” proposal supported by Congressional Republicans and the Administration to cut Social Security and disabled veterans’ benefits.April 2013: Sanders introduces legislation to break up major Wall Street banks so large that the collapse of one could send the overall economy into a downward spiral.August 2014: A bipartisan $16.5 billion veterans bill written by Sen. Sanders, Sen. John McCain and Rep. Jeff Miller is signed into law by President Barack Obama. The measure includes $5 billion for the VA to hire more doctors and health professionals to meet growing demand for care.January 2015: Sanders takes over as ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, using the platform to fight for his economic agenda for the American middle class.January 2015: Sanders votes against the Keystone XL pipeline, which would allow multinational corporation TransCanada to transport dirty tar sands oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.March 2015: Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced legislation to expand benefits and strengthen the retirement program for generations to come. The Social Security Expansion Act was filed on the same day Sanders and other senators received the petitions signed by 2 million Americans, gathered by the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.September 2015: Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Rep. Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.) today introduced bills to ban private prisons [which have been 3 to 4 times as expensive with much higher rates of prisoner abuse, guard injury than government run prisons], reinstate the federal parole system and eliminate quotas for the number of immigrants held in detention.January 2016: Sanders Places Hold on FDA Nominee Dr. Robert Califf because of his close ties to the pharmaceutical industry and lack of commitment to lowering drug prices. There is no reason to believe that he would make the FDA work for ordinary Americans, rather than just the CEOs of pharmaceutical companies.———————ADDENDUM: Several people have asked about Senator Sanders accomplishments since 2016. Which is a tough question, because the US Senate has done almost no legislating since 2016 of any sort. Senator Sanders introduced 397 bills (sponsored or cosponsored) in the current Congress, but like so many others, his bills are sitting on the Majority Leaders’ desk, not being acted upon.Bernard Sanders Legislation in Process 115th and 116th Congresses.I believe that the 457 bills he introduced during the 115th Congress all lapsed when that Congress ended.

The doctor who did the diagnosis and your primary doctor must both be aware how your disability limits you day-to-day.If you apply for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Social Security Insurance (SSI) in the United States, you have a long road ahead of you. I’ll explain.Initial ApplicationThe Social Security Administration (SSA) will mail you a packet, or you can fill one out online. Besides your primary disability, list each medical issue you have. SSA recommends this, and my attorney agreed that it was wise. When you fill out the application, be honest, factual, and complete. If you spend 20% or 80% of every day resting due to severe pain, say so. If you have great difficulty walking across the house, say so. Try to include an approximate number of feet/yards/meters that you can walk with slight, moderate, or great difficulty. If it says “can you __________” and you can but it hurts like mad, make sure you add that part in.You have to fill out a medical release. Every doctor you’ve seen (I don’t remember for how long) is expected to fill out paperwork for SSA. Don’t worry if you’ve seen them for unrelated things. Everyone has. The direct contact between the doctors and SSA is the most important documentation of your disability. This is why your primary care doctor and any disability-related specialist must know your limitations.Additionally, you will have to provide the name of a person familiar with your limitations. They will have to fill out paperwork, so ask them if they are willing. This can be a relative, friend, or other person. As long as it isn’t one of your medical professionals, it’s fine.You may also need to provide:Your birth certificateIf you weren’t born in the US, proof of citizenship/lawful statusIf you have military service before 1968, your discharge papersAny W2 forms for the previous yearAny self-employment tax forms for the previous yearIf you received money from worker’s compensation, every piece of paper you have relating to that claim (If they only paid medical bills, you’re off the hook)If you happen to have your diagnosis or other medical documents, send copies of thoseOptional (but highly recommended) direct deposit informationGet the application in as early as possible. Any award will backdate to the day they receive it.Request for ReconsiderationExpect to be denied.Here’s my soap box: I’m sorry to say it, but they deny almost every adult. If your claim is good to excellent, you’ll be denied. If you’re in a coma and not expected to recover, you might be approved, but only if all the doctors agree you won’t even wake up. The system is broken. They are underfunded and they deal with that by denying most of the valid claims. They deny the invalid claims, too, but that’s just a side show. End soap box.This varies by state, and the denial will give you the next steps. Most states have a “request for reconsideration” that you send in next. It’s easy to send in. It will be denied, as well.AppealThe actual decision happens on appeal. This is where the courts get involved. Everything you sent in goes into evidence, as does anything SSA collected about your case. You can add things. The method varies by state. If you don’t have an attorney by this point, ask your court’s clerk how to introduce evidence.Helpful things to add might include affadavits from previous employers or affadavits from friends or family. You can add new testing or medical records, as well.Courts are horribly backed up on these cases. It’s quite common to wait 2 years or more to go before a judge.When you do go before the judge, here are some tips:Show respect for the court. The judge is “Your Honor.” No foul language. Dress respectfully - business casual is probably good.Show respect for the opponent. Don’t badmouth SSA, doctors, or anyone else. You can state facts about things they did, but don’t insult them or call them names. Don’t say they’re trying to ruin you or anything similar.Arrive on time or early. Give yourself time to find parking and time to find the courtroom.Honesty, honesty, honesty. Absolutely everything you say in court must be true. If it makes you sound stupid, you can cringe while you say it. If you’re embarrassed, I’m really sorry. If you broke the law, you can plead the 5th amendment. But you have to speak truthfully.Consider an AttorneyMany attorneys specialize in this and will take cases on a contingency fee basis. As I mentioned, awards backdate. A contingency fee means that if you lose, the attorney doesn’t get paid. If you win, the attorney gets a percentage of the back pay. The limit in SSDI/SSI cases is 25% or $6,000, whichever is less.The fee is reasonable, and the attorney can help you to get everything correct. You can lose a case by failing to turn something in on time, so this is a huge benefit.Most attorneys do an initial consult for free (ask before you consult). A Social Security attorney can begin to help you at any point during the process. I would advise you to seriously consider getting an attorney.The Emotional Cost of an AwardOkay, you know you have a disability. You know how much it limits you.What you don’t know is how it feels to have an authority figure say it. If the court awards in your favor, it holds its own weight. A judge has looked at the evidence and made a determination that you qualify as “totally disabled.”That’s hard. In technical terms, you have to grieve. Most people will grieve for the disability-free future they once imagined or the life they had before their disability began. They will also grieve for the image of themselves as a fully-functional person. You may have already begun the grief process, but this event may still have a painful impact.Practical ConsiderationsThe application and appeal process takes years. In the meantime, people with disabilities need a way to survive. If you were working, you have to seriously downsize your life, as well.Some means of living during the process include:Finding a friend or relative who will take you inApplying for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), sometimes called welfareApplying for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), sometimes called food stamps - if living with friends or family, you must eat separately to qualify (same link as TANF)Applying for MedicaidApplying for Housing and Urban Development (HUD) housing assistance - there are a number of programs, so read the pageLearning about local resources, such as food banks and organizations with outreach programstl;drJust talk to your doctor, then apply. Fill things out online or call and ask for a packet. Be prepared to appeal. If you get lost or want help, get a Social Security attorney.

!!! New - Edit to address the uselessness of much of the commentary posted in replies to this answer:All right, the thread of replies to this answer is getting ridiculous and pointless with people finding all sorts of problems that I 1) are obsessed over numbers and the minutia of relatively iconsequential differences in the exact stats specified and 2) distract from point I was trying to make by posting the stats in the first place.1) the links are not landing on the pages that their URLs are pointing to, there is nothing I can do about that. Just enter the politicians’ names and activate the filters yourself if you want to check them.2) the stat info that is posted in this answer is what it was when I did the search on those politicians myself and first posted the information here. Those stats, as reported on Congress.gov | Library of Congress have changed (several times over, now) since I posted my answer. Seems the government makes regular updates to their database. Also, I am not responsible for that and it does not make my answer invalid. It just means the government has updated their own database so please quit trying to lodge accusations of misinformation or uncredibility at me/my answer for inconsistancies you may find between this answer and your current search results shown on the government website. The specific numbers in their database are going to be different because of their frequent updates to their records. Let it go.3) focusing on the exact numbers down to a variation of maybe 15% of the number shown (and that’s a very generous estimation of the tolerance we’re looking at here, usually it’s probably closer to only about 6% change over a month or two or three) is counter-productive to the conversation. The stats, regardless of what the exact value of the data points are, all of them (every set of stats for the searches for the people listed, in every point in time) reflect the same over-arching point I was getting at, than Bernie tallies outnumber every one else’s by orders of magnitude. The stats I posted show the same correlation in the spread between the candidates/their tallies in terms of the least to the greatest amount of legislation produced among the politicians concerned. Bernie’s tallies dwarf everyone else’s no matter which way you look at it.4) What these stats tell about what Sanders has done in his time in office leave out more than half of what’s he’s actually done. And the half of it missing is by far the more noteworthy half of ways in which Sanders has had far greater and more impressive of an impact on this country. It is his indiscriminate alarm sounding of government and corporate corruption happening that the citizens of the US deserve to know about and the identifying of the specific members of public office and their corporate crony counterparts that matters most when it comes to “what has he done in his 28 in office” debate. What he has done is fight for the average citizen, call attention to dirty politics, spread awareness of the corruption between the government and corporate moguls, and interrogate them all on the congressional floor, in political hearings, at political protests, legal proceedings, and so many other official public platforms. He is the line of communication between the citizens on the street who demand change and want the government and corporations to be held accountable for their activity and the actual ruling class of our population who have the power to bring about that change.And for those who question that Sanders does any of what I said in item #4 above, here are a handful of examples of the countless times where Bernie Sanders was doing exactly that:And that doesn’t even hint at what he’s done as an advocate/political activist participating in workers movements or strikes and other times he’s helped labor unions and marginalized communities to achieve victories in their persuits for justice!!! End of New Edit======== Original post: =======Seems this meme is very pervasive… I keep finding more places I need to post the following information to in order to debunk the ridiculous “Sanders hasn’t done anything useful across his political career” trope going around. Well in any case, this ought to clear things up a bit:Klobuchar has introduced 2743 bills. 237 passed. 132 became law.https://www.congress.gov/search?searchResultViewType=expanded&q=%7B%22source%22%3A%22legislation%22%2C%22search%22%3A%22+Klobuchar%22%2C%22bill-status%22%3A%5B%22introduced%22%2C%22passed-one%22%2C%22law%22%5D%2C%22type%22%3A%22bills%22%7DLegislative Search Results:[%22introduced%22,%22passed-one%22,%22law%22],%22type%22:%22bills%22}&KWICView=falseWarren has introduced 3184 bills. 562 passed. 275 became law.Harris has introduced 3774 bills. 739 passed. 329 became law.Hillary Clinton has introduced 1957 bills. 180 passed. 75 became law.Sanders has introduced 8178 bills. 882 passed. 444 became law.====== Editing to add ================If you want specifics, here:Bernie Sanders is an accomplished, effective leader (hope you read this and learn something new!)Here’s A LONG List Of Bernie Sanders’ Accomplishments (WITH CITATIONS)A couple things listed on his own campaign website: Legislative LandmarksVeteransLandmark legislation was passed in 2014 to help the Department of Veterans Affairs serve America’s aging population of veterans and to meet the needs of a new generation of men and women who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. As the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairman, Sanders steered the bill through Congress. The legislation (H.R. 3230) passed the Senate 93-3 after passing the House 265-160 and was signed by President Obama on Aug. 7, 2014. The law included $5 billion for the VA to hire more doctors and other health care professionals. Sanders commitment to veterans has a long history. In 1998, he worked with Rep. Chris Shays to pass a bill to care for illnesses afflicting Gulf War veterans.Free Credit ReportsThe House on November 2, 2003, passed legislation (H.R.2622) authored by Sanders (original bill) to provide all Americans with one free credit report per year. The bill became law (Public Law No: 108-159) on Dec. 4, 2003.Dairy FarmsFarmers were being forced off land that had been in their families for generations during the depths of a crisis in the late 1990s, when huge dairy conglomerates drove down prices they paid farmers. The Senate voted 60-37 on Aug. 4, 2009, for a Sanders amendment (S.Amdt. 2276 to S.Amdt. 1908 to H.R. 2997) to an appropriations bill (H.R. 2997) that was signed into law. It provided $350 million to help struggling dairy farmers survive.And below is a shortened version of the list found here:Bernie Sanders' accomplishments - Occasional Planet (Bernie Sanders' accomplishments - Occasional Planet)Co-founded the Congressional Progressive Caucus and chaired the group for its first 8 years.Both the NAACP and the NHLA (National Hispanic Leadership Agenda) have given Sanders 100% voting scores during his tenure in the Senate. Earns a D- from the NRA.1984: Mayor Sanders established the Burlington Community Land Trust, the first municipal housing land-trust in the country for affordable housing. The project becomes a model emulated throughout the world. It later wins an award from Jack Kemp-led HUD.1991: one of a handful in Congress to vote against authorizing US military force in Iraq. “I have a real fear that the region is not going to be more peaceful or more stable after the war,” he said at the time.1992: Congress passes Sanders’ first signed piece of legislation to create the National Program of Cancer Registries. A Reader’s Digest article calls the law “the cancer weapon America needs most.” All 50 states now run registries to help cancer researchers gain important insights.November 1993: Sanders votes against the Clinton-era North American Free Trade Agreement. Returning from a tour of factories in Mexico, Sanders says: “If NAFTA passes, corporate profits will soar because it will be even easier than now for American companies to flee to Mexico and hire workers there for starvation wages.”July 1996: Sanders is one of only 67 (out of 435, 15%) votes against the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act, which denied federal benefits to same-sex couples legally married. Sanders urged the Supreme Court to throw out the law, which it did in a landmark 2013 ruling – some 17 years later.July 1999: Standing up against the major pharmaceutical companies, Sanders becomes the first member of Congress to personally take seniors across the border to Canada to buy lower-cost prescription drugs. The congressman continues his bus trips to Canada with a group of breast cancer patients the following April. These brave women are able to purchase their medications in Canada for almost one-tenth the price charged in the States.August 1999: An overflow crowd of Vermonters packs a St. Michael’s College town hall meeting hosted by Sanders to protest an IBM plan to cut older workers’ pensions by as much as 50 percent. CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and The New York Times cover the event. After IBM enacts the plan, Sanders works to reverse the cuts, passing a pair of amendments to prohibit the federal government from acting to overturn a federal district court decision that ruled that IBM’s plan violated pension age discrimination laws. Thanks to Sanders’ efforts, IBM agreed to a $320 million legal settlement with some 130,000 IBM workers and retirees.November 1999: About 10 years before the 2008 Wall Street crash spins the world economy into a massive recession, Sanders votes “no” on a bill to undo decades of financial regulations enacted after the Great Depression. “This legislation,” he predicts at the time, “will lead to fewer banks and financial service providers, increased charges and fees for individual consumers and small businesses, diminished credit for rural America and taxpayer exposure to potential losses should a financial conglomerate fail. It will lead to more mega-mergers, a small number of corporations dominating the financial service industry and further concentration of power in our country.” The House passed the bill 362-57 over Sanders’ objection.October 2001: Sanders votes against the USA Patriot Act. “All of us want to protect the American people from terrorist attacks, but in a way that does not undermine basic freedoms,” Sanders says at the time. He subsequently votes against reauthorizing the law in 2006 and 2011.October 2002: Sanders votes against the Bush-Cheney war in Iraq. He warns at the time that an invasion could “result in anti-Americanism, instability and more terrorism.” Hillary Clinton votes in favor of it.November 2006: Sanders defeats Vermont’s richest man, Rich Tarrant, to be elected to the U.S. Senate. Sanders, running as an Independent, is endorsed by the Vermont Democratic Party and supported by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.December 2007: Sanders’ authored energy efficiency and conservation grant program passes into law. He later secures $3.2 billion in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for the grant program.September 2008: Thanks to Sanders’ efforts, funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program funding doubles, helping millions of low-income Americans heat their homes in winter.February 2009: Sanders works with Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley to pass an amendment to an economic recovery bill preventing Wall Street banks that take taxpayer bailouts from replacing laid-off U.S. workers with exploited and poorly-paid foreign workers.December 2009: Sanders passes language in the Affordable Care Act to allow states to apply for waivers to implement pilot health care systems by 2017. The legislation allows states to adopt more comprehensive systems to cover more people at lower costs.March 2010: President Barack Obama signs into law the Affordable Care Act with a major Sanders provision to expand federally qualified community health centers. Sanders secures $12.5 billion in funding for the program which now serves more than 25 million Americans. Another $1.5 billion from a Sanders provision went to the National Health Service Corps for scholarships and loan repayment for doctors and nurses who practice in under-served communities.July 2010: Sanders works with Republican Congressman Ron Paul in the House to pass a measure as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform bill to audit the Federal Reserve, revealing how the independent agency gave $16 trillion in near zero-interest loans to big banks and businesses after the 2008 economic collapse.March 2013: Sanders, now chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, and backed by seniors, women, veterans, labor unions and disabled Americans, leads a successful effort to stop a “chained-CPI” proposal supported by Congressional Republicans and the Administration to cut Social Security and disabled veterans’ benefits.April 2013: Sanders introduces legislation to break up major Wall Street banks so large that the collapse of one could send the overall economy into a downward spiral.August 2014: A bipartisan $16.5 billion veterans bill written by Sen. Sanders, Sen. John McCain and Rep. Jeff Miller is signed into law by President Barack Obama. The measure includes $5 billion for the VA to hire more doctors and health professionals to meet growing demand for care.January 2015: Sanders takes over as ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, using the platform to fight for his economic agenda for the American middle class.January 2015: Sanders votes against the Keystone XL pipeline, which would allow multinational corporation TransCanada to transport dirty tar sands oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.March 2015: Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced legislation to expand benefits and strengthen the retirement program for generations to come. The Social Security Expansion Act was filed on the same day Sanders and other senators received the petitions signed by 2 million Americans, gathered by the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.September 2015: Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Rep. Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.) today introduced bills to ban private prisons, reinstate the federal parole system and eliminate quotas for the number of immigrants held in detention.January 2016: Sanders Places Hold on FDA Nominee Dr. Robert Califf because of his close ties to the pharmaceutical industry and lack of commitment to lowering drug prices. There is no reason to believe that he would make the FDA work for ordinary Americans, rather than just the CEOs of pharmaceutical companies.A shortened list of accomplishments from:https://pplswar.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/printableleg.pdf104th Congress — 1995-1996• Require offenders who are convicted of fraud and other white collar crime to give appropriate notice to victims and other persons in cases where there are multiple victims eligible to receive restitution. H.Amdt. 98 to H.R. 665 (Victims of Justice Act of 1995)• The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs should emphasize minimizing the burden on small businesses with 50 or fewer employees. H.Amdt. 210 to H.R. 830 (Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995)• Increase funding for the Court of Veterans Appeals by $1.4 million and reduce funding for Housing and Urban Development salaries and expenses by $1.4 million. H.Amdt. 1203 to H.R. 3666 Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1997105th Congress — 1997-1998• Congress declares that Ngawang Choephel and other prisoners of conscience in Tibet, as well as in China, should be released immediately, and that the U.S. government should seek access for internationally recognized human rights groups to monitor human rights in Tibet. H.Amdt.174 to H.R.1757 (Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998)• Increase funding for the Meals on Wheels program by $5 million and reduce funding for the Food and Drug Administration by $5.5 million. H.Amdt.267 to H.R.2160 (Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1998)• Prohibit funds for the U.S. Customs Office from being used to allow the importation into the U.S. any material mined, produced, or manufactured by forced or indentured child labor. H.Amdt.368 to H.R.2378 (Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act, 1998)• Increase funding for the office of the U.S. Trade Representative by $1 million and reduce funding for general administrative expenses within the Department of Commerce commensurately. H.Amdt.388 to H.R.2267 (Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1998)• Require the Comptroller General to report to Congress regarding the efficacy and benefits of uniformly limiting any commissions, fees, markups, or other costs incurred by customers in the acquisition of financial products. H.Amdt.626 to H.R.10 (Financial Services Act of 1998)• Increase funding for nutrition programs for senior citizens by $10 million. H.Amdt.706 to H.R.4101 (Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999)• Prohibit funding to be used to enter into or renew a contract with any company owned, or partially owned, by the People’s Republic of China or the People’s Liberation Army of the People’s Republic of China. H.Amdt.708 to H.R.4103 (Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 1999)————-The partial list in the last section above is only some of the notable mentions in the first 2 out of 6 pages worth of legislative accomplishments found at https://pplswar.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/printableleg.pdfCopying and pasting all 6 pages of the list is too time-consuming for me to include it all here so feel free to follow the link and read the rest for yourself.