Legislative

In meetings with small business owners impacted by Irene, Rep. Peter Welch heard one recurring theme about federal disaster relief programs: They did not meet the needs of many small businesses. In the days and weeks following Irene, SBA distributed over 1,900 business disaster loan applications. Only 234 businesses submitted a completed application, of which only 137 loans were approved. In a letter to the Small Business Administration (SBA), Welch is asking SBA Administrator Karen Mills to create a new microloan category within the existing SBA disaster loan program. Targeting businesses with fewer than 50 employees, this new loan program would provide smaller, expedited loans with reduced paperwork requirements. He is joined by Skip Hoblin, the owner of Snowfire Auto in Moretown, which sustained damage from Irene. 

Sen. Bernie Sanders discussed a range of issues in this 30 minute segment recorded in the U.S. Senate studios in Washington D.C.

Representatives Dave Sharpe and Joey Donovan speak with House Whip Representative Willem Jewett (D) Addison-2, on the recently concluded session.

During a conference call with postmasters and postal supervisors from around the country, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and other lawmakers call on the U.S. House to pass a postal service reform bill that cleared the Senate on Wednesday. 
The Senate-passed measure that Sanders helped craft would spare many rural post offices and mail sorting centers that the U.S. Postal Service wanted to shutter. The bill also would put the U.S. Postal Service on a path toward financial viability. A Sanders provision calls for a blue-ribbon commission to recommend ways to change the Postal Service business model and come up with new ways to generate revenue.
Who: Sens. Bernie Sanders, Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.).