Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-At Large) Elected 1990, 8th term
Born:	Sept. 8, 1941, New York, NY
Home:	Burlington
Education:	U. of Chicago, B.A. 1964
Religion:	Jewish
Marital Status:	married (Jane)
Elected  Office:	Burlington Mayor, 1981-89.
Professional Career:	Writer; Dir., Amer. People's History Soc.; Lecturer, Harvard U., 1989; Prof., Hamilton Col., 1989-90.
DC Office	2233 RHOB20515, 202-225-4115; Fax: 202-225-6790; Web site: www.bernie.house.gov
State Offices	Brattleboro, 802-254-8732; Burlington, 802-862-0697.
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Vermont's single House member is Bernie Sanders, a Socialist elected as an Independent since 1990 but treated as a Democrat in the House. Sanders grew up in Flatbush, Brooklyn, the son of a paint salesman who had emigrated from Poland. "I know what it's like to live in a family without any money. Lack of money was a constant stress on my parents' relationship and in our household." He became involved in radical politics at the University of Chicago, then came to Vermont as part of the hippie invasion of 1968. His rumpled, tieless, sincere persona helped him win election as mayor of Burlington in 1981 by 10 votes, after losing four statewide races. In 1988, when Congressman Jim Jeffords ran for the Senate, Sanders ran for the House and lost to Republican Peter Smith. Two years later he ran again and reversed the result by capitalizing on Smith's support of the 1990 budget summit agreement and his vote for the ban on semiautomatic weapons. The National Rifle Association came out against Smith, and Sanders' opposition to gun control helped this urban-based Socialist carry 227 of Vermont's 251 cities and towns, plus three gores and one grant. Sanders became only the third Socialist elected to the House, after Victor Berger of Milwaukee (1911-13, 1923-29) and Meyer London of Manhattan's Lower East Side (1915-23). His views haven't changed much since his first election.

At first, Democrats balked at accepting him in their caucus, but they granted him seniority as a Democrat when he arrived in 1991; he became ranking minority member on a subcommittee in 1997 over the objections of Elijah Cummings and, when a Banking subcommittee ranking position opened up in November 1997, he got that over the claims of Carolyn Maloney. Sanders adds to a heavily liberal voting record his own particular stamp. He formed a Progressive Caucus, with 52 members in the 108th Congress, with what was at the time a quixotic agenda: progressive tax reform, a Canadian-style single-payer health care system, a 50% cut in military spending over five years, a national energy policy and--a Vermont touch--support for family farms.

But Sanders has also been a practical and sometimes successful legislator, gaining Republican allies in targeting what they consider corporate welfare. With Chris Smith of New Jersey, for example, he passed an amendment barring spending for defense contractor mergers (''payoffs for layoffs''). In February 2001 he proposed a $300 per person income tax rebate; this quickly became Democratic party policy, and Republicans in assembling majorities for the Bush tax cuts included it in diluted form--a $300 rebate for income-tax-paying adults. Sanders and Democrats noted ruefully, and accurately, that Bush claimed credit for a tax cutting proposal which was initially theirs and which Republicans for a time resisted.

As much as any member of Congress, he has made the cost of prescription drugs a national issue. Since the 1980s, he has called for government programs to pay for prescription drugs, and was the first member of Congress to lead bus trips to Canada to buy drugs there. He has denounced "the insatiable greed that consumes this runaway industry," and added, "The simple truth is that the pharmaceutical industry lies a lot." To its claim that it costs $800 million to get FDA approval of a drug, Sanders replies that it is more like $200 million. He has objected consistently when Clinton HHS Secretary Donna Shalala and her Bush successor Tommy Thompson ruled that they could not certify that reimported Canadian drugs are safe. He argues that the safety threat is nonexistent and adds that "those who swear on the altar of free trade" are happy to let U.S. consumers eat imported fruits, vegetables and meat.

On trade issues, Sanders in October 2003 called for repeal of the 2000 Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China. "American workers should not be asked and forced to compete against Chinese workers who work for 30, 40, 50 cents an hour, who can't form unions, where there is no environmental protection." By December 2003 he had 15 Republicans as well as 42 Democrats as co-sponsors. Sanders wouldn't stop there. He has called for repeal of NAFTA as well as PNTR and for a moratorium on Free Trade Agreements. After a trip to Mexico, he reported to readers of The Nation, "We encountered horrendous poverty, environmental degradation and a lawless and corrupt environment." He argues that workers in both the United States and in foreign nations would be better off without free trade agreements. In 2004 Sanders sponsored an amendment to prohibit the ExImBank to lend to companies who laid off more workers at home than overseas, though an aide admitted there were no numbers available on foreign layoffs. He was more successful on a July 2004 amendment to prohibit the ExImBank from loaning to companies that move their headquarters to foreign countries; that passed the House by the impressive vote of 270-132.

Sanders has been a critic of the Patriot Act and has focused on Section 215 which permits government investigators to obtain business records including those of library and bookstore patrons after obtaining an order from an intelligence court. In July 2004 his amendment to repeal 215 was defeated on a tie vote only after the Republican leadership held the roll call open for 20 minutes and convinced 10 Republicans to change their votes. Sanders said he will pursue this cause when the Patriot Act comes up for reauthorization in 2005.

As Vermont's sole representative, Sanders was naturally the House's leading backer of the Northeast Dairy Compact, which propped up Northeast dairy prices. After the Compact expired in September 2001, his bill to establish a national dairy compact passed the House but was killed in conference committee when Vermonters were unable to come up with a version acceptable to Midwestern dairy states. Dismayed at conservative domination of talk radio, he started his own one-hour Monday talk show on WDEV in Waterbury in 2003, and he was interviewed for the movie "Outfoxed."

Just once has Sanders been seriously challenged for reelection. In 1994, after voting for the assault weapons ban and the crime bill with its gun control provisions, Sanders was opposed by the National Rifle Association-backed Vermont Sportsmen's Coalition. Sanders outspent state Senator John Carroll, but won by only 50%-47%. His Republican opponent in 2004 ran a radio ad calling him "Crazy Bernie" and saying, "Bernie loves long walks on the beach with child pornographers and pedophiles, candlelight dinners with illegal aliens and cozy evenings by the fire with al Qaeda terrorists." Republican Lieutenant Governor Brian Dubie denounced the ad and it ran for only one day. Sanders won 67%-24%, with 7% for a Democratic nominee who obviously had no support from Vermont's Democratic party.

Sanders twice gave serious consideration to running for Senate against Jeffords; when Jeffords announced in April 2005 that he would not run for another term in 2006, Sanders became the early frontrunner. By June, he had been endorsed by many Vermont Democrats, including former Governor Phil Hoff, Burlington Mayor Peter Clavelle, Senate President Pro Tempore Peter Welch and House Speaker Gaye Symington.

Committees

• Financial Services (1st of 1 I): Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade & Technology; Housing & Community Opportunity.
• Government Reform (1st of 1 I): Criminal Justice, Drug Policy & Human Resources; National Security, Emerging Threats & International Relations.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2004	95	100	100	91	10	12	30	4	0	7	--
2003	100	--	100	90	--	28	14	9	--	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2003 LIB	--	2003 CONS		2004 LIB	--	2004 CONS
Economic	85%	--	14%		70%	--	29%
Social	69%	--	30%		88%	--	0%
Foreign	94%	--	0%		85%	--	14%
For National Journal's complete 2004 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 108th Congress (More Info)
1. Drilling in ANWR N 2. Approve Bush Tax Cuts N 3. Medicare/Rx Bill N 4. Bar Overtime Pay Regs. Y 5. DC School Vouchers N 6. Ban Human Cloning Y		7. Restrict Gun Liability Y  8. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion N  9. Ban Same-Sex Marriage N 10. Fund Iraq War N 11. Bar Cuba Embargo Funds Y 12. Intelligence Reorg. N

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Bernie Sanders (I)	205,774	67%	$810,050
	Greg Parke (R)	74,271	24%	$670,350
	Larry Drown (D)	21,684	7%
	Other	3,279	1%
2004 primary	Bernie Sanders (I)	unopposed
2002 general	Bernie Sanders (I)	144,880	64%	$622,639
	William Meub (R)	72,813	32%	$184,845
	Other	7,783	3%
Prior winning percentages: 2000 (69%); 1998 (63%); 1996 (55%); 1994 (50%); 1992 (58%); 1990 (56%)

2004 Presidential Vote Kerry (D) 184,067 (59%) Bush (R) 121,180 (39%)

2000 Presidential Vote Gore (D) 149,022 (51%) Bush (R) 119,775 (41%)

For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the At-Large District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: D + 9
• District Size: 9,614 square miles
• Population in 2000: 608,827; 38.2% urban; 61.8% rural
• Median Household Income: $40,856; 9.4% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 23.3% blue collar; 60.8% white collar; 15.9% gray collar; 13.6% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 96.2% White, 0.5% Black, 0.8% Asian, 0.4% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 1.1% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 0.9% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 13.1% English, 11.7% Irish, 10.3% French
• Click here for statewide demographic data.