Senator Bernie Sanders
State of Vermont, U.S. Senate
Keynote Speaker at ACCO Defense, National Security and Climate Change Workshop
Bernie
Sanders was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006 after serving 16 years in the
House of Representatives. He is the longest serving independent member of
Congress in American history. Born in 1941 in Brooklyn, Bernie was the younger
of two sons in a modest-income family. After graduation from the University of
Chicago in 1964, he moved to Vermont. Early in his career, Sanders was director
of the American People’s Historical Society. Elected Mayor of Burlington by 10
votes in 1981, he served four terms. Before his 1990 election as Vermont's
at-large member in Congress, Sanders lectured at the John F. Kennedy School of
Government at Harvard and at Hamilton College in upstate New York.
The Almanac of American Politics has called Sanders a "practical" and
"successful legislator." He has focused on the shrinking middle class and
widening income gap in America that is greater than at any time since the Great
Depression. Other priorities include reversing global warming, universal health
care, fair trade policies, supporting veterans and preserving family farms. He
serves on five Senate committees: Budget; Veterans; Energy; Environment; and
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
Senator Sanders has received high honors for his lifetime pro-environment record and he continues to work to ensure that we leave future generations a vibrant and healthy world. As the only member of the Senate majority to sit on both the Environment and Public Works and the Energy and Natural Resources Committees, and as chairman of the Green Jobs and New Economy Subcommittee, Sanders is uniquely positioned to fight for progressive energy polices and increased environmental protection - issues of great importance to him and to all Vermonters. Sanders has been a leading voice on the need to address global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The first bill he introduced as a member of the U.S. Senate was a greenhouse gas emissions reduction bill, and he continues to press for action to move our nation towards energy independence.