The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS” mentioning Bernard Sanders was published in the Senate section on pages S988-S990 on March 1.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Senators' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS
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VERMONT STATE OF THE UNION ESSAY CONTENT WINNERS
Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, since 2010, I have sponsored a State of the Union essay contest for Vermont high school students. This contest gives students in my State the opportunity to articulate what issues they would prioritize if they were President of the United States.
This is the contest's 11th year, and I would like to congratulate the 319 students who participated. It is truly heartening to see so many young people engaged in finding solutions for the problems that face our country. To my mind, this is what democracy is all about.
A volunteer panel of Vermont teachers reviewed the essays and chose William Taggard as this year's winner. William, a junior at Brattleboro Union High School, wrote about the State of our Nation's democracy. Emilia De Jounge, a sophomore at Burr and Burton Academy, was the second place winner. Emilia wrote about gun control. Simon Rosenbaum, a junior at Vermont Commons School, was the third place winner, with an essay on democracy.
I am very proud to enter into the Congressional Record the essays submitted by William, Emilia and Simon.
The material follows:
Winner, William Taggard, Brattleboro Union High School, Junior
In the wake of the Watergate scandal of 1972, author and journalist Frank Herbert remarked that ``good governance never depends upon laws, but upon the personal qualities of those who govern. The machinery of government is always subordinate to those who administer that machinery.'' The current administration has overseen an unprecedented undermining of trust in our government, the scale of which is scarcely rivaled in our nation's history. The subsequent damage leads us to Herbert's inevitable conclusion: ``The most important element of government, therefore, is the method of choosing leaders.''
Our democracy has been under unprecedented pressure in recent months, culminating in the insurrection in our nation's capital. Fortunately, democracy and the truth have prevailed. However, our current system leaves ample room for improvement: namely the electoral college. We face a fundamental problem that puts at risk one of the most essential assets of our great nation. We need to review the merits of the electoral college and determine how best to protect our democratic process. Two of the last three Presidents elected have failed to secure a majority of the popular vote, suggesting that while the Declaration of Independence states we are all created equal, our current democratic system makes some votes more impactful than others. A select number of ``swing states'' hold a disproportionate amount of power in determining the outcome of a race.
A short term solution to the flaws of the electoral college system is the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact
(NPVIC). This is an agreement between states to award all of their electoral votes to the candidate that wins the national popular vote. To become effective, its signatories must control at least 270 electoral votes. Currently, they hold a total of 196 votes, with another 67 pending. By eliminating
``swing states,'' the NPVIC would spread voting power equally, regardless of which state you live in. This change would force politicians to campaign not only to ``swing state'' voters, but to everyone.
Long term, it is in the country's best interest to consider alternate methods of voting. Our current system forces voters to pick between two popular candidates rather than support their true favorite, but this dynamic only arises from our pick one voting system. Methods such as approval or instant runoff voting can combat polarization, legitimize third parties, and eliminate spoiler candidates; forms of proportional representation can transcend gerrymandering and incentivize cooperation through coalition building. These practices allow voters to voice their conscience without worry of ``wasting'' their vote and fix many of the problems our current system has.
The importance of choosing good leaders has perhaps never been more apparent--divisive rhetoric dominates the political sphere, suffocating any chance at productive discourse. As President-elect Joe Biden cautioned, ``the words of a president matter.'' We would be wise to ensure that those words come from a leader whose authority derives not from the exploitation of the electoral system, but rather from broad consensus and a commitment to the growth and prosperity of our nation.
Second Place, Emilia deJounge, Burr and Burton Academy, Sophomore
Columbine, Sandy Hook, Parkland . . . every parent's worst nightmare, yet what has America done to prevent another? A study by the American Journal of Medicine in 2016 found that Americans are 25 times more likely to die from gun homicide than people in other wealthy countries. Our futile attempts at gun control have seen little success, as gun violence rates are still steadily rising, increasing almost 25% from 2019 to 2020. The right to bear arms is in our Constitution, yet that does not negate the need for sound and rational policies around the sales of firearms. Currently, nearly 400 million guns are privately owned in the US, more than the country's population, with sharp increases in recent years. Gun violence needs to be recognized and addressed as a top priority public health issue.
``It is much easier to be a legal gun owner in the US than it is to be a legal driver,'' says David Hemenway, director of Injury Control Research at Harvard. A first step to prevent gun violence is to make it more difficult to purchase a gun through safe gun-owning training programs and requiring registration of all gun purchases. According to the State Firearms Law project, just seven states require a permit to possess a gun of any kind. A 2014 study in the Journal of Urban Health found that Missouri's 2007 repeal of its permit-to-purchase handgun law was associated with a 25% increase in firearms homicide rates.
Another important step to combating gun violence is investing in research. According to a 2017 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, gun violence research should have received $1.4 billion from 2004 to 2015, based on mortality rates and funding levels for other leading causes of death, but only received 1.6% of the projected amount. According to Dr. Elinore Kaufman, chief resident in surgery at New York-Presbyterian, ``we know far less about gun violence as a cause of injury and death than we do about almost every medical problem.'' In 1996, the NRA pressured Congress to pass the Dickey Amendment mandating that no CDC funds could be spent on research that promotes gun control, which has impaired our ability to make informed legislation.
We can look to other nations to see that gun control works. Germany has been successful in upholding the rights of its citizens, yet preventing unnecessary deaths. With one of the highest weapons-per-head rates in the world, Germany maintains one of the lowest gun homicide rates in Europe: a death rate of 0.05 per 1,000 people, compared with 3.34 in the US, and the rate in Germany is decreasing. This accomplishment is due to strict gun laws which include psychiatric evaluations, random spot checks, and limits to numbers of guns per person. The US can enact its own version of these laws while upholding the rights of citizens. Gun violence is a widespread disease plaguing our country which can be prevented through more effective control policies.
Third Place, Simon Rosenbaum, Vermont Commons School, Junior
This past year terrified me. It was not just the carnage and isolation of the pandemic. I wasn't afraid of war in Iran. I was afraid because a United States Senator said it was okay to assault peaceful protestors in front of the White House for a photo op and negate the constitutional right to assembly. I was afraid because the President of the United States is fighting to subvert the cornerstone of our democracy: our election process. I was afraid because the America I love and believe in felt like it was on the brink of collapse. The most pressing issue that we as Americans face today is the preservation of our democracy.
Before and after the November election, people on all sides of the political spectrum have carried on about policy and rhetoric, conspiracy theories and misinformation. No one seems to understand the gravity of the situation. What makes America special is our belief in a functioning democracy and an uncompromising defense of our constitutional rights. My ancestors came to America to grant that to me. Our predecessors built that for all of us. The one inheritance bestowed upon every American is the dignity of being American. This year, our democracy was pushed to the brink, our rights were subverted, and the dignity of America was cast aside. To me, this felt like the end.
Of course, it was not the end. We Americans kept fighting for a more equitable, democratic union and it looks like our democracy will survive. My concern is for next time. What happens if next time, the system is assaulted by a savvy politician, someone who understands the systems they hope to destroy? This year, we saw that people in positions of power would do anything to keep it.
To preserve the union and our nation, we must eliminate the possibility for a President to wield unitary executive authority. Diminishing the power of the Executive Branch will mitigate the damage that an unfit executive could cause. We must also depoliticize judicial appointments, and instate a nonpartisan federal oversight commission independent of the executive branch to ensure that political leaders are working for the people.
Additionally, we must rebuild our demoralized, undervalued federal public service. These patriotic, nonpartisan public servants have been caught in the crosshairs of this attempted coup, and we must put them first as we rebuild from this sabotage of the framework of our country. They are the ones who put their careers and in some cases their lives on the line to save America. Now we must repay that priceless debt. Increasing protections for whistleblowers, creating a federal public service academy similar to our military academies, and simply paying public servants more for the invaluable work they do will make great strides in strengthening the system against assault next time.
This past year, the great American experiment almost came to an end. The most pressing issue we face now is how do we make sure this never happens again?
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