END OF AN ERA

Bernie Sanders Reveals His Apparent Retirement Plan

The progressive Vermont senator was just reelected last month.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders told Politico Wednesday that his upcoming fourth term in the Senate will probably be his last. “I’m 83 now. I’ll be 89 when I get out of here. You can do the figuring. I don’t know, but I would assume, probably, yes,” he said. A co-founder of the Progressive Caucus when he was first sworn in as a member of the House in 1991, Sanders was twice a Democratic candidate for president, emphasizing the need to lower the costs of healthcare, childcare and prescription drugs. He also worked toward those ends as chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Sanders told Politico that he sees that work continuing, even if some in the Progressive Caucus may disagree with his vision. “We are the only major country on earth that doesn’t guarantee health care to all of its people. And we pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs,” he said. “My vision is pretty clear as to where we have to go.”