Have to Live on Welfare? Thu Apr 29, 2021 I thought I knew all the horrible Bernie Sanders stories. But this one is new to me. In 1971, Vermont was debating a tenant s rights bill. One of the testimonials to Vermont s State Senate Judiciary Committee came from one Susan Mott of Burlington, who said the legislation did not go far enough in prohibiting discrimination against single mothers and recipients of welfare benefits. Mott had one child and was on welfare. That one child, introduced earlier in this essay, was Levi Sanders, Bernie Sanders son. Which begs the question, why did Bernie Sanders (former?) girlfriend and his son have to be on welfare? Where was the University of Chicago graduate s considerable marketable skills? What was 5-year-old Levi s father doing that he couldn t afford to support his own child?