{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=15C45336-DAB3-4F7D-BB3D-B2557A867736", ": News August 31", "2013-08-31", "2013", "2013-08", "Independent", "House", "VT", "Bernard Sanders", "S000033", "sanders.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "News August 31\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tSaturday, August 31, 2013\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\tSenator Sanders\r\nVA Faulted for Lax Oversight of Veterans\u2019 Financial Advisers\u00a0A bipartisan group of senior senators said Friday they are \"deeply troubled\" by the findings of a new Government Accountability Office report that criticizes the Department of Veterans Affairs for lax enforcement of its rules on accrediting private financial planners, attorneys, insurance agents and others who assist veterans in filing for VA benefits,\u00a0The Washington Post\u00a0online,\u00a0Military Times,\u00a0The Reno Dispatch\u00a0and\u00a0The Tampa Tribunereported. Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders and ranking member Sen. Richard Burr signed a letter sent to Secretary Eric Shinseki.\u00a0LINK,\u00a0LINK,\u00a0LINK,\u00a0LINK\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\r\nVermont Veterans Home Workers Thank Sanders\u00a0\u201cThe nurses and caregivers at the Vermont Veterans\u2019 Home would like to thank Sen. Sanders\u00a0for his leadership fighting for a federal commitment to high quality health care for our nation\u2019s veterans, Harry (Jamie) Percey wrote in a letter to the editor of the\u00a0Bennington Banner.\u00a0LINK\r\nCollege Costs\u00a0In a letter to the editor of\u00a0The Caledonian-Record, Sharon Baker differed with Sen. Sanders\u2019 on student loan debt.\u00a0LINK\r\nWorld\r\nU.N. Inspectors Leave Syria\u00a0United Nations weapons inspectors left Syria for Lebanon on Saturday as the Obama administration made an aggressive and coordinated push to justify a military intervention on the grounds that American credibility was at stake,\u00a0The New York Times\u00a0reported.\u00a0LINK\r\nKerry Outlines Chemical Attack Evidence\u00a0Secretary of State John Kerry outlined evidence Friday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used poison gas against its citizens,\u00a0The New York Times\u00a0reported. Kerry said more than 1,400 people were killed in the attack, 400 of whom were children. \u201cThe question is \u2026 what are we and the world going to do about it?\u201d he said.\u00a0LINK\r\nConsulting Congress\u00a0The White House has provided a series of briefings for key lawmakers to combat complaints that Congress is not being consulted on a potential U.S. strike in Syria. More than 160 House members - Democrats and Republicans \u2013 signed letters this week urging the president to \"receive authorization from Congress\" before striking Syria. Elliot Engel, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Relations Committee, told\u00a0CBS News\u00a0that \"there's clearly a precedent where the president can act and then come to Congress later on, or come to Congress certainly within 60 days.\"\r\nExperts Warn of Unintended Consequences\u00a0Middle East experts fear the U.S. plan overlooks the potential to worsen the violence in Syria and intensify a fight for regional influence between Iran and Saudi Arabia, according to\u00a0The New York Times.\u00a0LINK\u00a0\r\nNational\u00a0\r\nWhite House Need Not Disclose Visitors\u00a0White House visitor logs for the president and most of his staff are not public information, according to a Friday federal appeals court ruling reported by\u00a0The Associated Press.\u00a0LINK\u00a0\r\nVermont\u00a0\r\nWind Power\u00a0The state says Green Mountain Power could be fined $54,000 for violating sound standards at its Lowell wind project. But the state agency that represents ratepayers says that instead of a fine, GMP should use the money to look into additional sound monitoring at the site where the problems were serious enough to justify a fine of $9,000 for each of the six violations,\u00a0Vermont Public Radio\u00a0reported.\u00a0LINK\r\nNuclear Power\u00a0The loss of a nuclear power plant that once provided Vermont with one-third of its electricity won\u2019t affect the region\u2019s power supply, according to ISO New England, which operates the region\u2019s high-voltage power grid and administers its wholesale electricity market in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont,\u00a0The Keene Sentinel\u00a0reported.\u00a0LINK", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=15C45336-DAB3-4F7D-BB3D-B2557A867736"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.380284946411848, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}