{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=188868CF-F647-4C44-AF43-1D6E89C056FB", ": News September 12", "2013-09-12", "2013", "2013-09", "Independent", "House", "VT", "Bernard Sanders", "S000033", "sanders.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "News September 12\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\tThursday, September 12, 2013\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\tSenator Sanders\r\nGeneva Talks Mark Big Test for U.S., Russia\u00a0Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva on Thursday to discuss a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Syria, \u201cI am pleased to see that the president and his administration are now working with Russia, France, the UK, China and the United Nations to remove chemical weapons from Syria without involving the United States in the bloody and complicated Syrian civil war. This is a good step forward,\u201d Sen. Bernie Sanders said in theTimes Argus\u00a0and\u00a0Rutland Herald. Sens. Sanders and Patrick Leahy both support diplomatic proposals to remove chemical weapons from Syria,\u00a0WCAX-TV\u00a0reported.\u00a0VIDEO,\u00a0LINK\r\nObama Must Not Surrender to Class Warfare\u00a0President Barack Obama now must turn his focus from Syria to championing progressive solutions to the nation's pressing domestic issues. \u201cThe president has got to say, \u2018I stand with the working families of the United States, and if the billionaires hate me, so be it.\u2019 He's got to draw the line in the sand... on the class warfare going on in America.\u201d Sen. Sanders told\u00a0MSNBC's\u00a0Ed Schultz Wednesday that\u00a0VIDEO\u00a0 \u00a0\r\nObama's Unpopular War\u00a0President Barack Obama is paying a high political price for his support of unpopular military strikes in Syria, according to an\u00a0Al Jazeera America\u00a0report. Sen. Sanders \"assailed\" the president and Congress for not focusing on important domestic issues. \u201cWhat about our kids?\u201d he asked. \u201cWhat kind of future are they going to have in a country where the middle class continues to disappear?\u201d\u00a0LINK\r\n9/11 Remembered\u00a0The 12th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks were commemorated Wednesday in New York City, Washington, D.C., and western Pennsylvania. \u201cThose events transformed this country,\u201d Sen. Sanders said on Wednesday in a conversation with radio host Ed Schultz.\u00a0AUDIO\r\nJobs\u00a0The unemployment rate in August of 7.3 percent only measures people who have actively looked for work in the past four weeks. It's a tremendously deceptive measure that ignores millions of discouraged and freelance workers. In fact, the labor force participation rate last month was 63.2 percent, nearly the lowest level in 35 years,\u00a0Newsday\u00a0opinion editor Anne Michaud wrote in a column that cited Sen. Sanders\u2019 concern that Congress has ignored unemployment and the disappearing middle class.\u00a0LINK\r\nTaxes\u00a0Senate Democratic leaders are facing pressure from the party\u2019s left wing to move manufacturing incentives and other corporate tax measures endorsed by President Obama as part of a move toward job-promoting fiscal measures. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada is weighing whether to move the provisions, including new infrastructure funding measures that would be funded by new corporate tax revenue. Sen. Sanders said he and other liberals might support a corporate overhaul, but only if it included \u201csubstantial revenue\u201d to fund priorities, according to\u00a0Congressional Quarterly.\u00a0LINK\r\nUSPS\u00a0The United States should expand, not shrink, its postal service, Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese wrote for\u00a0Truthout. Bills to support the USPS are sponsored by Sen. Sanders and Rep. Peter DeFazio.\u00a0LINK\r\nGay Veterans\u00a0Legislation to bar anti-LGBT job bias is expected to come before the Senate sometime this fall,\u00a0The Washington Blade\u00a0reported. Another LGBT-relevant bill that has been reported out of the committee is the Charlie Morgan Act, which would ensure veterans in same-sex marriages have access to certain spousal benefits. A spokesman for Sen. Sanders, who chairs the veterans\u2019 committee, wouldn\u2019t speculate on the bill's chance of passage.\u00a0LINK\r\nBernie\u00a0In a weak attempt at a Brooklyn accent, radio host Thom Hartmann introduced Rep. Peter DeFazio on Wednesday with an attempted imitation of Sanders recommending that Hartmann should get to know DeFazio.\u00a0AUDIO\r\nMoran Plant\u00a0Burlington's Moran Plant may look like an eyesore from the outside, but it's an inspiration for the city's artists, according to\u00a0Seven Days. Some would like to see the plant transformed into something useful for the community. One area resident said he envisions a \"Great Hall\" space with two fantasy shows: a solo cellist performing the Brandenburg Concertos under a single spotlight; and a dramatic reading of Dylan Thomas\u2019 \u201cDo Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night\u201d by Sen. Sanders.\u00a0LINK\r\nWorld\r\nWar Crimes in Syria\u00a0United Nations human rights monitors presented detailed evidence on Wednesday of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by both pro-government and anti-government forces in a civil war in Syria,\u00a0The New York Times\u00a0reported. Of nine mass killings the panel investigated for the report, eight were attributed to the government side and one to rebels.\u00a0LINK\r\nNSA Shares Americans' Data with Israel\u00a0National Security Agency officials routinely share raw intelligence data, including sensitive personal information about United States citizens, with Israel, according to documents leaked to\u00a0The Guardian.\u00a0LINK\r\nNational\r\nRepublicans Delay Budget Vote\u00a0House Republicans decided Wednesday to delay until next week a vote on a continuing resolution to fund the government,\u00a0The Washington Postreported. Rank-and-file Republicans had not fully come aboard their leadership\u2019s plan to keep federal agencies operating at current sequestration levels while forcing a Senate vote on the Affordable Care Act\u00a0LINK\r\nHill Obamacare Rules Delayed\u00a0Rules about how members of Congress and their staff get insurance through health care exchanges may be delayed by the Office of Personnel Management, according to\u00a0Politico. A proposed solution to continue offering employer subsidies for health care to staff members is still being finalized.\u00a0LINK\r\nVermont\r\nState Buildings Go Solar\u00a0Gov. Peter Shumlin announced Wednesday a plan to convert state buildings to solar energy with the installation of over 900 solar tracking panels, according to the\u00a0Burlington Free Press. Estimated energy savings are pegged at more than $1 million over 20 years.\u00a0LINK\r\nMylan Technologies Expansion\u00a0Gov. Shumlin's administration plans to move $5.5 million from the state corrections budget to finance a project aiding Mylan Technologies in its expansion in downtown St. Albans,\u00a0The Associated Press\u00a0reported.\u00a0LINK\r\nGoing to Pot\u00a0Gov. Shumlin said marijuana should be legalized in the state, but not right now. He said legalizing and taxing marijuana is the direction the country is headed and \"Vermont should be a part of that conversation.\" But he's not willing to do that now,\u00a0AP\u00a0reported.\u00a0LINK\r\nLeahy is Citizen of the Year\u00a0The Vermont Chamber of Commerce has named Sen. Patrick Leahy as its 2013 Citizen of the Year. The chamber will celebrate Leahy\u2019s contributions to Vermont at an awards dinner on Oct. 16 at the Hilton Burlington, the\u00a0Burlington Free Pressreported.\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=188868CF-F647-4C44-AF43-1D6E89C056FB"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.8989508971571922, "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"}