{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=2D7EC943-19CD-4AB3-AB94-21D4D9D82267", "News August 17", "2013-08-17", "2013", "2013-08", "Independent", "House", "VT", "Bernard Sanders", "S000033", "sanders.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "News August 17\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 17, 2013\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\tSenator Sanders\r\nDomestic Spying\u00a0The National Security Agency has overstepped its legal authority and violated the privacy of thousands of Americans, according to an audit cited in published reports. \"We have to defend the American people from the very real threat of terrorism,\" Sen. Bernie Sanders told radio host Thom Hartmann on Friday, \"but there are ways to do that without undermining basic privacy and constitutional rights.\"\u00a0AUDIO\r\nPostal Service\u00a0A plan to allow the Postal Service to ship beer and wine could generate $50 million in revenue for the agency, according to FOX 44. Sen. Sanders supports the idea, but said the Postal Service\u2019s larger fiscal issues are more deeply rooted in a burdensome congressional mandate that requires the agency to overpay a fund for future retiree benefits. VIDEO\r\nStudent Loans The Senate passed legislation that will provide relief on student loan interest rates \u201cbut it is far from perfect,\u201d Sen. Carl Levin wrote in an op-ed published by the Hillsdale (Mich.) Daily News. \u201cThe student debt problem \u2026 requires a carefully \u2026 long-term solution \u2026 But this legislation is not it. That is why I supported an amendment \u2026 by Sens. Jack Reed and Elizabeth Warren and another by Sen. \u2026 Sanders that would have mitigated some of the long-term damage of this legislation.\u201d\r\n\u2018I\u2019ll Take Bernie\u2019 \u201cI will take independent Sen. Bernie Sanders any day,\u201d a caller told C-SPAN during a Saturday morning call-in program that asked. \u201cWho best represents your political party?\u201d Maggie from Texas added that she prefers Sanders because \u201che is a man of principle. He stands up for the little people. He does not represent the 1 percent in this country. He represents the other 99%.\u201d\u00a0 VIDEO\r\nWorld\r\n'Day of Rage'\u00a0Supporters of former president Morsi in Egypt promised a 'Day of Rage' on Friday as thousands took to the streets to protest a military crackdown, USA Today reported. At least another 60 people were killed Friday. The Muslim Brotherhood has called for a week of more protests.\u00a0LINK\r\nNational\r\nEPA to Revise Fuel-Economy Standards\u00a0Environmental Protection Agency regulators plan to revise labeling rules from the 1970s to resolve disparities among miles-per-gallon ratings for hybrid and electric vehicles on the market, The New York Times reported. Changes sought by the agency would ensure that government fuel-economy stickers advertise the most accurate gas mileage information.\u00a0LINK\r\nPaid Sick Days Decrease\u00a0American workers receive fewer paid sick days than they did two decades ago, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report cited by Think Progress. About 40 percent of private sector workers cannot take a paid day off to care for themselves or a family member when illness strikes, the report said.\u00a0LINK\r\nPA Voting Law Halted by Judge\u00a0Pennsylvania Judge Bernard McGinley on Friday barred enforcement of Pennsylvania's new strict voter-identification law in the November general election, according to The Huffington Post. The constitutionality of the law is being challenged by voting rights advocates who say voter ID laws unfairly disenfranchise potential voters.\u00a0LINK\r\nCIA Declassifies Area 51 Documents\u00a0Central Intelligence Agency officials have declassified documents regarding the nation's top secret \"Area 51\" location, The Guardian reported. Conspiracy theorists will likely be disappointed by the documents, which attribute unidentified flying object sightings to the testing of U-2 spy planes in the area during the 1950s and 1960s.\u00a0LINK\r\nRepublicans to Boycott CNN, NBC for Debates\u00a0Republican party officials elected to boycott any 2016 presidential debates sponsored by CNN or NBC if the networks continue with plans to show special film programs on Hillary Clinton, Reuters reported. Delegates to a meeting of the Republican National Committee voice voted unanimously for the boycott, saying that the programs would be \"little more than extended commercials promoting former Secretary Clinton.\"\u00a0LINK\r\nNew York to Appeal 'Stop-and-Frisk' Ruling\u00a0New York City moved Friday to appeal a federal judge's ruling that its police department's controversial stop-and-frisk policy is unconstitutional, according to Reuters. The department's stop-and-frisk strategy, in which patrol officers in high-crime areas have stopped millions of people on the basis of \"reasonable suspicion\" that they could be engaged in criminal activity, disproportionately targeted racial minorities, according to the federal judge who ruled on the case.\u00a0LINK\r\nVermont\r\nSolar Power Billing\u00a0Vermont's smaller electric utilities are pushing back on solar panels that allow customers to feed power back into the grid, according to a Burlington Free Press report. Utilities say that households with photovoltaic panels pay less than a fair share for line maintenance and efficiency programs.\u00a0LINK\r\nCounseling Program Grant\u00a0A Vermont school district has received a grant of over $204,000 from the federal Department of Education to establish or expand counseling programs, The Associated Press reported. Milton school district will use the funds to help hire qualified mental health professionals to work on behalf of students.\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=2D7EC943-19CD-4AB3-AB94-21D4D9D82267"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9165511000901461, "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"}