{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=40C3B21A-CD97-4BAA-8E32-9526B94E5C9D", "?A Good Step Forward?", "2013-09-10", "2013", "2013-09", "Independent", "House", "VT", "Bernard Sanders", "S000033", "sanders.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "\u2018A Good Step Forward\u2019\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tTuesday, September 10, 2013\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\tPresident Barack Obama on Tuesday asked Congress to postpone consideration of his request for military strikes against Syria because of \u201cencouraging signs\u201d and \u201cconstructive talks\u201d with Russia\u2019s leaders about a proposal that international monitors take over Syria\u2019s arsenal of chemical weapons. \u201cThis is a good step forward,\u201d Sen. Bernie Sanders said after Obama\u2019s nationally televised address from the White House East Room. Sanders has voiced concerns that another war in the Middle East would push aside important issues at home.\u00a0\r\n\u201cThere is a reason why the vast majority of Americans disapprove of the work that Congress is doing. Vermonters and the American people want President Obama and Congress to focus on the major crises facing the collapsing middle class \u2013 high unemployment, low wages, growing wealth and income inequality, the high cost of college, global warming and many other issues,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cI believe that the American people share the president\u2019s concerns about chemical weapons in Syria and the brutal Assad dictatorship. But, in overwhelming numbers, Vermonters are telling me they want those issues addressed diplomatically by the UN and the international community \u2013 not by unilateral military action on the part of the U.S.,\u201d the senator added.\r\n\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 \u2013 without involving the United States in the bloody and complicated Syrian civil war. \u00a0This is a good step forward.\u201d", 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=40C3B21A-CD97-4BAA-8E32-9526B94E5C9D"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7815309800207615, "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"}