{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=5E9DC185-8E95-4825-BF58-2E7E448ED189", "News August 27", "2013-08-27", "2013", "2013-08", "Independent", "House", "VT", "Bernard Sanders", "S000033", "sanders.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "News August 27\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\tTuesday, August 27, 2013\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\tSenator Sanders\r\nMunicipal Bonds The Bennington Banner published Vermont State Treasurer Beth Pearce\u2019s letter saying that Sen. Sanders and others in the congressional delegation agree with her that the federal government should not tax municipal bonds.\u00a0 LINK\r\nVermont Yankee A letter to the editor in the Brattleboro Reformer and Burlington Free Press responded to Sen. Sanders\u2019 statement that Vermont Yankee should be closed for economic reasons. LINK, LINK\r\nWorld\r\nObama Considering Military Strike President Obama is weighing a military strike against Syria that would be of limited scope and duration, designed to serve as punishment for Syria\u2019s use of chemical weapons and as a deterrent, while keeping the United States out of deeper involvement in that country\u2019s civil war, senior administration officials told The Washington Post. LINK\r\nKerry: Syrian Chemical Attack 'Undeniable'\u00a0Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that the United States would hold the Syrian government accountable for its \u201cundeniable\u201d use of chemical weapons on civilians, an act he called a \"moral obscenity,\" The New York Times reported.\u00a0LINK\r\nCongress and Syria With an increasing drumbeat for military action against Syria, the White House is seeking to build congressional support, The Hill reported. Speaker John Boehner\u2019s office was contacted by the Obama administration Monday for a discussion on Syria. LINK\u00a0\r\nObama Taps Allies on Syria A diplomatic push ahead of a possible U.S.-led military strike on Syria intensified Tuesday as the White House prepared to release intelligence evidence alleging the use of chemical weapons by Bashar Assad's military. President Obama held discussions with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and French President Francois Hollande on Monday \u2013 the latest in a series of phone calls to allies as the United States lays the groundwork for potential military action, NBC News reported. LINK\r\nNSA Spied on UN\u00a0The United States hacked into an internal United Nations video conferencing system in 2012, according to a Der Spiegel report citing National Security Agency documents leaked by Edward Snowden.\u00a0 A UN spokesman told Reuters that well-established law prohibited such spying and that the organization would contact the United States.\u00a0LINK,\u00a0LINK\r\nIsrael-Palestine Talks Threatened\u00a0Palestinian leaders said peace negotiations were threatened Monday after Israeli security forces killed three Palestinian men at a refugee camp, The Washington Post reported. One Palestinian diplomat said a Monday gathering was canceled in protest, but the State Department denied the claim.\u00a0LINK\r\nNational\r\nDebt Limit The United States Treasury will hit its borrowing limit in mid-October, according to The Wall Street Journal. The timeframe is sooner than many on Capitol Hill had anticipated, meaning there will be extra pressure on Congress to raise the debt ceiling in the coming weeks.\u00a0LINK\r\nVeterans Health Care No government agency has calculated fully the lifetime cost of health care for post-9/11 veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but it is certain to be high NBC News reported. \u201cMedical costs peak decades later,\u201d said Linda Bilmes, a Harvard University professor and coauthor of \"The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict.\" LINK\u00a0\r\nVeterans Homelessness\u00a0 \u201cWe`re doing better but we`re not doing well enough,\u201d to eliminate homelessness for veterans, Sen. Sherrod Brown told Ed Schultz on MSNBC.\u00a0\r\nCollege Costs Surge 538% Since 1985\u00a0College tuition costs have risen 538% since 1985, according to a Bloomberg report. Skyrocketing increases in college costs exacerbate income inequality by keeping those of less means from the schooling they need.\u00a0LINK\r\nWhite House Jobs for Women\u00a0In President Barack Obama's administration, the ratio of men to women in high level jobs is where it was two decades ago, The New York Times reported.\u00a0LINK\r\nF-35s\u00a0United Technologies Corp. and the Pentagon have reached an agreement on a contract to build engines for another batch of F-35 fighter jets, Reuters reported. The agreement is worth more than $1 billion.\u00a0LINK\r\nMedal of Honor\u00a0United States Army Staff Sergeant Ty Carter was awarded the Medal of Honor on Monday by President Barack Obama, Reuters reported. Carter left the safety of his Humvee to rescue a badly wounded comrade under enemy fire during a battle in Afghanistan. LINK\r\nVermont\r\nSeniors\u2019 Services Sequestered This year\u2019s federal budget cuts are causing the Central Vermont Council on Aging to end a popular program that helped seniors keep living at home.\u00a0 Beth Stern, executive director of the council, said the agency will be stopping its Neighbor to Neighbor AmeriCorps program at the end of September because of a decrease in funding, the Times Argus reported. LINK\r\nSequester Strikes Geological Survey A federal budget squeeze threatens to cut off funding for equipment that researchers use to predict floods and pinpoint the amount of pollution flowing into Lake Champlain. Ten stream gages in the Champlain watershed are scheduled to be turned off next month because the sequester reduced U.S. Geological Survey funds, Vermont Public Radio reported. LINK\r\nMarijuana Laws\u00a0Sen. Patrick Leahy plans to hold Senate Judiciary Committee hearings in September to examine the conflicts between state and federal marijuana laws, The Associated Press reported. Several states including Vermont have shifted to smaller penalties for marijuana possession.\u00a0LINK\r\nSchools Seek Budget Input\u00a0Burlington's School Board has issued a call for public input on school budgets, The Associated Press reported. Public hearings will be held in December, and school commissioners plan August and September site visits to ask parents and residents for ideas.\u00a0LINK\r\nCactus Leaves? \u201cAutumn in Arizona and why it\u2019s better here than it is in Vermont,\u201d was the headline over an article in a tourism magazine for the \u201cGrand Canyon State,\u201d according to a Vermont AP article that scoffed at the comparison.\u00a0 LINK", 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=5E9DC185-8E95-4825-BF58-2E7E448ED189"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5274430625140667, "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"}