{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=67BB7B2F-7FBB-40A1-B627-5E3364A975B5", ": News September 10", "2013-09-10", "2013", "2013-09", "Independent", "House", "VT", "Bernard Sanders", "S000033", "sanders.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "News September 10\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, September 10, 2013\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\tSenator Sanders\r\nMilitary Strikes against Syria on Hold\u00a0President Obama on Monday tentatively embraced a Russian diplomatic proposal to avert a United States military strike on Syria by having international monitors take control of the Syrian government\u2019s chemical weapons. \u201cMy sense is that it is really good news,\u201d Sen. Bernie Sanders told\u00a0PBS\u2019 Tavis Smiley on Monday. \u201cRussia is jumping in in a constructive way \u2026 If they can force Syria for the first time \u2026 to acknowledge that they have chemical weapons \u2026 and to allow the international community to secure those chemical weapons, then that would be a huge step forward.\u201d\u00a0VIDEO\r\nSanders Hopes for Peaceful Resolution\u00a0Sen. Sanders voiced a cautious optimism late Monday that the United States might yet find a peaceful resolution to its standoff with Syria. \u201cMost Americans would support an effort that could remove chemical weapons from Syria without American military involvement in another Middle East war,\" he said, according toSeven Days. \"I urge the president and Russia to work vigorously to achieve that goal.\"\u00a0LINK\r\nSenate Vote Delayed\u00a0Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Monday that he would not force an initial vote this week on a resolution authorizing military force against Syria. Sen. Sanders welcomed the delay to pursue a diplomatic solution. \u201cAs somebody who is not enthusiastic about getting into a war for all kinds of reasons, I think it would been seen by the entire global community as a wonderful victory if you can get chemical weapons out of Syria without the United States getting involved in a bloody war,\u201d Sanders said on\u00a0PBS.\u00a0VIDEO\r\nSenate Opposition to Military Action Increasing\u00a0The decision to put off a Senate vote came as opposition to a U.S. strike on Syria was growing even among Obama\u2019s allies and former Senate colleagues. On Monday, six senators \u2014 five Republicans and Democrat Heidi Heitkamp \u2014 came out against the Syria resolution. Sen. Sanders told\u00a0Politico\u00a0that 95 percent of his constituents oppose military strikes against Syria \u201cand that certainly has some influence on me.\u201d\u00a0LINK\r\nAmericans Overwhelmingly Oppose War in Syria\u00a0Six in 10 Americans oppose airstrikes with similar majorities saying they fear military action could enmesh the United States in another long war in the Middle East, according to polls for\u00a0The New York Times,\u00a0CBS Newsand other news organizations. \u201cI think we should listen to the American people,\u201d Sen. Sanders told\u00a0MSNBC\u2019s\u00a0Thomas Roberts.\u00a0VIDEO\r\nRegime Change\u00a0Sen. Sanders expressed concern that a resolution passed last week by a divided Senate Foreign Relations Committee could lead to greater U.S. involvement in Syria. Sanders said the current draft includes language supporting regime change and \u201cchanging momentum on the ground.\u201d And in an interview with\u00a0The Washington Post, Sanders also expressed concern about inadvertently supporting rebel groups that have ties to Al-Qaeda.\u00a0VIDEO\r\nAnti-War Protests\u00a0Anti-war protesters made their voices heard in several cities Monday. As flames of more than 50 candles flickered on the Woodstock green, Carol Egbert said she contacted the offices of Sens. Leahy and Sanders, the\u00a0Valley News\u00a0reported. The vast majority of calls and emails to Sen. Sanders\u2019 office are from constituents opposed to military strikes in Syria,\u00a0WNYT-TV\u00a0in Albany, N.Y.,\u00a0The\u00a0(Madison, Wis.)\u00a0Capital Times\u00a0and\u00a0Epoch Times\u00a0reported.\u00a0VIDEO,\u00a0LINK,\u00a0LINK,\u00a0LINK\r\nThe Fed\u00a0Ben Bernanke\u2019s second term as Federal Reserve chairman ends in January and President Obama may announce his successor any day. Larry Summers, a former White House economic adviser and president of Harvard University, is considered Obama\u2019s favorite for the post. In a July 28 letter to Obama, Sen. Sanders urged him to strike Summers from the running,\u00a0Vtdigger.org\u00a0reported. \u201cI urge you to consider someone who will put the needs of the disappearing middle class ahead of the interests of Wall Street and the wealthy few,\u201d Sanders wrote.\u00a0LINK\r\nUSPS\u00a0Unions representing postal workers are raising questions about health provisions tucked into the newest Senate postal reform legislation that they say \u201cwill undermine the successful, longstanding Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and increase costs for millions of federal employees, retirees and their families.\u201d Sen. Sanders and Rep. Elijah Cummings have also expressed concerns about the Senate bill,\u00a0The Hill\u00a0reported online.\u00a0LINK\u00a0\u00a0\r\nCarbon Tax\u00a0Australian conservatives racked up big wins in last week\u2019s elections and some are attributing the results to the Labor Party\u2019s support for a carbon tax,\u00a0The Daily Callerreported. Sens. Sanders and Barbara Boxer introduced a carbon tax bill in the United States Senate earlier this year.\u00a0LINK\r\nGay Marriage\u00a0Takako Ueda of Dummerston, Vt., may stay in the United States and apply for permanent citizenship in three years thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling against a law which denied gay foreigners married to U.S. citizens the same rights as straight bi-national spouses. Sens. Sanders and Patrick Leahy and Rep. Peter Welch \u201chave been in their corner for the long haul,\u201d the\u00a0Brattleboro Reformer\u00a0editorialized. \u201cAll of us here at the Reformer are happy for Ueda and Herbert and are proud of everyone that rallied around them in their darkest moments.\u201d\u00a0LINK\r\nHappy Birthday Bernie\u00a0Sunday was Sen. Sanders\u2019 birthday. \u201cHappy birthday senator,\u201d Rachel Maddow said on\u00a0MSNBC. She noted that Sept. 8 also was the birthday of scotch tape, Patsy Cline and The Rachel Maddow Show, which turned five years old.\u00a0VIDEO\r\nLetters\u00a0Dean Lynch wrote to the\u00a0Brattleboro Reformer\u00a0hoping that the Vermont congressional delegation recognizes \u201cthe folly\u201d of military intervention in Syria. Ronald Pulcer opposed military strikes in a letter to the\u00a0Rutland Herald. Neville Berle, in a\u00a0Times Argusletter, hoped that Sanders, Leahy and Welch would recognize that \u201cwhen it comes to U.S. national security \u2026 American foreign assistance programs represent the best bang for the buck.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0LINK,\u00a0LINK\u00a0,LINK\r\nWorld\r\nFrance Offering U.N. Resolution on Syria\u00a0France announced Tuesday it would put forward a resolution in the U.N. Security Council aimed at forcing Syria to ultimately dismantle its chemical weapons program, seizing on a diplomatic opening from Syrian ally Russia amid Western threats of force against President Bashar Assad's regime. France, a permanent member of the 15-nation council, was to start the resolution process on Tuesday. The proposal would also condemn a chemical weapons attack near Damascus on Aug. 21 that Western powers allege was carried out by Assad's regime \u2014 a claim he has denied,\u00a0CBS Newsreported.\u00a0LINK\r\nNational\r\nObama to Meet Senators before Prime-Time Speech\u00a0President Obama will sit down for separate meetings with Senate Democrats and Republicans on Tuesday to discuss the Syria resolution,\u00a0Roll Call\u00a0reported.\u00a0Later Tuesday, Obama was to lay out his case for striking Syria in a prime time speech on major networks,\u00a0Politico\u00a0reported.\u00a0LINK,\u00a0LINK\r\nAmericans Still Oppose Attacking Syria\u00a0New polls from\u00a0The Washington Post,\u00a0The Associated Press\u00a0and\u00a0USA Today\u00a0confirmed that Americans are overwhelmingly opposed to military action in Syria. According to the Post-ABC News poll, 64 percent of Americans oppose launching missile strikes. USA Today\u2019s results say that 63 percent are opposed.\u00a0LINK,\u00a0LINK,LINK\r\nCorporate Tax Overhaul\u00a0The chairmen of the congressional tax-writing committees said Monday that a consensus is forming in Washington around a plan to lower rates and close loopholes for U.S. corporations. But Sen. Max Baucus and Rep. Dave Camp said they would not proceed with a rewrite of the corporate code unless they can build support for overhauling tax laws that affect individuals as well. \u201cThere is more agreement on the corporate side,\u201d Baucus, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, told\u00a0The Washington Post.\u00a0LINK\r\nWorking People\u00a0AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka lamented the decline of labor membership in recent decades,\u00a0The Hill\u00a0reported. He called upon leaders at the AFL-CIO's annual convention to begin \"the great work of reawakening a movement of working people \u2013 all working people, not just the people in this hall, not just the people that we represent today\u2013 but everyone who works in this country, everyone who believes that people who work deserve to make enough to live and enjoy the good things in life.\"\u00a0LINK\r\nCourts Skeptical on Net Neutrality\u00a0Two out of three judges on a panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals indicated Monday a readiness to side with Verizon and strike down at least part of the Federal Communications Commission's net-neutrality regulations,\u00a0The Hill\u00a0reported. Supporters of the rules argue that they are necessary to protect a free and open Internet, and that all websites should be treated equally.\u00a0LINK\r\nCompanies Ask for NSA Requests Disclosure\u00a0Some of the world's largest internet companies on Monday asked the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to allow them to disclose more about their requests for information from spy agencies,\u00a0Reuters\u00a0reported. Google argued that its First Amendment right to speech on a matter of great public importance outweighs any harm to intelligence efforts.\u00a0LINK\r\nVermont\r\nSolar Homes\u00a0Solar home designers from two Vermont colleges are getting ready to attend an international solar design competition. The teams from Norwich University in Northfield and Middlebury College will be at the Statehouse in Montpelier Tuesday. Next month the teams will be competing in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon in Irvine, Calif.,\u00a0APreported.\r\nVermont Health Co-Op\u00a0A federal agency says it has stopped payments of money it was to provide under a loan agreement with a Vermont health insurance cooperative, according anAP\u00a0reported. The cooperative\u2019s future was placed in doubt when it was denied a state license in May. It is appealing that decision.\u00a0LINK\r\nFall Foliage\u00a0Train rides to view Vermont's fall foliage will be offered during the Colors of Kingdom Festival in St. Johnsbury,\u00a0The Associated Press\u00a0reported. On Sept. 21, a locomotive and four antique coaches will bring leaf peepers south along the Connecticut and Passumpsic rivers.\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=67BB7B2F-7FBB-40A1-B627-5E3364A975B5"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4716829173266888, "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"}