{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=A4D2F0CC-DD85-4DF7-A49A-418D1FB9A5DA", ": News September 4", "2013-09-04", "2013", "2013-09", "Independent", "House", "VT", "Bernard Sanders", "S000033", "sanders.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "News September 4\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\tWednesday, September 4, 2013\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\tSenator Sanders\r\nSyria\u00a0The Senate Foreign Relations Committee could vote today on authorizing the use of force in Syria after the panel's top members drafted a resolution late Tuesday that permits President Obama to order a \"limited and tailored\" military mission against Syria. Republican and Democratic leaders in the House on Tuesday backed an attack on Syria. The Senate was \u201call over the map\u201d according to\u00a0Politico, which said Sen. Bernie Sanders was seen as a potential \u2018no\u2019 vote. Sanders said on\u00a0WAMC-FM\u00a0that he wants to know why \u201cit is in the best interests of the United States to intervene in Syria's bloody and complicated civil war.\u201d Radio host\u00a0Thom Hartmann\u00a0said Sanders may block military intervention.\u00a0Time\u00a0called Sanders \u201cpart of the antiwar left.\u201d In a\u00a0Rutland Herald\u00a0letter to the editor, Judy and\u00a0Michael Olinick pleaded for the Vermont congressional delegation to \u201cplease do all you can to dissuade Obama and John Kerry from this criminal folly.\u201d\u00a0LINK,\u00a0LINK,LINK,\u00a0LINK,\u00a0VIDEO\r\n\u2018Something Rare in America\u2019\u00a0Sen. Sanders, who will headline this weekend\u2019s Fighting Bob Fest in Madison, Wis., is proud to talk about his proposals \u201cto reform the tax code in a way that protects the middle class, working families, and the most vulnerable while making sure that the wealthiest Americans and most profitable corporations pay their fair share.\u201d Other senators may want to operate in secret, but Sanders is proud to discuss his plans. That\u2019s what makes Sanders something rare in America: a senator who has good ideas \u2014 and the courage to advance them, publicly and without apology,\u201d John Nichols wrote in\u00a0The Capital Times.LINK\r\nCongress on Twitter\u00a0According to\u00a0New York Magazine, 97 percent of members of Congress now have an official presence on Twitter. A chart showed that Sen. Sanders leads members of the Senate Democratic caucus with more than 170,000 followers.\u00a0LINK\r\nWorld\r\nSyrian Refugees\u00a0Ongoing civil war fighting in Syria has forced more than 2 million people out of the country and more than 4 million others are displaced within its borders, according to a United Nations report cited by\u00a0CBS News.\u00a0LINK\r\nU.S. May Step up Rebel Support\u00a0The Obama administration is considering putting the Pentagon in charge of arming and training moderate rebel forces in Syria, a move that could help expand the effort significantly beyond the limited scope of the current Central Intelligence Agency program, U.S. officials told\u00a0The Wall Street Journal.\u00a0LINK\r\nObama Opens Foreign Trip\u00a0President Obama is seeking to use a 24-hour visit to this Swedish capital to show a softer side of American diplomacy even as the world's gaze remains fixed anxiously on Syria. He intends to focus in the Nordic nation on climate change, trade and technology, a trio of issues on which there is broad consensus with European allies. The president arrived Wednesday morning in Stockholm after an overnight flight from Washington.LINK\r\nNational\r\nSenate Syria Resolution Would Limit Obama to 90 Days\u00a0Members of the Senate Foreign Relations committee hammered out a deal on Tuesday evening that would set a 60-day deadline for military action in Syria, with one 30-day extension possible, according to a draft of the resolution. The proposal, drafted by Sens. Robert Menendez and Bob Corker, also would bar the involvement of U.S. ground forces in Syria, according to\u00a0USA Today.\u00a0LINK\r\nKerry, Hagel Lay Out Objectives in Senate Hearing\u00a0Appearing before a Senate panel on Tuesday, Secretary of State John F. Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel struggled at times to frame a proposed military strike on Syria as tough enough to be worthwhile but limited enough to guarantee that the United States would not get dragged into another open-ended military commitment in the Middle East,\u00a0The Washington Post\u00a0reported.\u00a0LINK\r\nHouse Leaders Endorse Strikes\u00a0Top Republicans have endorsed President Barack Obama's plan for limited United States strikes on Syria in the wake of chemical attacks on Syrian citizens,\u00a0Reuters\u00a0reported. House Speaker John Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Canter voiced their support.\u00a0LINK\r\nEnergy Debate Postponed\u00a0Debate on an energy-efficiency bill in the Senate has been delayed by the situation over Syria,\u00a0The Hill\u00a0reportrf. The energy bill is next up on the Senate's agenda after Syria, according to a pair of Democratic Senate aides.\u00a0LINK\r\nSouthern Democrats\u00a0As Democrats try to curtail GOP dominance in the South, the party\u2019s top recruits for 2014 elections are trying to sell themselves as problem sol\u00advers above Washington\u2019s partisan grid\u00adlock. They\u2019re casting the Republicans\u2019 anti\u00adgovernment mantra and emphasis on so\u00adcial issues like abortion and gay marriage as ideological obstacles to progress on \u201cbread-and-butter\u201d issues like public edu\u00adcation, infrastructure and health care,\u00a0The Associated Press\u00a0reported.\r\nVermont\r\nSafer Schools\u00a0State officials announced Tuesday progress on a plan to require that emergency 911 calls from classroom phones provide detailed location information at emergency call centers, the\u00a0Burlington Free Press\u00a0reported. Police have been visiting schools and making test calls. The upgraded system will allow emergency responders to note accurate location information even if the caller cannot speak.\u00a0LINK\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\r\nF-35s\u00a0Three Burlington city councilors plan to introduce a four-page resolution opposing the basing of the Air Force's F-35 fighter jets the city, the\u00a0Free Press\u00a0reported.\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=A4D2F0CC-DD85-4DF7-A49A-418D1FB9A5DA"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.8329338636249304, "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"}