{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=F325325F-3EA3-4A1C-94BE-F909F9DE98DD", ": News September 11", "2013-09-11", "2013", "2013-09", "Independent", "House", "VT", "Bernard Sanders", "S000033", "sanders.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "News September 11\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 11, 2013\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\tSenator Sanders\r\nObama Delays Syria Strike\u00a0President Obama, facing opposition in Congress and around the country to a strike in Syria, said Tuesday that he would hold off on military action for now and pursue a Russian proposal for international monitors to take over and destroy Syria\u2019s arsenal of chemical weapons. \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 \u2014 not by unilateral military action on the part of the U.S.,\u201d Sen. Bernie Sanders said in the\u00a0Burlington Free Press.\u00a0LINK\u00a0\r\nSanders: Focus on Middle Class\u00a0Sen. Sanders said Vermonters and the American people want Obama and Congress to focus on more pressing matters hitting closer to home such as the middle class and high unemployment,\u00a0Fox 44\u00a0and\u00a0ABC 22\u00a0reported. \u201cThe American people are saying very loudly and clearly that this country faces enormous crises, economically, global warming, health care, education income and wealth inequality and they want us to start addressing those needs,\u201d Sanders said on\u00a0Vermont Public Radio. \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 \u2014 high unemployment, low wages, growing wealth and income inequality, the high cost of college, global warming and many other issues,\u201d Sanders said in the\u00a0Free Press.\u00a0LINK,\u00a0VIDEO,\u00a0LINK\r\nObama Failed to Win Senate Support for Syria Strikes\u00a0Only about one in 10 members of Congress are currently supporting strikes in Syria,\u00a0CBS News\u00a0estimated. The network tally said Sen. Sanders was one of six senators leaning against supporting military intervention, reflecting overwhelming public opposition.\u00a0\u201cEvery once in a while democracy actually works, not very often around here, but the Congress is hearing their message. The president didn't have the votes,\u201d Sen. Sanders told\u00a0U.S. News & World Report.\u00a0LINK,\u00a0LINK,\u00a0LINK\r\nSeize the Opportunity\u00a0Sen. Sanders told\u00a0CNN's\u00a0Suzanne Malveaux earlier on Tuesday that he hoped the president \"seizes the opportunity\" for international efforts to rid Syria of chemical weapons \"without the United States getting unilaterally involved\" in Syria's civil war. \u201cWe\u2019re moving in the right direction and I applaud the American people for making it very clear that they understand that getting involved in a Syrian civil war could have huge implications. The American people are saying to the Congress, \u2018Why don\u2019t you pay attention to our needs?\u2019\u201d Sanders told\u00a0Bloomberg News. Sanders was cautiously optimistic about the tentative proposal which would require Syria to transfer its weapons stockpile,\u00a0VtDigger\u00a0reported.\u00a0VIDEO,\u00a0VIDEO,\u00a0LINK\r\nNo More War, Americans Say\u00a0\u201cThe American people do not want us getting involved unilaterally in another war in the Middle East,\u201d Sanders said in a Senate floor speech before the president\u2019s televised address according to reports on\u00a0WCAX-TV,\u00a0Fox 44,\u00a0ABC 22\u00a0and\u00a0WPTZ-TV. The entire speech was rebroadcast by\u00a0C-SPAN.\u00a0LINK,\u00a0VIDEO,\u00a0VIDEO,\u00a0VIDEO,\u00a0VIDEO,\u00a0VIDEO\r\nBaldwin Opposes Syria Intervention\u00a0Sen. Tammy Baldwin on Tuesday said she would not support a resolution calling for U.S. military intervention in Syria. \u201cThe absence of a stated position was conspicuous to the Fighting Bob Fest attendees, especially when speakers including Rep. Mark Pocan and Sen. Sanders used the podium to voice their opposition to military intervention in Syria,\u201d\u00a0The\u00a0(Madison, Wis.)\u00a0Capital Times\u00a0reported.\u00a0LINK\r\nRutland Herald: Bombs Away\u00a0\u201cA few rockets launched by America \u2026 could remind Assad that the world is watching and he will have to pay a price for his ruthlessness. Leahy, Sanders\u00a0and Welch need to stand with Obama,\u201d a\u00a0Rutland Herald\u00a0editorial said.\u00a0LINK\r\nVA Claims Backlog\u00a0Sen. Sanders, the Senate veterans\u2019 committee chairman, said Tuesday that he has \"guarded optimism\" about the Department of Veterans Affairs improving but still troubling caseload backlog,\u00a0The Washington Post\u00a0reported. \"While we\u2019ve seen a steady decline in the backlog, clearly there is much, much more work to do,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cVeterans deserve not only timely but accurate decisions.\u201d\u00a0LINK\r\nHealth Care\u00a0\u201cAmericans spend about twice as much per capita on health care as almost any other developed nation, but our outcomes are not as good as others that spend much less. We can do better. Clearly, we must move toward a single-payer system,\u201d Sen. Sanders wrote in a column for\u00a0The Hill.\u00a0LINK\r\nLabor's 'Big Tent'\u00a0The AFL-CIO is embracing a \"big tent\" strategy by endorsing comprehensive immigration reform. Democratic opposition to the Senate bill was largely non-existent and only Sen. Sanders had any real criticism for the bill, according to\u00a0National Review.\u00a0LINK\r\nSingle Payer\u00a0Why aren\u2019t more Democrats supporting single-payer bills by Rep. John Conyers and Sen. Sanders and instead lament the now 40 bills by Republicans to repeal Obamacare, Lambert Strether wrote for\u00a0Truthout.\u00a0LINK\r\nWarren\u2019s Charisma\u00a0Sen. Elizabeth Warren fired up union members last week in a speech at the AFL-CIO's annual convention. \"We have a few other truthsayers such as Bernie Sanders, but Elizabeth Warren has the presence, the poise, the appearance and the charisma to change the conversation on the public policy dictated by the D.C. insider conventional wisdom of both parties,\" Mark Karlin wrote for\u00a0Truthout.\u00a0LINK\r\nVisit Burlington\u00a0The Atlantic asked readers to recommend travel destinations and one recommended Burlington, Vt., for its craft beers. \u201cAdd to this its picturesque setting on Lake Champlain and strong liberal/left heritage (Bernie Sanders was once the mayor) and you get a wonderful place to live and work.\u201d\u00a0LINK\r\nCitizen Koch\u00a0Sen. Sanders will promote a documentary criticizing \"libertarian philanthropists\" Charles and David Koch, according to\u00a0The Washington Free Beacon, the Heartland Institute bankrolled publication which does not disclose its funding sources.\u00a0LINK\r\nWorld\r\nWhite House Backs International Syria Plan\u00a0The White House and a bipartisan group of senators on Tuesday backed a plan to give the United Nations time to take control of the Syrian government's internationally banned chemical weapons stockpile,\u00a0The New York Times\u00a0reported. An alternative resolution currently being drafted in the Senate would offer a deadline for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to release control of the stockpile to international agents.\u00a0LINK\r\nSyria Admits It Has Chemical Weapons\u00a0In the first direct acknowledgement of its stockpile of chemical weapons, Syrian officials told reporters Tuesday that it would cease production of such weapons and disclose the locations of its stockpiles to the United Nations, Russia and others,\u00a0The Wall Street Journal\u00a0reported.\u00a0LINK\r\nRussia: France Idea 'Unacceptable'\u00a0France's initial draft United Nations Security Council resolution authorized the use of force if the Syrian government failed to turn over its chemical weapons to international authorities, according to\u00a0The New York Times. But Russia's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday called the proposal \"unacceptable\" and touted a far less binding resolution.\u00a0LINK\r\nRouhani: Clock Is Ticking\u00a0Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told state television reporters Tuesday that time for resolving the nation's nuclear problems with the West is limited, according to\u00a0Reuters. Urging international leaders to seize the diplomatic opportunity provided by his election, Rouhani offered to start negotiations at the United Nations General Assembly in New York this month.\u00a0LINK\r\nNational\r\nNSA Broke Rules in Surveillance\u00a0National Security Agency employees regularly searched call data using numbers that had not been approved by courts, according to legal filings and court opinions released by the Obama administration Tuesday. Unauthorized searches went on for about three years until they were discovered in March 2009, according to\u00a0Politico.\u00a0LINK\r\nRepublicans Scheme to Defund Obamacare\u00a0House Republicans have settled on a plan to force Senate Democrats to vote on defunding the Affordable Care Act before authorizing a continuing resolution to fund the government,\u00a0The Washington Post\u00a0reported.\u00a0LINK\r\nVermont\r\nFeds Cut Food Aid over State Screwups\u00a0Chronic errors in payments to beneficiaries of its food-buying assistance program have landed the state in hot water with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which has handed down hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties. Top anti-hunger advocates say the federal sanctions are doing little to correct accounting problems that in some cases have led to the wrongful denial of benefits to hungry Vermont families. And action continues to be slow in coming, according to anti-hunger officials, despite persistent pleas from caseworkers decrying the effects on their low-income clients,\u00a0The Vermont Press Bureau\u00a0reported.\u00a0LINK\r\nVermont Veterans\u00a0Vermont Veterans Home officials said they continue to make improvements at the nursing home and have recently returned from a conference at which the administrator of the home, Melissa Jackson, was elected to represent 10 states. Jackson will serve three years as director of the Northeast region, which includes the New England states and New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, for the National Association of State Veterans Homes, the\u00a0Rutland Herald\u00a0reported.\u00a0LINK\r\nUVM\u00a0The University of Vermont has improved its spot in the annual ranking of the \"Best National Universities\" by US News & World Report, according to the\u00a0Burlington Free Press. Previously tied at 92 with four other universities, this year UVM is tied at 82 with three others (Stevens Institute of Technology, Stony Brook/SUNY, and Texas Christian University).\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=F325325F-3EA3-4A1C-94BE-F909F9DE98DD"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7498121596872807, "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"}