{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/newswatch/112614", "News November 26", "2014-11-26", "2014", "2014-11", "Independent", "House", "VT", "Bernard Sanders", "S000033", "www.sanders.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "News November 26\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, November 26, 2014\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\tSenator Sanders\r\nPipeline and Politics\u00a0Sen. Sanders discussed his opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline, the President's executive orders on immigration and his potential run for the White House with Vermont Public Radio's Vermont Edition.\u00a0LINK\u00a0\u00a0\r\nSanders Opposes Treasury Nominee\u00a0Sen. Sanders intends to vote against confirmation of Antonio Weiss to be a top Treasury Department official.\u00a0\u201cWe need an economic team at the White House which will hold Wall Street accountable and fight for the needs of working families, not more Wall Street executives,\u201d Sanders said in a statement on Sunday.\u00a0He urged President Barack Obama to withdraw his nomination of the Wall Street investment banker whose firm he said has helped clients avoid U.S. taxes by sheltering profits in other\u00a0countries,\u00a0The Nation and The Hill\u00a0reported.\u00a0LINK, LINK\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\r\nSanders praises firing of Phoenix VA chief\u00a0Sen. Sanders, chairman of the\u00a0Senate Committee on Veterans\u2019 Affairs praised the VA for firing the director of its scandal-plagued Phoenix VA Health Care System.\u00a0\u201cFiring Sharon Helman is the latest action by the VA to remove high-ranking officials who have acted dishonorably,\u201d Sanders said in a statement,\u00a0The Hill reported.\u00a0\u00a0LINK\u00a0\u00a0\r\nLow Voter Turnout\u00a0With voter turnout at historic lows in Vermont, Sen. Bernie Sanders told\u00a0WCAX-TV\u00a0Tuesday that voters were sending a message that government is not doing enough to help ordinary people with their lives.\u00a0\"I think it is a message that says, yeah, the economy is better than it was six years ago, but we're really hurting. We're struggling. And we don't see... the kinds of action that are needed,\" said Sanders.\u00a0\u00a0VIDEO\u00a0\u00a0\r\nUSDA Grant Connects Schools The U.S. Department of Agriculture is investing almost $500,000 in a distance learning project in four Vermont school districts that will use Marlboro Graduate Center as a training hub for the technology.\u00a0\u201cAs the rising costs of education continue to be a barrier for many in rural Vermont, we applaud\u00a0USDA-Rural Development for funding high quality\u00a0distance learning opportunities to 5,000 students in 19 schools across Vermont,\u201d said Sens. Sanders, Leahy and Rep. Welch in a statement, the Brattleboro Reformer reported. LINK\u00a0\r\nVeterans Committee Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is on his way out as chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, but before he goes he intends to pass legislation to reduce veteran suicides. \u201cOverall, I believe that the VA is doing a good job in providing mental health services for veterans, but we have to do better,\u201d Sanders\u00a0said\u00a0in a statement, The Daily Caller reported. LINK\r\nVeterans\u00a0With an average of 22 veterans committing suicide each day, Sen. Sanders said he will push for legislation to improve mental health services at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Stars and Stripes,\u00a0WPTZ-TV, Burlington Free Press, Brattleboro Reformer\u00a0and Bennington Banner reported.\u00a0\u00a0VIDEO\u00a0, LINK\u00a0, LINK, LINK\r\nWorld\r\nRaid Rescues Eight in Yemen\u00a0In a predawn raid on Tuesday, United States Special Operations commandos and Yemeni troops rescued eight hostages being held in a cave in a remote part of eastern\u00a0Yemen\u00a0by Al Qaeda\u2019s affiliate there, officials from both countries said, The New York Times reported. LINK\r\nPutin\u2019s Actions Unjustifiable, Says Merkel German Chancellor Angela Merkel Wednesday suggested she is prepared for a drawn-out confrontation with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Ukraine crisis. She added that economic sanctions on Russia \u201cremain unavoidable\u201d as long as government forces continue to battle pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, Bloomberg reported. LINK\u00a0\r\nNational\r\nObama Proposes Restrictions on Smog The Obama administration proposed tightening its rules for smog-causing ex This step represents the Environmental Protection Agency's first attempt to update the ozone rule since President Barack Obama forced the agency to abandon a similar proposal in September 2011, Politico reported. LINK\u00a0\r\nObama Threatens Veto on Business Tax Breaks\u00a0President Obama promised Tuesday to veto an emerging package of permanent tax breaks for businesses, mustering Democratic opposition and setting back negotiators who were nearing accord on a suite of tax cuts worth $440 billion over 10 years,\u00a0The New York Times\u00a0reported.\u00a0LINK\r\nSupreme Court to Review EPA Rule\u00a0The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to review the first-ever national environmental standards requiring power plants to reduce emissions of mercury and other toxic air pollutants, saying it would decide whether the government should have considered how much the rules would cost utilities,\u00a0The Wall Street Journal\u00a0reported.\u00a0LINK\r\nFerguson Relative calm returned to the St. Louis region on Tuesday night, but the situation remained tense and uncertain as people angry over a grand jury decision not to indict a white police officer for killing an unarmed black teenager entered into renewed skirmishes with the police, The New York Times reported. LINK\r\nVermont\r\nFairPoint Strike\u00a0FairPoint strikers in Maine and New Hampshire have been denied unemployment benefits under state rules, leaving workers to pick up other jobs or rely on outside support to weather the impasse,\u00a0The Associated Press\u00a0reported.\u00a0Unlike its neighbors, Vermont has determined that the strikers are eligible for unemployment checks and has processed more than 250 claims so far, said Annie Noonan, commissioner of the state's Department of Labor.\u00a0LINK\r\nPress Shift\u00a0After leaving the Burlington Free Press in earlier this month, reporters Terri Hallenbeck and Nancy Remsen will join Seven Days to report on state house politics and health care respectively. \"Our readers want to know what's happening in Montpelier,\" said\u00a0publisher and coeditor Paula Routly. \"They want to know how decisions are made, who's making them and why,\" Seven Days reported. \u00a0LINK\r\nHoliday Travel Weather\u00a0As the biggest travel day of the year approaches, forecasters are predicting some snow accumulation in Vermont, but do not expect major Thanksgiving travel problems, according to the\u00a0Burlington Free Press.\u00a0LINK\r\nChild Protection Law\u00a0A special state legislative committee plans to propose a law to prioritize the best interest of a child over keeping families intact in cases of domestic abuse, the\u00a0Burlington Free 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://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/newswatch/112614"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3316958211362362, "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"}