{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/newswatch/120314", "News December 3", "2014-12-03", "2014", "2014-12", "Independent", "House", "VT", "Bernard Sanders", "S000033", "www.sanders.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "News December 3\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, December 3, 2014\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\tSenator Sanders\r\nRobin Hood in Reverse Sen. Bernie Sanders told MSNBC\u2019s Ed Schultz on Tuesday\u00a0that he would oppose a deal that would permanently extend tax breaks for big corporations without extending benefits for working families. \u201cThis is just another example of the Republicans having their priorities exactly wrong,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cWe take from the poor and we give to the rich \u2013 that is the Republican philosophy.\u201d VIDEO\r\nAgenda for America\u00a0Americans must choose between policies that brought a 40-year decline of the middle class and a progressive economic agenda\u00a0that creates jobs, raises wages, protects the environment and provides health care for all, Sen. Sanders wrote for\u00a0Daily Kos. Sanders \u201cis giving everyone a pretty good idea of what his major campaign issues would be if he does seek the White House,\u201d according to a Brattleboro Reformer editorial. Wonkette\u00a0called the plan \"so crazy it just might work.\"\u00a0LINK, LINK, LINK\r\nTreasury Nominee\u00a0More than 100,000 progressive voters are urging the Senate to reject President Barack Obama's choice of Antonio Weiss, a former Wall Street banker, to fill a key Treasury Department post.\u00a0Sen. Sanders said he will vote against Weiss,\u00a0The Boston Globe, The\u00a0Huffington Post\u00a0and Politico reported.\u00a0Bloomberg said Weiss won the backing of Sen. Orrin Hatch, the Republican who will chair the Senate Finance Committee. LINK, LINK, LINK, LINK\u00a0\r\nSenate Approves Ambassadors\u00a0The Senate approved President Oabam's nominees to be U.S. ambassador to Argentina and Hungary. Sen. Sanders voted for both,\u00a0National Review Online\u00a0reported.\u00a0\u00a0LINK\u00a0\u00a0\r\nPostal Service Cuts\u00a0A bipartisan group of senators joined Sen. Sanders in calling for a delay in next year's scheduled closings of 82 Postal Service mail processing centers, the\u00a0News Tribune\u00a0of Jefferson City, Missouri, and\u00a0Wheeler News Service\u00a0of Wisconsin reported.\u00a0LINK,\u00a0LINK\u00a0\u00a0\r\nFairPoint Investigation\u00a0Some 100 emergency 911 calls did not go through during a six-hour outage of FairPoint Communications services in Vermont last Friday,\u00a0VTDigger\u00a0said. More than 1,700 union members are on strike against FairPoint.\u00a0\u201cThe best way for FairPoint to improve its customer service right now is to agree to a contract that is fair to the workers so they can return to their jobs and provide quality service for Vermonters,\u201d said Sen. Sanders.\u00a0He suggested the issues are related to a 42-day strike by FairPoint workers and urged the company to return to the bargaining table and work out a deal, the Bennington Banner reported. LINK\u00a0\u00a0\r\nWorld\r\nIran Bombs ISIS in Iraq Iranian officials have reportedly sent in F-4 Phantom fighter jets to bomb ISIS targets in Iraq\u2019s Diyala province, according to a U.S. defense official. The strikes weren\u2019t coordinated with the U.S. effort to quash the Islamist militants, The Guardian reported. LINK\r\nIraqi Kurds In a far-reaching deal that helps reunite\u00a0Iraq in the face of a bitter war with Islamic extremists, the central government agreed on Tuesday to a long-term pact with the autonomous Kurdish region to share the country\u2019s oil wealth and military resources,\u00a0The New York Times\u00a0reported.\u00a0LINK\r\nLebanon Detains Islamis State Leader's Family\u00a0Lebanese authorities detained a woman and young boy believed to be the wife and son of the reclusive Islamic State group leader, senior Lebanese officials told\u00a0The Associated Press. LINK\r\nNational\r\nRepublicans Divided Congressional Republicans, who remain deeply divided over how to respond to President Obama\u2019s overhaul of the nation\u2019s immigration system. The latest evidence came Tuesday as House Speaker John A. Boehner unveiled plans to avoid another government shutdown while also allowing furious Republicans a chance to publicly repudiate Obama for acting on his own, The Washington Post reported. LINK\r\nDefense Nominee\u00a0President Obama\u00a0has settled on Ashton B. Carter to be the next defense secretary, senior administration officials said on Tuesday, but is not prepared to announce the move because the White House has not completed its vetting of him,\u00a0The New York Times\u00a0reported.\u00a0LINK\r\nRenewed Push for Military Sexual Assaults Bill\u00a0Several senators on Tuesday pushed for Congress to take a second look at strengthening protections for victims of sexual assault in the military, saying previous reforms had not reversed the rising rates of assaults,\u00a0The New York Times\u00a0reported.\u00a0LINK\r\nMcConnell: Revisit Health Policy\u00a0Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who will lead the chamber starting in January, told\u00a0Reuters\u00a0that if the Supreme Court strikes down a subsidy provision of the Affordable Care Act next year, the Senate could revisit \"very large comprehensive\" health care reform under his new majority.\u00a0LINK\r\nVermont\r\nSingle Payer Push Health reform advocates say November's election results should not stop the state from pursuing single-payer health care. Groups like the state's teachers union and state employees association laid out their arguments at a news conference Tuesday morning, WCAX-TV reported. LINK\r\nBurlington Studies Fossil Fuel Divestment\u00a0Burlington will study the possibility of divesting city funds, including pension investments, from major fossil fuel companies in an effort to respond to climate change, the\u00a0Burlington Free Press\u00a0reported.\u00a0LINK\r\nHeating Prices Down\u00a0The price of heating fuel is dropping across New England, providing a reprieve to the part of the country that is the most dependent on home heating oil,\u00a0The Associated Press\u00a0said.\u00a0\u00a0LINK\r\nLeahy Food Grant A $100,000 federal grant is being used to promote efforts in Vermont to ensure food from local farms is served in the state's schools.\u00a0 Sen. Patrick Leahy says a partnership of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont and Shelburne Farms received the grant Tuesday to support farm-to-school initiatives across the Green Mountain State, AP reported.", 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/120314"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6301108989864588, "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"}