{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/newswatch/120914", "News December 9", "2014-12-09", "2014", "2014-12", "Independent", "House", "VT", "Bernard Sanders", "S000033", "www.sanders.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "News December 9\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, December 9, 2014\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\tSenator Sanders\r\nThe Middle Class\u00a0Americans are \"a lot better off today than six years ago when George W. Bush left office,\" Sen. Bernie Sanders told\u00a0The Ed Schultz Show, but more aggressive action is needed to create jobs and lift wages, the senator added in a radio interview that aired on Monday. AUDIO\u00a0\r\nAn American Agenda Sen. Sanders has laid out a 12-point economic plan for jobs, pay equity and a living wage. \u201cIt\u2019s one thing to talk about the problems, and it\u2019s important we do that, but it\u2019s another thing to come up with an agenda that rebuilds the middle class,\" Sanders said Monday on\u00a0The Leslie Marshall Show.\u00a0\u00a0AUDIO\r\nTreasury Nominee\u00a0Progressive groups are emailing supporters, calling on them to oppose President Barack Obama's nomination of Wall Street banker Antonio Weiss for the top spot at the Treasury Department,\u00a0The Hill\u00a0reported. Sens. Sanders, Dick Durbin and Elizabeth Warren have aired concerns about the pick.\u00a0LINK\u00a0\u00a0\r\n350.org\u00a0Bill McKibben, one of America\u2019s highest profile climate activists, is stepping down as the board chairman of 350.org, the environmental organization he co-founded, the\u00a0Addison County Independent\u00a0reported. McKibben has been one of the most vocal opponents of the Canadian tar sands pipeline, which Sen. Sanders voted against.\u00a0LINK\u00a0\u00a0\r\nWorld\r\nClimate Conference In a sign of the importance that the Obama administration has placed on the outcome of United Nations climate change negotiations taking place this week, Secretary of State John Kerry will arrive on Thursday in Lima, Peru, to strongly urge negotiators to reach a deal, The New York Times reported. LINK\r\nCombat Command Ends in Afghanistan\u00a0American and NATO troops closed their operational command in Afghanistan on Monday, lowering flags in a ceremony to mark the formal end of their combat mission in a country still mired in war 13 years after the U.S.-led invasion,\u00a0The Associated Press\u00a0reported.\u00a0LINK\r\nNational\r\nTorture Report On the eve of a long-awaited Senate report on the use of torture by the United States government \u2014 a detailed account that will shed an unsparing light on the Central Intelligence Agency\u2019s darkest practices after the September 2001 terrorist attacks \u2014 the Obama administration and its Republican critics clashed on Monday over the wisdom of making it public, and the risk that it will set off a backlash overseas. While the United States has put diplomatic facilities and military bases on alert for heightened security risks, administration officials said they do not expect the declassified executive summary that will be released Tuesday to ignite violence, The New York Times reported. LINK\r\nSpending Bill Hits Snag Plans to quickly approve a $1.1 trillion spending package to keep most of the federal government open through the end of the fiscal year fell apart late Monday, increasing the chance lawmakers will miss a Thursday deadline. Just in case, top appropriators said Monday that they were ready to pass a short-term extension of a few days in order to give the House and Senate more time to pass the final bill and end the least productive congressional session in modern history, The Washington Post reported. LINK\r\nSurgeon General Senate Democrats are trying to confirm before year\u2019s end President Obama\u2019s surgeon general nominee. Vivek Murthy is the highest-profile of the few dozen nominees who could come up for a vote in the chamber if Senate Democrats and Republicans reach a procedural agreement this week. Even in the absence of a deal, Senate leaders might take steps to set up a separate vote on Dr. Murthy\u2019s nomination, a Senate aide told The Wall Street Journal. LINK\r\nDOJ Bans Racial Profiling Attorney General\u00a0Eric Holder on Monday announced new guidelines against racial profiling by federal law-enforcement agents, though they won\u2019t affect local police or screening at borders and airports \u2014areas where civil liberties groups say the greatest problems exist,\u00a0The Wall Street Journal\u00a0said.\u00a0LINK\r\nBillionaires Seek to Anoint Candidate\u00a0Dozens of wealthy Republican donors and fund-raisers have begun discussing how to clear the field for a single establishment candidate in 2016,\u00a0The New York Times\u00a0said.\u00a0\u00a0LINK\r\nOil Prices at 5-year Low The price of crude oil continued to collapse on Monday, plunging to a five-year low, as oil giants began to scale back their drilling ambitions and pare the ranks of their workers. On the same day that the American oil benchmark traded around $63 a barrel, down more than 4 percent, ConocoPhillips announced it would cut investment spending in 2015 by 20 percent, the biggest sign yet that major oil companies are contracting, The New York Times reported. LINK\r\nDefense Contractor Fraud The former supplier of food and beverages to U.S. troops in Afghanistan agreed to pay $389 million in fines and damages after admitting it overcharged the Pentagon for fresh food and bottled water, one of the largest penalties ever imposed on a defense supplier. Supreme Group BV pleaded guilty to fraud charges related to its handling of an $8.8 billion supply contract that was extended twice before the company lost the business in 2013 The Wall Street Journal reported. LINK\r\nVermont\r\nRevenue Shortfall Vermont state revenues once again performed short of expectations in November,\u00a0The Associated Press\u00a0reported.\u00a0For the first five months of the fiscal year, general fund revenues have fallen more than $18.6 million below target \u2014 about 3.5 percent less than projected.\u00a0LINK\r\nSingle Payer Funding Single payer advocates called a news conference Monday to decry what may or may not be some or all of a plan that Gov. Peter Shumlin has said will be released by the end of the month. The conference came after a VTDigger story last week, citing unnamed sources and with no official response from Gov. Peter Shumlin or his administration, said that in Shumlin\u2019s latest proposal to fund single payer, \u201cemployer-funded payroll tax was pegged at 8 percent.\u201d The Health Care Is a Human Right campaign called for an \u201cequitable\u201d funding system supported by a progressive tax, Vermont Public Radio reported. LINK\r\nStatehouse \u201914 The second-place finisher in last month's election for governor announced Monday that he is staying in the race, bucking recent history of the losing candidate conceding and leaving the final say up to the state Legislature. Speaking at the Statehouse, Republican Scott Milne criticized what he called the \"pervasive incompetence\" of Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin's administration and described the state's finances as \"a disaster, AP reported.\r\nFairPoint Strike As the strike by FairPoint\u2019s unionized employees nears the two month mark, there\u2019s still no sign of progress toward an agreement between the company and workers. In deciding to strike, the unions felt they had no choice, but it\u2019s an option that has become rare and not nearly as effective as in the past, Vermont Public Radio reported. 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