{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/newswatch/1216142", "News December 16", "2014-12-16", "2014", "2014-12", "Independent", "House", "VT", "Bernard Sanders", "S000033", "www.sanders.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "News December 16\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 16, 2014\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\tSenator Sanders\r\nSanders Vows to Protect Social Security\u00a0Sen. Bernie Sanders was in Iowa Tuesday, telling a mostly Democratic audience he will use his position as the No. 2 on the budget committee to resist cuts to Social Security in the new Republican-controlled Senate,\u00a0The Associated Press\u00a0reported.\u00a0After an hour-long talk with 200 Democratic activists, Sanders told reporters his priority on the committee is to draft a budget that \"works for the middle class and working class of this country.\"\u00a0LINK\u00a0\u00a0\r\nSplit Up Big Banks\u00a0A controversial spending bill passed by Congress opens the door for future taxpayer bailouts of big banks by loosening regulations intended to clamp down on Wall Street gambling,\u00a0Raw Story reported. Sen. Sanders plans a legislative push to split up major financial institutions. \u201cIf Congress cannot regulate Wall Street, there is just one alternative,\u201d said Sanders. \u201cIt is time to break these too-big-to-fail banks up so that they can never again destroy the jobs, homes, and life savings of the American people.\u201d\u00a0LINK\u00a0\u00a0\r\nWorld\r\nTaliban Massacre\u00a0Taliban gunmen stormed a military-run school in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Tuesday, killing at least 141 people, mostly children, before Pakistani officials declared a military operation to clear the school over,\u00a0The Associated Press\u00a0reported.\u00a0LINK\r\nRussia\u00a0President\u00a0Barack Obama\u00a0will sign a package of Russia sanctions despite having concerns about the impact of the legislation, the White House said Tuesday according to\u00a0The Wall Street Journal.\u00a0The bill was passed by Congress last week and adds additional sanctions to Russian weapons companies and energy interests. It also provides additional military aid to the Ukrainian government, which has been involved in a low-grade military conflict with its neighbor.\u00a0LINK\r\nNational\r\nJeb Bush to Explore Run for President\u00a0President\u00a0Jeb Bush will \u201cactively explore the possibility of running for president\u201d in 2016, according to an announcement the former Florida governor posted to this Facebook page Tuesday morning, the Wall Street Journal reported. LINK\r\nVermont\r\nSolar Energy\u00a0Vermont's reliance on solar power is continuing to increase under a state program that allows small power producers to sell electricity to utilities,\u00a0The Associated Press\u00a0reported.\u00a0So far this year the number of projects of up to 150 kilowatts permitted can produce a total of 19.8 megawatts of electricity. Through the same period last year the total was 12.5 megawatts. That's an increase of 58 percent.\u00a0LINK\r\nPeace Corps Volunteers\u00a0Vermonters volunteered for the Peace Corps in larger proportion than any other state in 2014, 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/1216142"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8251857943832874, "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"}