{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/newswatch/121914", "News December 19", "2014-12-19", "2014", "2014-12", "Independent", "House", "VT", "Bernard Sanders", "S000033", "www.sanders.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "News December 19\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\tFriday, December 19, 2014\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\tSenator Sanders\r\nPensions Under Fire Retirees covered by financially-troubled pensions could soon see their benefits cut under legislation passed during the lame-duck session of Congress. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday told MSNBC\u2019s Ed Schultz that the pension provision tucked into a massive spending bill was one reason he voted against the measure. Instead of taking money from elderly retirees, Sanders said the government could help shore up the funds. \u201cIf this country could bailout the crooks on Wall Street who destroyed the economy surely the federal government can help working people who are absolutely dependent on these pensions,\u201d Sanders said. VIDEO\r\nCuba Relations\u00a0Sen.\u00a0Sanders told CBS News\u00a0that he favors normalizing relations with Cuba.\u00a0He said lifting a trade embargo \"would benefit the economies of both countries\"\u00a0and cited an Atlantic Council survey that showed 56 percent of Americans favor changing Cuba policy. LINK\u00a0\u00a0\r\nMilitary Budget Sen. Sanders cast a \u201cno\u201d vote on a Pentagon spending bill last week. Sanders, who is set to take over as the\u00a0ranking member\u00a0of the Senate Budget Committee, is making an argument for cracking down on budgeting abuses at the Pentagon, according to The Nation's John Nichols.\u00a0LINK\u00a0\r\nDrug Prices Sen. Sanders used one of his last hearings as chairman of the Senate Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee to review how the Department of Veterans Affairs has had to ration an expensive medicine that cures hepatitis C, a liver virus infecting 174,000 veterans,\u00a0The Shreveport (Louisiana) Times\u00a0reported.\u00a0LINK\u00a0\u00a0\r\nFairPoint Strike Sen. Sanders on Thursday said he's disappointed in FairPoint Communications refusal to negotiate with striking unions in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Sanders accused the company of wanting to slash wages and benefits for workers, WVNY-TV and WFFF-TV reported. The Vermont congressional delegation had urged the phone company to return to the bargaining table, WCAX-TV reported. VIDEO, VIDEO\r\nVermont Sales Tax\u00a0A tax loophole allows many online and catalog retailers to avoid collecting the same state and local sales taxes that \"brick-and-mortar\" stores are required to collect. Sen. Sanders last year voted for a bill designed to help local retailers compete with out-of-state Internet sellers by giving states the authority to require remote retailers to collect state sales and use taxes,\u00a0The Burlington Free Press\u00a0reported.\u00a0LINK\u00a0\u00a0\r\nHealth Care\u00a0Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin is abandoning his long-held goal of creating the nation's first single-payer health care system. Sen. Sanders has not commented on the decision,\u00a0Bloomberg\u00a0reported.\u00a0LINK\r\nHappy Holidays Welcome to the vast world of federal agency gift shops with an abundance of stocking stuffers. After Sen. Sanders went Christmas shopping in 2011 and was angered to discover so many government products made in China, there has been a move to sell more American products in agency gift shops, The Washington Post reported. LINK\r\nNational\r\nObama to Lift Cuba Sanctions Soon President Obama will move as soon as next month to defang the 54-year-old American trade embargo against Cuba, administration officials said Thursday, using broad executive power to defy critics in Congress and lift restrictions on travel, commerce and financial activities. The moves are only the beginning of what White House officials and foreign policy experts describe as a sweeping set of changes that Mr. Obama can make on his own to re-establish commercial and diplomatic ties with Cuba even in the face of angry congressional opposition, The New York Times reported. LINK\r\nSecret Service An independent panel on Thursday recommended sweeping changes at the Secret Service, saying the elite protective agency is \u201cstarved for leadership\u201d and calling for an outsider as director, hundreds of new agents and officers, and a higher fence around the White House, The Washington Post reported. LINK\r\nVermont\r\nHealth Care Protest Dozens of supporters of single-payer health care converged on the Statehouse on Thursday to voice their anger at Gov. Peter Shumlin's announcement a day earlier he was scrapping his push for it. The Associated Press said the tone of the demonstration was angry, with people chanting, \"Which side are you on, Shumlin?\"", 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/121914"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9818000253289938, "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"}