{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/newswatch/122014", "News December 20", "2014-12-20", "2014", "2014-12", "Independent", "House", "VT", "Bernard Sanders", "S000033", "www.sanders.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "News December 20\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\tSaturday, December 20, 2014\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\tSenator Sanders\u00a0\r\nSanders: Don\u2019t Cut Social Security Sen. Bernie Sanders is speaking out against proposed cuts to Social Security and Medicare that he said are on the House Republican Budget Committee agenda. At a time when poverty among senior citizens is increasing, Sanders said it would be a moral outrage to cut the programs. He proposed increasing benefits. In January, he will become the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, WVNY-TV reported. VIDEO\r\nPhone Strike FairPoint Communications employees picketed in Bennington on Friday after CEO Paul Sunu called the workers\u2019 demands \u201cunreasonable.\u201d Sen.\u00a0Sanders asked the company to put the interests of its workers and its customers ahead of the interests of \u201cthe multibillion dollar Wall Street hedge funds\u201d that stand to profit from the sale of the\u00a0company, the Bennington Banner reported.\u00a0LINK\r\nNational\u00a0\r\nObama Vows Response to N. Korea Cyberattack President Barack Obama vowed on Friday to respond to a devastating cyberattack on Sony Pictures that he blamed on North Korea, and scolded the Hollywood studio for caving in to what he described as a foreign dictator imposing censorship in America. Obama said the attack caused a lot of damage to Sony but that the company should not have let itself be intimidated into halting the public release of \"The Interview,\" a lampoon portraying the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Reuters reported. LINK\u00a0\r\nVermont\r\nJobless Decline Vermont\u2019s unemployment rate dropped a tenth of a point in November, the first decrease since April, officials said Friday. The Vermont Department of Labor said the seasonally adjusted statewide rate for November ticked down to 4.3 percent from the revised October rate. The national average remain unchanged in November at 5.8 percent. Vermont\u2019s 4.3 percent jobless rate is tied for the 10th lowest in the country, Vermont Press Bureau reported. LINK\u00a0\r\nFederal Prosecutor Resigns Tristram Coffin, the U.S. Attorney for the district of Vermont, will resign next month to take a job in private practice, Vermont Public Radio reported. LINK\u00a0\r\nFairPoint Strike The Vermont Department of Public Service said Friday it has received more than 730 complaints about FairPoint service since workers went on strike on Oct. 17.\u00a0 FairPoint has agreed to take steps to ensure timely repairs for those without phone service while a strike continues in northern New England, VPR reported. LINK", 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/122014"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.9350838847458363, "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"}