releases: https://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=BB77912D-A26B-4764-8805-DB886E39C355
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=BB77912D-A26B-4764-8805-DB886E39C355 | : News September 5 | 2013-09-05 | 2013 | 2013-09 | Independent | House | VT | Bernard Sanders | S000033 | sanders.senate.gov | legacy | News September 5 Thursday, September 5, 2013 Senator Sanders Senate Weighs Military Strikes Against Syria Sen. Bernie Sanders said Wednesday on MSNBC that he is “keeping an open mind” but has “very deep concerns” about President Obama's proposal to punish Syria with military strikes for using chemical weapons on its own citizens. “We’ve cut back on education, we’ve cut back on nutrition programs, we’ve thrown kids off Head Start. We have billions to spend on a war but no money to take care of the very pressing needs of the American people. That bothers me a lot,” Sanders told Ed Schultz. VIDEO, AUDIO Leaning 'No' Vermont's delegation remained undecided, but Sanders is concerned that even limited military action might lead to a larger U.S. involvement in Syria's bloody civil war,Vermont Public Radio reported. “I worry very much that with this rush into war, the very serious problems facing Vermonters and people all over this country … will be pushed aside,” Sanders told The Vermont Press Bureau. “So there will be less discussion about creating jobs, less discussion about making college affordable, less discussion about protecting … Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.” In Seven Days and Politico, Sanders also was said to be leaning against intervention. LINK, LINK, LINK, LINK International Loner Sen. Sanders said on WPTZ-TV that he's concerned that the United States would be going into a war almost unilaterally without the support of the United Nations or NATO. “If we are concerned about international stability... this sets a very dangerous precedent that other countries could use in the future.” ABC 22 said Sanders tweeted his views on the Syrian conflict. “We have billions to spend on a war but no money to take care of the very pressing needs of the American people.” On WCAX-TV, political scientist Eric Davis said Sen. Patrick Leahy is the most likely to vote for letting Obama attack Syria while Sanders has expressed the greatest reservations. VIDEO, VIDEO, VIDEO Senate Panel Votes for War A sharply divided Senate committee voted 10 to 7 on Wednesday to give President Obama authority to use force against Syria. To secure the support of Sen. John McCain, who is viewed as crucial to the authorization’s final passage, the committee toughened some of the language to declare it U.S. policy to “change the momentum on the battlefield in Syria.” In a statement released after the committee vote, Sen. Sanders listed that appetite for regime change as one of his "serious reservations" about action in Syria. “If that policy prevails, there is no question that it could cost tens of billions of dollars and the possible future involvement of American troops,” Sanders said in Talking Points Memo. LINK Editorial Backs Rebels Vermont’s congressional delegation “may well be standing against the opinion of a majority of Vermonters if they support Obama’s resolution. But not doing so may be to initiate a policy of fatal passivity,” according to a Rutland Herald editorial that came down on the side of a strategy “designed to dovetail with the needs of the secular, anti-radical rebels who are locked in competition with al-Qaida-allied Islamists.” LINK Caregivers for Veterans The Department of Veterans Affairs said Wednesday it supports expanding a caregivers benefit for seriously wounded veterans if Congress come up with the billions needed to pay for the expansion, The Associated Press reported. Sen. Sanders sponsored a bill to enroll an additional 70,000 caregivers in the program by 2016. Under the legislation, any veteran with a "serious-service connected disability" would qualify for caregiver assistance. LINK World U.S. Dismisses U.N. Inspections in Syria The Obama administration has asserted that the findings by United Nations experts of alleged chemical attacks no longer matter, citing its own evidence that the Syrian government was behind the attack last month in the Damascus suburbs. Few lawmakers have pressed the administration to wait for the inspectors to release their results. Weapons experts say the on-the-ground analysis could confirm key forensic details about the attack, possibly bolster the case against the Syrian government and help rally international support for action, according to The Washington Post. LINK Obama Asserts Right to Strike Without Congress President Barack Obama told reporters in Sweden he retains the right to order military strikes against Syria even if Congress does not authorize them, The Wall Street Journal reported. "I don't believe that I was required to take this to Congress. But I did not take this to Congress because I think it's an empty exercise," he said. LINK Spies Missed Chemical Strike United States intelligence officials failed to detect the Syrian regime's plans for a massive chemical weapons attack in the days ahead of the strike, The Associated Press reported. Although intelligence agencies had damning intercepts on-file, those communications had not been "processed" ahead of the attacks, which killed a reported 1,429 Syrians. LINK Assad Ally Defects General Ali Habib, a former Syrian defense minister, defected from Syria on Wednesday with western help, Reuters reported. Habib had been under house arrest since he resigned in protest in 2011, and he is the most senior member of Assad's regime to defect. LINK Halting Aid to Egypt Could Cost U.S. Halting military aid to Egypt could cost the United States billions of dollars in fees with defense contractors, according to a Reuters report. LINK Doubts on Japan's Fukushima Cleanup Accidents, miscalculations and delays have plagued the Japanese government's plans to clean up the site of a destructive nuclear plant disaster in Fukushima, The New York Times reported. Authorities have vowed to one day allow evacuated residents to return to the area, but remaining contamination has led many experts to doubt these efforts. LINK National Senate to Return Briefly on Friday In an effort to move the resolution authorizing the use of force against Syria to the floor as quickly as possible, the Senate is expected to return for a brief session on Friday. The short session would allow the filing of the use of force resolution, a senior Senate Democratic aide said. The move would allow the measure to be on the calendar by the time the Senate really returns on Sept. 9. Majority Leader Harry Reid could then move to proceed and file a motion to limit debate, setting up a first test vote on Sept. 11, Roll Call reported online. LINK Syria Debate Is Crowding Other Issues on Calendar The intensifying debate over military action in Syria is threatening to consume the limited amount of time that Congress had allocated this month for dealing with a budget clash and the rest of President Obama’s domestic agenda. Lawmakers are scheduled to return to reconvene Congress on Monday after their annual summer break. With a budget and debt limit clash looming in October, the legislative window had already narrowed for any action on immigration, energy efficiency, a new Federal Reserve chairman and an examination of surveillance laws. Now, with Obama’s surprise request Congressional authorization for a Syria strike, the political casualties are mounting quickly, The New York Times reported. LINK Obama Faces Resistance from Progressives A bloc of several dozen liberals who are among President Barack Obama's closest allies in Congress is now becoming an obstacle to congressional approval of his plan for airstrikes in Syria. On Wednesday the White House chief of staff, Denis R. McDonough, convened a conference call for members of the House Progressive Caucus. “I think a lot of us believe there’s a legitimate use of military action where a state has used chemical weapons,” Rep. Peter Welch told The New York Times. “On the other hand, there is a very compelling question about what the effect of that will be. Will it make the situation better or worse?” Welch said the question became even more complicated for Democrats because war “runs against the grain” of where they have stood for the last decade. LINK Clinton: Improve, Don't Repeal Obamacare Former President Bill Clinton on Wednesday urged opponents of the Affordable Care Act to stop fighting for its repeal, Politico reported. Clinton said he thinks Congress should work to improve the law instead. LINK VA Benefits Extended to Gay Couples Attorney General Eric Holder announced Wednesday that the Obama administration would provide veterans' benefits to married same-sex couples in light of the Supreme Court's recent ruling on the issue, The Wall Street Journal reported. Federal law on veterans' benefits defines marriage as between people of opposite sex, but Holder called the continued enforcement of the law "no longer appropriate." LINK The Fed President Obama still has his former economic adviser Larry Summers in mind for the Fed chair position, according to a New York Times report. Obama's one remaining concern about nominating Summers for the job is the potential for a heated Senate battle. Liberal democrats view Summers as instrumental in the effort to deregulate big banks during the Clinton administration. LINK Vermont Jobs A pharmaceutical company has expanded its plant in St. Albans, Vt. Mylan Technologies held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday for an 85,000 square-foot addition that will add 160 new jobs to the 591 people the maker of transdermal patches already employs in Franklin County, The Associated Press reported. Health Exchange Vermont's online health insurance marketplace, Vermont Health Connect, is on track for its upcoming launch, according to the Burlington Free Press. Vermonters will have to start using the exchange to purchase healthcare starting October 1. LINK F-35s Opponents of the basing of F-35 jets at Burlington's airport claim the city has the authority to stop the Air Force from bringing the planes, the Free Press reported. “Burlington owns the airport,” F-35 opponent Chris Hurd said during a Tuesday news conference in downtown Burlington. “Burlington is the landlord. Burlington can tell its tenant not to base the F-35 at the airport.” LINK | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |