releases: https://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=C1A96894-6D85-4145-91BA-D29037D889C1
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=C1A96894-6D85-4145-91BA-D29037D889C1 | : News September 7 | 2013-09-07 | 2013 | 2013-09 | Independent | House | VT | Bernard Sanders | S000033 | sanders.senate.gov | legacy | News September 7 Saturday, September 7, 2013 Senator Sanders Americans Oppose Syria Attack Americans have deluged their congressmen with phone calls, emails and online-survey responses to make their opposition known to the possibility of the U.S. striking Syria. "We're just detecting very little support for this proposal," Sen. Bernie Sanders told The Wall Street Journal. The senator's office had received 1,856 calls, faxes and emails for the week from constituents as of early Friday afternoon and 1,740 were opposed and 116 in favor. Of 488 phone calls to Sanders, there were only10 in support, The Washington Post’s Ed O’Keefe said on “Washington Week” onPBS. Chris Matthews on MSNBC said Sanders is hearing almost unanimously from people saying do not get involved. LINK, VIDEO, VIDEO Public Says No to War The White House's chances of winning congressional support for military action in Syria look increasingly worse as members of Congress hear from constituents overwhelmingly opposed to military intervention, according to a Washington Post report that said Sen. Sanders told a local television station his phones were "bopping off the hook" with calls from those opposed to military strikes. Thousands headed to Sen. Sanders' website and opposed military action in Syria by a margin of 10 to 1, Vermont Public Television andThe Thom Hartmann Program reported. “Bernie Sanders said most of the calls coming into his office were against this effort. I can tell you, 99 percent of the calls coming into my office are against it,” Rep. Elijah Cummings said on MSNBC.LINK, LINK, LINK, AUDIO, VIDEO ‘War is the Enemy of the Poor’ The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was right, Sen. Sanders told Tavis Smiley in a public radio interview. “If we get involved in a prolonged effort in Syria, who do you think is going to be paying for that? … It will undoubtedly mean more cuts for programs that low-income and working families need. It will mean more kids being thrown off Head Start to pay for the war, more elderly people being thrown off the Meals on Wheels program, more kids not being able to go to college in order to pay for the war. That is the economic reality,” Sanders said. AUDIO Vermont Protesters Demonstrators stopped by the offices of Vermont's congressional delegation this week to express opposition to military action in Syria, Valley News andVtDigger.com reported. Sen. Sanders met with constituents to spell out his "grave doubts" about intervening in "another war that can go on for a long, long time." Seven Dayscolumnist Paul Heintz said popular opinion in war-weary Vermont is trending against intervention in Syria, but predicted "yes" votes for military strikes from Sen. Patrick Leahy and Rep. Peter Welch and a "no" vote from Sanders. ”Leahy tends to support Obama on basically anything he asks for,” Jack Thurston said on Vermont Public Television. LINK, LINK, VIDEO Herbert and Ueda Takako Ueda was married in Vermont in 2011, but faced deportation to Japan because the federal government did not treat her and her American wife, Frances Herbert, the same as straight bi-national couples. After the Supreme Court in June struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, Ueda received a green card allowing her to live in the United States with her wife. "This is an important step for Frances and Takako and for all Americans," said Sen. Sanders. LINK World Defending His Case In a lengthy news conference from the G-20 summit in Russia, President Barack Obama defended his case for military strikes in Syria, The Washington Post reported. Obama said his primary goal was to "maintain the international norm on banning chemical weapons." LINK U.S. Embassies Tighten Security United States Embassies are tightening security in the midst of potential terrorist threats, Reuters reported. The State Department has ordered its personnel to leave Lebanon in an "abundance of caution." LINK Iran Plots Revenge Intelligence officials have intercepted an order from Iran to militants in Iraq which instructed terrorist attacks on the United States Embassy in Baghdad should the U.S. strike Syria, The Wall Street Journal reported. Military officials have been trying to predict the range of possible responses from Syria, Iran and their allies. U.S. officials said they are on alert for Iran's fleet of small, fast boats in the Persian Gulf, where American warships are positioned. U.S. officials also fear Hezbollah could attack the U.S. Embassy in Beirut. LINK U.S., China Strike Climate Agreement The United States and China announced Friday they would seek to eliminate some of the world’s most potent greenhouse gases through the 1987 Montreal Protocol, the landmark treaty that successfully phased out ozone-depleting substances decades ago, The Washington Post reported. LINK National 13.7% Unemployment Employers added a steady, if unspectacular, 169,000 jobs in August when the unemployment rate fell to 7.3 percent, the Labor Department reported on Friday. Counting those forced into part-time jobs and those who gave up looking for work, the real unemployment figure for August was 13.7 percent. LINK Debt Ceiling House Republicans will raise the nation's debt limit before a mid-October deadline but demand major fiscal reforms in exchange, Majority Leader Eric Cantor said Friday. Cantor did not detail any specific House GOP demands, but Republican leaders are discussing a number of policy objectives that could be tied to a borrowing hike, The Hill reported. LINK Stopgap Spending Bill GOP aides say that a stopgap spending bill to avoid a government shutdown on October 1 will be voted on in the House of Representatives next week, The Hillreported. LINK 60 Votes for Syria Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid predicted Friday that his chamber would vote in favor of military action in Syria, Politico reported. “I think we are going to have 60 votes,” Reid told reporters. “It’s a work in progress.” LINK Vermont IBM Pulls Discriminatory Ad About six weeks after eliminating 419 jobs at its Essex Junction site, IBM wants to hire young engineers and said in an advertisement that applicants must have graduated in 2010 or later, according to the Burlington Free Press. Attorney General Bill Sorrell called that age discrimination. IBM changed the ad copy. LINK IBM Shifting Retirees of Company Health Plan International Business Machines Corp. plans to move about 110,000 retirees off its company-sponsored health plan and instead give them a payment to buy coverage on a health-insurance exchange. The move, which will affect all IBM retirees once they become eligible for Medicare, will relieve the technology company of the responsibility of managing retirement health-care benefits, The Wall Street Journal reported. LINK Leahy Patronage An aide to Sen. Sen. Patrick Leahy is getting a new job as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s state director for rural development in Vermont and New Hampshire. The appointment of Ted Brady was announced Friday, AP reported. Independent Candidates Vermont's secretary of state has lost an appeal over the nominating petition process for independent candidates for president, The Associated Pressreported. The state's Supreme Court agreed with a trial court ruling that town clerks must be able to certify signatures on a petition from faxes or photocopies in order to uphold the rights of candidates and their supporters. LINK | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |