releases: https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/newswatch/121714
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/newswatch/121714 | News December 17 | 2014-12-17 | 2014 | 2014-12 | Independent | House | VT | Bernard Sanders | S000033 | www.sanders.senate.gov | legacy | News December 17 Wednesday, December 17, 2014 Senator Sanders FairPoint Strike Vermont’s congressional delegation called Tuesday for FairPoint Communications to negotiate an end to a two-month strike by about 1,700 New England workers after a rash of Internet and phone outages on the network of the state’s dominant carrier. Sens. Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders and Rep. Peter Welch sent a letter to FairPoint CEO Paul Sunu saying failure to reach a fair agreement with workers is affecting customers and the services the company is required to provide, according to an Associated Press report published in Tuesday’s Burlington Free Press, Times-Argus and Rutland Herald. LINK, LINK Sanders: Save Social Security Democrats are elevating Sen. Sanders to a Budget Committee post he plans to use to protect Social Security, WCAX-TV reported. In Iowa weighing a 2016 presidential candidacy, Sanders told reporters after speaking to more than 200 people in Ames that his top priority as ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee will be resisting cuts to Social Security in the newly Republican-controlled chamber, The Associated Press reported in the Muscatine Journal and elsewhere. LINK, LINK Tax Breaks for Corporations Approved Before adjourning for the year, the Senate on Tuesday night voted to extend a raft of temporary tax breaks through the rest of 2014. The vote was 76-16 to clear the bill that now goes to President Barack Obama, who is expected to sign it. The final vote on the $41.6 billion package was very bipartisan. Sen. Ron Wyden, the outgoing chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, voted against the package. Sen. Sanders was among eight senators, according to Congressional Quarterly, who didn’t vote. LINK Holiday Dinner Sen. Sanders will host a free holiday dinner for seniors on Saturday at the Brattleboro Senior Center, the Brattleboro Reformer noted. World Pakistan Massacre Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan lifted a moratorium on the death penalty Wednesday as the government declared three days of official mourning and grappled with the aftermath of an attack on a school by the Pakistani Taliban that killed 145 people, The New York Times reported. LINK Russian Ruble at Record Low The ruble hit a record low, falling as much as 20 percent against the dollar Tuesday. From St. Petersburg to Siberia, money changers ran out of foreign currency and were raising exchange rates. Moscow residents rushed to buy electronics and other big-ticket items and drained rubles from ATMs to swap them for dollars and euros—signaling a new feeling of vulnerability among Russians and a fresh challenge to their leader, The Wall Street Journal reported. LINK National Senate Adjourns The least-productive Congress in modern history drew to an abrupt close late Tuesday as the U.S. Senate extended dozens of expired tax breaks but failed to renew a federally backed terrorism insurance program supported by big businesses and major sports leagues. Democrats controlling the Senate also secured agreements from Republicans to confirm at least six dozen of President Obama’s nominees to serve as federal judges, agency bosses and on myriad government boards, a last-minute coup for the White House since most of the picks faced tougher odds next year once Republicans take full control of Capitol Hill, The Washington Post reported. LINK McConnell Sets Keystone Pipeline Vote The new Republican Senate will take up the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline as its first order of business, incoming Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday. The Kentucky Republican also said he plans to allow open amendment debate on the pro-Keystone legislation from Sen. John Hoeven. LINK Emboldened Bankers Ready to Dismantle Dodd-Frank Banks and financial institutions are planning an aggressive push to dismantle parts of the Wall Street reform law when Republicans take control of Congress in January. Fresh off a victory in the government funding debate that liberals decried as a giveaway to Wall Street, advocates for the financial sector aim to pursue additional changes to Dodd-Frank that they say would lighten burdens created by the 2010 law. Among the top items on the wish list: easing new requirements on mortgages, loosening restrictions on financial derivatives and overhauling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Hill reported. LINK VA Misled Congress The Department of Veterans Affairs this year issued false statements to Congress and the media about treatment delays and how many patients died or suffered as a result of wait times at its health clinics. The agency’s inspector general this week released a report saying VA issued “several key statements” about its reviews of treatment delays that were “misleading or incorrect,” The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal reported. LINK, LINK Vermont FEMA Assessing Storm Damage The Federal Emergency Management Agency is visiting Vermont to assess the damage from last week's snow storm that caused more than 130,000 power outages. Vermont must show at least $1 million in eligible costs. Counties also must meet certain thresholds to get federal help, AP reported. | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |