releases: https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/newswatch/121814
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
This data as json
| url | title | date | year | month | party | chamber | state | member_name | bioguide_id | domain | scraper | source | date_source | text | has_text | collected_at | updated_at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/newswatch/121814 | News December 18 | 2014-12-18 | 2014 | 2014-12 | Independent | House | VT | Bernard Sanders | S000033 | www.sanders.senate.gov | legacy | News December 18 Thursday, December 18, 2014 Senator Sanders Major Step Forward for Cuba Relations Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday welcomed news that the United States will open talks with Cuba aimed at restoring full diplomatic relations and that Cuba released Alan Gross, an American who Sanders visited in a Havana jail last February, The Christian Science Monitor, The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, Politico, Burlington Free Press, Seven Days, WVNY-TV, WFFF-TV and WPTZ-TV reported. Sanders lauded the move as “a major step forward in ending the 55-year Cold War with Cuba.” LINK, LINK, LINK, LINK, LINK, LINK, LINK, LINK, VIDEO U.S. Agriculture Eyes Cuba Several agriculture groups said they like what they’ve heard so far from the Obama administration about changes that could open limited Cuban markets. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp saw opportunity for farmers. She and Sens. Sanders and Jon Tester met with Cuban officials in February to discuss the possibility of expanding trade with the United States, Congressional Quarterly reported. LINK Budget Committee Sen. Michael Enzi will be the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee in the next Congress. The Wyoming Republican will get the job over current ranking member Jeff Session. The ranking member of the Democratic caucus on the panel will be Sen. Sanders, Reuters reported. “I look forward to working with Sen. Enzi on the Budget Committee to put together a budget which reflects the needs of the working families of our country, and not just powerful special interests,” Sanders said in Congressional Quarterly. Sanders said 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 Clinton (Iowa) Herald reported on Wednesday. LINK, LINK, LINK FairPoint Strike Vermont’s congressional delegation called this week 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 Sanders and Rep. Peter Welch sent a letter to FairPoint CEO Paul Sunu saying failure to reach a fair agreement with workers is negatively affecting customers and service, WCAX-TV reported. VIDEO Terrorism Insurance “A few Tea Party Republicans in the House and one in the Senate have derailed an incredibly important bipartisan bill — the reauthorization of Terrorism Risk Insurance — which has fueled the redevelopment of lower Manhattan in the wake of 9/11 and fostered construction and job growth in New York and cities across the country … Earlier this year, I negotiated a long-term reauthorization in the Senate that passed with 93 votes. Senators from Ted Cruz to Bernie Sanders supported the bill,” Sen. Charles Schumer wrote in a column published by the New York Daily News. LINK World Syria The Obama administration, seeking to cut off the flow of oil to the government of President Bashar al-Assad, on Wednesday imposed penalties on five people and six companies it said were defying American sanctions and helping Syria’s government attack its own citizens, The New York Times reported. LINK National Wealth Gap Widest in 30 Years A report released on Wednesday by the Pew Research Center found that the wealth gap between the country’s top earners and the rest of America had stretched to its widest point in at least three decades, The New York Times reported. LINK New York Bans Fracking New York state will ban hydraulic fracturing after a long-awaited report concluded that the oil and gas extraction method poses health risks, Reuters reported. LINK Vermont Shumlin Won’t Seek Single-Payer Health in 2015 Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin says he's abandoning his long-held goal of creating the nation's first single-payer health care system, The Associated Press reported. In a Statehouse news conference Wednesday, Shumlin said the cost of creating the system is more than the state can bear. LINK Veterans Home Cuts The Vermont Veterans' Home Board of Trustees has voted to take steps to reduce the number of patient beds it is licensed for, from 171 beds to 130. The home's administrator, Melissa Jackson, told the Bennington Banner that the average number of veterans served daily at the home is 121. The home also has 13 current job openings, which it will not fill at a savings of more than $750,000 a year. Other cost cuts from reducing the number of beds will bring the total savings to about $1 million a year. | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |