{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://bacon.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=707", "Bacon Issues Statement on the President\u2019s Address", "2021-08-16", "2021", "2021-08", "Republican", "House", "NE", "Don Bacon", "B001298", "bacon.house.gov", "bacon", "https://bacon.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "Omaha, Neb. \u2013 Rep. Don Bacon (NE-02), a nearly 30-year veteran and retired brigadier general who was deployed four times to the Middle East, issued the following statement on Pres. Biden\u2019s address concerning Afghanistan:\n\n\u201cWe have to address what the president didn\u2019t say.\n\n\u201cNumber one, President Biden didn\u2019t take responsibility for the disaster that is happening before our eyes. He\u2019s been passing the buck, the opposite of President Truman;\n\n\u201cTwo, the President didn\u2019t acknowledge that we only had 2500 troops there in non-combat roles, and we\u2019ve not had a combat fatality in almost a year and a half in Afghanistan;\n\n\u201cThree, the President didn\u2019t recognize that the air power we provided to the Afghanistan Military was greatly diminished when we retreated, the main reason for the collapse of Afghan military;\n\n\u201cFour, the President pulled the contractors that were doing maintenance on the Afghan aircraft, so they are not able to fly them; and\n\n\u201cFive, President Biden conveniently forgets how he intends to conduct US counter terrorism operations with the closure of our embassy and complete withdraw of all US personnel. Now even more critical with the release of 5000 hardened terrorists, Al Qaida operatives among them from the Parwan detention facility.\n\n\u201cIn all, our credibility has been greatly stained in the world due to the ineptness of the White House. The Chinese and Iranians will be emboldened by the Administration\u2019s perceived weakness. This is a failure.\n\n\u201cWe must focus on getting all refugees with US Visa\u2019s to safety, including those who have applications in. Next, we need to focus on legislation in the upcoming NDAA* to address security for our country and support for those who assisted us in Afghanistan. Finally, we have to show support for our Gold Star families who wonder if the lives of their loved ones were lost in vain and working with veterans who are asking the same question.\u201d\n\n*NDAA = National Defense Authorization Act\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:11:17Z"]], "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://bacon.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=707"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9798081591725349, "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"}