{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://brooks.house.gov/media-center/news-releases/brooks-applauds-house-passage-bill-prevent-future-ransoms-iran", "Brooks Applauds House Passage of Bill to Prevent Future Ransoms to Iran", "2016-09-23", "2016", "2016-09", "Republican", "House", "AL", "Mo Brooks", "B001274", "brooks.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, D.C. \u2013\u00a0Last night, Congressman Mo Brooks (AL-05) voted in support of House passage of H.R. 5931, the Prohibiting Future Ransom Payments to Iran Act.\u00a0 Last week, the legislation passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee, of which Congressman Brooks is a member.\u00a0 H.R. 5931 was introduced in direct response to the Obama Administration\u2019s reckless initial cash ransom payment of $400 million and subsequent payments, totaling $1.7 billion, to the Iranian regime, the world\u2019s leading state sponsor of terrorism. \u00a0\nCongressman Brooks said, \u201cI\u2019m pleased the House expeditiously took up House Foreign Affairs Committee legislation to prevent future ransom payments to Iran. \u00a0While the Administration claims the payments are part of a decades old settlement, a Department of State spokesman admitted the cash payment was used as \u2018leverage\u2019 to gain the release of American hostages. \u00a0However the Administration wants to describe the cash payment, the action undermines American interests and is extremely dangerous.\u00a0 Not surprisingly, this ransom payment has already led to more Americans and other dual nationals being taken hostage.\u201d[i]\nBrooks concluded, \u201cThis Administration has proved all too willing to skirt the law and put Americans at risk \u2013 in this case by sending billions to a rogue regime that chants \u2018death to America\u2019 to this day.\u00a0 I am glad the House passed legislation to prevent future cash payouts to Iran that only serve to endanger Americans and subsidize Islamic terrorism.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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://brooks.house.gov/media-center/news-releases/brooks-applauds-house-passage-bill-prevent-future-ransoms-iran"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6160828527063131, "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"}