{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415202", "Smith authored the laws that created the position and elevated it to AmbassadorSmith commends Senate confirmation of Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun as U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism", "2025-12-19", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "House", "NJ", "Christopher H. Smith", "S000522", "chrissmith.house.gov", "chrissmith", "https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Co-Chair of the House Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism, today welcomed the U.S. Senate\u2019s confirmation of Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun as the U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism.\n\n\u201cI am glad to see that the U.S. Senate has finally confirmed Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun to serve as the U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, who I am confident will be an extraordinarily effective and formidable force in the global fight against antisemitism,\u201d said Smith, who, in 2004, wrote the amendment (PL 108-332) that created the State Department\u2019s Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism.\n\nIn 2020, Smith authored the law\u2014the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Act\u2014to elevate the Office of the Special Envoy to the high-level position of ambassador (PL 116-326).\n\n\u201cWhen I first authored the legislative provisions to create the position back in 2004, Rabbi Kaploun was exactly the type of leader I had in mind: incredibly strong, remarkably productive, and wholly committed to countering the escalating threats and acts of violence against Jews,\u201d continued Smith.\n\n\u201cAs acts of antisemitic violence and hate continue to rise\u2014including the horrific December 14th terrorist attack on the Jewish community in Australia\u2014President Trump\u2019s nomination of Rabbi Kaploun sends a strong message to the international community: the United States will never tolerate, excuse, or accept antisemitism within its borders\u2014and anywhere else in the world,\u201d stated Smith, who has chaired 18 congressional hearings on global antisemitism.\n\n\u201cI am grateful to President Trump for nominating such an impressive and accomplished candidate to serve as the Special Envoy, and I wish Rabbi Kaploun every success in his new position.\n\n\u201cI look forward to working alongside Rabbi Kaploun and his Office of the Special Envoy to eradicate the spiritual cancer of antisemitism that metastasizes around the world,\u201d concluded Smith.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "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://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415202"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6351430676877499, "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"}