{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://gosar.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=2243", "Rep. Paul Gosar Named Chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus", "2016-11-30", "2016", "2016-11", "Republican", "House", "AZ", "Paul A. Gosar", "G000565", "gosar.house.gov", "gosar", "https://gosar.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "Today, U.S. Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) released the following statement after being elected Chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus:\n\n\u201cI want to thank Western Caucus Chairman Lummis, Chairman Emeritus Pearce and Chairman Emeritus Bishop for all their good work over the years. As a result of their efforts the Caucus is a force to be reckoned with and well-respected by leadership, industry and people throughout the nation. I also want to thank the other great candidates I competed with for Caucus Chairman. They put up a heck of a fight and I look forward to working with them closely in the 115th Congress. I want to offer a special thank you to Cynthia and her exceptional staff. She has been a model Conservative, friend and mentor who will be sorely missed.\n\n\u201cI am honored to have earned the confidence of my colleagues to lead the Western Caucus. Having lived in the West all my life, I\u2019m very familiar with the pertinent regional issues. Westerners desperately need allies in Congress that fight on their behalf. The Western Caucus deserves bold leadership that empowers its members to take real action and enact practical solutions. The future is bright for Western communities. I can\u2019t wait to work with the outstanding members of this Caucus so we can deliver meaningful results for Americans throughout the country.\u201d\n\nBackground:\n\nCongressman Gosar ran on a five-point platform. To view his presentation that was distributed to Caucus members in attendance click HERE.\n\nThe mission of the Western Caucus is to enhance, sustain and preserve the West\u2019s dynamic and unique culture, and to find innovative solutions that address the distinctive concerns facing western and rural communities. We believe economic growth and conservation are not mutually exclusive goals and can be accomplished by promoting balanced, common-sense reforms.\n\nTo accomplish this mission, the Western Caucus is committed to advancing the following key principles: protecting private property, strengthening local control, promoting economic growth, and increasing energy independence. As part of our advocacy of these principles we will focus on an agenda which will increase energy independence and security, protect and promote multiple use access to federal lands, help educate the public and eventually bring about common-sense reforms to outdated environmental statutes such as the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act, and to reevaluate and reorient current views and policies on federal land ownership.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T21:07:19Z"]], "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://gosar.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=2243"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5037362463772297, "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"}