{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://issa.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-issa-questions-state-departments-global-engagement-center-failed-uphold", "Rep. Issa Questions State Department\u2019s Global Engagement Center: \u201cFailed to Uphold Free Speech, Advance America on the World Stage\u201d", "2023-10-25", "2023", "2023-10", "Republican", "House", "CA", "Darrell Issa", "I000056", "issa.house.gov", "issa", "https://issa.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington \u2013 Congressman Darrell Issa (CA-48) today delivered sharp criticism to the leader of a government agency that he believes has engaged in a pattern of \u201ccensorship of conservatives, the stifling of their free speech rights, and the failure to advance the nation's interest on the world stage.\"\n\nIn today\u2019s hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Oversight & Accountability Subcommittee Hearing, Rep. Issa questioned Global Engagement Center (GEC) Principal Deputy Coordinator Daniel Kimmage about the many ways it has fallen short of its mission and has wasted millions of taxpayer funds. In his questioning, Rep. Issa pressed Kimmage on the GEC\u2019s grant to the Global Disinformation Index, which targeted mainstream American conservative media outlets, and the GEC\u2019s failure to in any way address the debunked hoax \u2013 which appeared in media around the world \u2013 that Israel had bombed a hospital in Gaza.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s clear from today\u2019s hearing that the GEC is not effectively making America\u2019s case around the world and has moved far away from its founding purpose to engage audiences and allies with the facts,\" said Rep. Issa. \"But if the GEC won\u2019t seek to correct the record about the leading disinformation story in the world and spends millions of dollars subsidizing censorship of conservatives and developing video games, the case for its reauthorization got harder today, not easier.\"\n\nThis was a continuation of Rep. Issa\u2019s work earlier this year to hold the GEC and State Department Accountable for their role in the censorship of individual Americans and established conservative media.\n\n\u201cThe federal government has plenty of offices that issue reports. If that\u2019s all the GEC is going to do, its future may be as limited as its record of success,\u201d said Rep. Issa.\n\nRep. Issa\u2019s full Q&A from the hearing can be found here.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T00:49:26Z"]], "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://issa.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-issa-questions-state-departments-global-engagement-center-failed-uphold"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7976717315614223, "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"}