{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://lieu.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rep-lieu-urges-saudi-and-uae-officials-develop-humanitarian-plan-action", "REP LIEU URGES SAUDI AND EMIRATI OFFICIALS TO LIFT BLOCKADE IN YEMEN", "2017-12-21", "2017", "2017-12", "Democrat", "House", "CA", "Ted Lieu", "L000582", "lieu.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON  Today, Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D  Los Angeles County) led a letter co-signed by Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH), Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) and Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-IL) to Saudi Ambassador to the United States Khaled bin Salman and Emirati Ambassador to the United States Youset al Otaiba urging their governments toend their coalitions Yemen blockade and reopen Yemens seaports, airports and land crossings.\nIn the letter, the Members write:\nUnless a humanitarian plan of action is implemented immediately  including ending restrictions on vessels carrying fuel and commercial goods that are essential to the humanitarian response  millions of Yemeni civilians could die from famine. \nBeyond immediately lifting the blockade, we request that your governments take several specific steps that would help to alleviate the humanitarian situation in Yemen:\n Facilitate without delay the delivery and installation of the four cranes for Hudaydah port that the U.S. Government financed last year;\n\tEliminate restrictions and delays on all vessels bound for Hudaydah and other Yemeni ports that have been cleared by the UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism, including commercial vessels;\n\tAllow both humanitarian and most commercial flights to Sanaa (with the exception of Iranian air carriers and those that have a track record of facilitating the movement of Iranian personnel and their proxies) to resume unobstructed;\n\tAgree to the pre-positioning of a World Food Program vessel off Aden, to facilitate more rapid humanitarian assistance;\n READ THE FULL TEXT OF THE LETTER HERE\n\n###", 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://lieu.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rep-lieu-urges-saudi-and-uae-officials-develop-humanitarian-plan-action"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5496888663619757, "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"}