{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://schneider.house.gov/media/press-releases/schneider-aderholt-lead-bipartisan-call-deployment-us-hospital-ships-waters", "Schneider, Aderholt Lead Bipartisan Call For Deployment of U.S. Hospital Ships to Waters Off Gaza to Provide Emergency Medical Care", "2023-11-30", "2023", "2023-11", "Democrat", "House", "IL", "Bradley Scott Schneider", "S001190", "schneider.house.gov", "schneider", "https://schneider.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON\u2014 Today, Congressmen Brad Schneider (IL-10) and Robert Aderholt (AL-04) led a letter with 55 Members of Congress asking Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to deploy \u201chospital ships USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort, or other medical-capable ships, to the waters off Gaza to help provide civilians access to emergency medical care.\u201d\n\nLetter signers include Representatives Adams, Alma; Aderholt, Robert; Allred, Colin; Auchincloss, Jake; Carson, Andr\u00e9; Carter, Troy; Casten, Sean; Castor, Kathy; Cohen, Steve; Costa, Jim; Crockett, Jasmine; Davis, Danny; Espaillat, Adriano; Fleischmann, Charles; Frankel, Lois; Garcia, Robert; Goldman, Daniel; Gottheimer, Josh; Ivey, Glenn; Kilmer, Derek; Landsman, Greg; Lee, Susie; Levin, Mike; Lieu, Ted; Meng, Grace; Moore, Blake; Morelle, Joseph; Moskowitz, Jared; Nickel, Wiley; Panetta, Jimmy; Pappas, Chris; Payne, Donald; Phillips, Dean; Porter, Katie; Quigley, Mike; Santos, George; Schiff, Adam; Schneider, Bradley; Sherman, Brad; Soto, Darren; Spanberger, Abigail; Stanton, Greg; Stevens, Haley; Thanedar, Shri; Titus, Dina; Tokuda, Jill; Torres, Norma; Torres, Ritchie; Trahan, Lori; Trone, David; Veasey, Marc; Waltz, Michael; Watson Coleman, Bonnie; Weber, Randy; and Williams, Nikema.\n\n\u201cAcross the globe, the United States fulfills a crucial role in providing humanitarian aid and life-saving support during conflict and crisis. To that end, we urge you to consider deploying the United States hospital ships USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort, or other medical-capable ships, to the waters off Gaza to help provide civilians access to emergency medical care. The United States, working with Egypt and Israel together, has the capability to undermine Hamas\u2019 strategy to increase and prolong human suffering,\u201d the members wrote.\n\nThe full letter can be found here and below:\n\nThe Honorable Lloyd J. Austin III\n\nSecretary of Defense\n\n1000 Defense Pentagon\n\nWashington, DC 20301\n\nDear Secretary Austin:\n\nShortly after Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel on October 7th murdering innocent Israeli civilians and taking more than 240 hostages, you flew to Tel Aviv to stand with the Israeli people. Your moral clarity comparing Hamas\u2019 atrocities to those carried out by ISIS was critical in explaining to the world that, \u201cNow, this is no time for neutrality, or for false equivalence, or for excuses for the inexcusable.\u201d\n\nHamas, who have oppressed the people of Gaza for years, are using innocent civilians as human shields in a war Hamas started, leading to tragically high civilian casualties. While Israel rightly adheres to international norms and the laws of armed conflict in carrying out operations against Hamas, it is Hamas\u2019 reprehensible tactics that impose a terrible toll.\n\nAcross the globe, the United States fulfills a crucial role in providing humanitarian aid and life-saving support during conflict and crisis. To that end, we urge you to consider deploying the United States hospital ships USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort, or other medical-capable ships, to the waters off Gaza to help provide civilians access to emergency medical care. The United States, working with Egypt and Israel together, has the capability to undermine Hamas\u2019 strategy to increase and prolong human suffering. The deployment should occur in full coordination with the Israeli and Egyptian governments and last for the duration of active operations in the current Gaza conflict. Such a deployment is especially important due to Hamas\u2019 illegal use of hospitals and other civilian locations as military outposts, in flagrant violation of the laws of war.\n\nFor decades, the US Navy\u2019s Military Sealift Command has provided mobile medical facilities to support our disaster relief and humanitarian operations across the world. Additionally, many other US Navy ships \u2013 some currently present in the region \u2013 have operating rooms, pharmacies, and other relevant facilities. Hamas\u2019 actions maximize civilian casualties while simultaneously minimizing access to medical facilities. Thus, we urge you to consider deploying some of these assets towards humanitarian assistance \u2013 to save civilian lives, reduce the burden on Israel\u2019s and Egypt\u2019s medical infrastructure, and counter Hamas\u2019 disregard for the laws of war and human suffering.\n\nThank you for your consideration.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T01:01:09Z"]], "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://schneider.house.gov/media/press-releases/schneider-aderholt-lead-bipartisan-call-deployment-us-hospital-ships-waters"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4827488921582699, "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"}