{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom-news-releases-barrasso-jack-lew-is-the-wrong-person-for-u-s-ambassador-to-israel/", "Barrasso: Jack Lew is the Wrong Person for U.S. Ambassador to Israel", "2023-10-18", "2023", "2023-10", "Republican", "Senate", "WY", "John Barrasso", "B001261", "www.barrasso.senate.gov", "barrasso", "https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom/news-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, DC \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) questioned Jack Lew, President Biden\u2019s nominee to be U.S. Ambassador to Israel.\n\nSenator Barrasso discussed Mr. Lew\u2019s previous work as Secretary of Treasury during the Obama Administration and the role he played in negotiating the flawed Iran nuclear deal. He also questioned Mr. Lew on the 31 Americans killed by Hamas in Israel and President Biden\u2019s refusal to sanction Iran\u2019s energy resources.\n\nThe Senate Foreign Relations Committee held Mr. Lew\u2019s nomination hearing today.\n\nExcerpts from Senator Barrasso\u2019s remarks:\n\n\u201cIsrael is one of our nation\u2019s strongest allies. Since October 7, the world has seen the terror and violence inflicted by Hamas.\n\n\u201cAll of us strongly condemn Hamas\u2019 invasion of Israel, which involved killing and wounding thousands of Israeli civilians.\n\n\u201cAmericans were also among those injured and killed and taken hostage by Hamas. As Israel fights these terrorist attacks, the United States remains unwavering in our commitment to Israel\u2019s security.\n\n\u201cWith the incredible challenges facing Israel, it is vital we have the right person serving as U.S. Ambassador to Israel. It is especially true in light of President Biden\u2019s repeated failed policies in the region.\n\n\u201cToday\u2019s nominee seems to be the wrong person for this important job.\n\n\u201cAs Secretary of Treasury in the Obama Administration, he helped negotiate the disastrous Iran nuclear deal. In fact, he went around bragging about the flawed deal to the American people.\n\n\u201cAs Secretary of Treasury, he unlocked a lot of Iranian assets and let them have their money. He was the ATM to the Iranian Ayatollah.\n\n\u201cNo one will forget the pallets of cash going to Iran, the largest state sponsor of terrorism. We know how they used the money.\n\n\u201cAs Secretary of Treasury, he helped orchestrate $1.7 billion in cash to be flown in an unmarked cargo plane to Iran.\n\n\u201cHe also oversaw the $400 million ransom payment to Iran in exchange for American hostages. The massive influx of cash was ultimately a direct deposit into Iran\u2019s terrorism accounts.\n\n\u201cAdditionally, in 2016, he defended the Obama Administration\u2019s unwillingness to veto UN Security Council Resolution that was seen as an anti-Israel resolution.\n\n\u201cCongress, in a bipartisan way, disagreed with that position of the administration. In fact, we overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan resolution objecting to it and demanding it be repealed.\n\n\u201cThese decisions and actions have serious consequences. I believe they have emboldened terrorist organizations around the globe.\n\n\u201cThe American people and the Israeli people both deserve something different.\u201d\n\nClick here to watch Sen. Barrasso\u2019s opening remarks.\n\nOn Killed and Missing American Citizens in Israel:\n\n\u201cMr. Lew, Hamas soldiers have reportedly been found with documents detailing their plans to target schools, target civilians during their raid.\n\n\u201cAnother document directed Hamas units to \u2018kill as many as possible as well as \u2018capture hostages.\u2019\n\n\u201cOver 4,000 people are dead. 31 Americans are among those killed, others taken hostage.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve had the debate about how to best get them home.\n\n\u201cIn terms of the American citizens, who is responsible for the 31 Americans who have died in this conflict?\u201d\n\nClick here to watch Sen. Barrasso\u2019s remarks on American citizens in Israel.\n\nOn Iranian Energy Resources:\n\n\u201cThe failure of this administration to enforce the Iranian oil sanctions helped finance Hamas and other Iranian proxies.\n\n\u201cThis administration has allowed a lot of money to get there.\n\n\u201cIran is the home of the world\u2019s third largest reserves of crude oil.\n\n\u201cIt uses the revenue from its oil exports to support its repression and terrorist activities.\n\n\u201cThe more money they have, the more activities we\u2019re going to see, in spite of all efforts to block it along the way.\n\n\u201cI have repeatedly raised concerns about the impact of this administration refusing to enforce existing sanctions on the energy sector.\n\n\u201cIn an attempt to convince Iran to rejoin this terrible Iranian nuclear deal, it seems that the president did relax sanctions enforcement on Iran to the point that Iran generated about $80 billion in oil revenue under this administration.\n\n\u201cOman and Iran have signed a variety of deals in the oil and gas sector.\n\n\u201cChina\u2019s state-owned refineries and private companies are buying up to 1.2 million barrels of Iranian oil every day. We\u2019re allowing that to happen.\n\n\u201cThe Iranian regime is getting hundreds of billions of dollars to fund Hamas, Hezbollah and other terrorist proxies.\n\n\u201cWhy has this administration failed to fully enforce sanctions on entities involved in these illicit transactions with Iran, given the fact that every dollar they make, they\u2019re going to use in a bad way?\u201d\n\nClick here to watch Sen. Barrasso remarks on Iranian energy resources.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:43:12Z"]], "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://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom-news-releases-barrasso-jack-lew-is-the-wrong-person-for-u-s-ambassador-to-israel/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8450187742710114, "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"}