{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.boozman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=f784de76-ed61-4e3f-bd15-6071b0758bab", "Boozman-Authored Language Supporting Anti-LRA Mission Included in NDAA", "2014-12-12", "2014", "2014-12", "Republican", "House", "AR", "John Boozman", "B001236", "www.boozman.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON D.C. \u2013 Language authored by U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR) that reconfirms the United States\u2019 commitment to remove Joseph Kony from the battlefield and end the atrocities of the Lord\u2019s Resistance Army (LRA) was included in the National Defense Authorization Act passed by the Senate today. \r\n\u201cI\u2019ve traveled to the region terrorized by the LRA. I\u2019ve met kids that have escaped the clutches of Joseph Kony. It is imperative for the security of the region, and the protection of basic human rights, that we capture Kony and end the LRA\u2019s atrocities that continue throughout the region,\u201d Boozman said. \u201cThe LRA\u2019s crimes number in the thousands. Thankfully, the group\u2019s soldiers only number in the low hundreds now. But Kony is still out there and he is still ordering his group to commit atrocities. He must be captured and brought to justice.\u201d\r\nSince September 2008, the LRA has since been forced to operate on the run. During this period alone, the LRA is estimated to have killed more than 2,300 people, abducted more than 5,200, and displaced hundreds of thousands more in South Sudan, the Central African Republic (CAR), and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). They have survived by remaining elusive. Kony regularly splits what is left of his army up into small groups. They move constantly and avoid detection by communicating under the radar.\r\nIn 2011, President Obama authorized Operation Observant Compass, deploying approximately 100 combat-equipped U.S. forces to central Africa to provide technical assistance to regional forces that are working toward the removal of Kony and senior LRA commanders from the battlefield.\r\nThe language Boozman authored reconfirms the U.S.\u2019s commitment to Operation Observant Compass and calls on the Department of Defense (DOD) to support the mission by better enabling African militaries of the region to remove Kony and his top commanders from the battlefield. It also calls on regional governments to recommit themselves to the Regional Cooperation Initiative for the Elimination of the LRA authorized by the African Union.", 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://www.boozman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=f784de76-ed61-4e3f-bd15-6071b0758bab"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4991690404713154, "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"}