{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.budd.senate.gov/2024/10/07/biden-harris-administration-ignores-bipartisan-budd-request-to-establish-bounty-for-hamas-leaders/", "Biden-Harris Administration Ignores Bipartisan Budd Request to Establish Bounty for Hamas Leaders", "2024-10-07", "2024", "2024-10", "Republican", "Senate", "NC", "Ted Budd", "B001305", "www.budd.senate.gov", "budd", "https://www.budd.senate.gov/category/news/press-releases/page/", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2014 The Biden administration has ignored a bipartisan request from Senator Ted Budd (R-NC) and 11 other Senators to authorize a reward of up to $25 million for information that brings Hamas leaders to justice.\n\nOn September 26, 2024, Senator Budd led a dozen Senators to request that the State Department establish \u201ca reward of up to $25 million under the State Department\u2019s Rewards for Justice (RFJ) program for information that leads to the arrest of, locates, or disrupts the financial support for Yahya Sinwar and other Hamas leaders or operatives responsible for the murder and kidnapping of Americans on October 7, 2023.\u201d\n\nThe deadline to respond was today, the one year anniversary of the October 7th attacks, and the senators have not received a response and no reward has been issued, as of this release.\n\nThe letter was co-signed by Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Kevin Cramer (R-NC), Katie Britt (R-AL), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Deb Fischer (R-NE), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC).\n\nSenator Budd said in a statement:\n\n\u201cOne year ago, Hamas terrorists murdered and kidnapped dozens of American citizens. After 365 days, the State Department has failed to issue a bounty that would help bring these terrorists to justice. The fact that the Biden-Harris administration continues to leave tools unused shows a complete disregard for the safety and security of American citizens around the world.\u201d\n\nSenate Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Roger Wicker said:\n\n\u201cThe Biden-Harris administration should have posted the reward for these monsters\u2019 capture months ago. They are not using every tool at their disposal to defeat Hamas.\u201d\n\nFull text of the letter:\n\nDear Secretary Blinken:\n\nWe write requesting the immediate authorization of a reward of up to $25 million under the State Department\u2019s Rewards for Justice (RFJ) program for information that leads to the arrest of, locates, or disrupts the financial support for Yahya Sinwar and other Hamas leaders or operatives responsible for the murder and kidnapping of Americans on October 7, 2023. The United States must use every tool and resource at its disposal as leverage to secure the release of hostages, including seven Americans, still being held in Gaza and to bring those terrorists responsible to justice.\n\nAs you know, Congress established the RFJ program when it passed the 1984 Act to Combat International Terrorism. We can think of no better way to fulfill congressional intent than to offer rewards for those Hamas leaders identified in the recently unsealed federal criminal complaint charging Yahya Sinwar, Mohammad Al-Masri, Khaled Meshaal, Ali Baraka, and others with terrorism, murder conspiracy, and sanctions-evasion charges related to October 7th.\n\nWe respectfully request a response to this letter no later than October 7, 2024.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:55:29Z"]], "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.budd.senate.gov/2024/10/07/biden-harris-administration-ignores-bipartisan-budd-request-to-establish-bounty-for-hamas-leaders/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8506549056619406, "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"}