{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.capito.senate.gov/news/press-releases/capito-colleagues-demand-answers-from-biden-administration-on-latest-iran-sanctions-waiver", "Capito, Colleagues Demand Answers from Biden Administration on Latest Iran Sanctions Waiver", "2023-12-01", "2023", "2023-12", "Republican", "Senate", "WV", "Shelley Moore Capito", "C001047", "www.capito.senate.gov", "capito", "https://www.capito.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "CHARLESTON, W.Va. \u2014 Today, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a member of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, joined 24 of her Senate colleagues, led by U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.), in sending a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin demanding answers over the administration\u2019s lack of a cohesive Iran strategy, given the recent decision to extend an Iran sanctions waiver. As Israel continues to battle Iran-backed Hamas and the regime\u2019s proxies increase their attacks against U.S. personnel in the Middle-East region, the Biden administration on November 13 issued a waiver allowing Iran access to approximately $10 billion.\n\n\u201cA strong signal of deterrence\u2014utilizing military, economic, and diplomatic tools\u2014is needed if we want to stop the attacks against U.S. personnel and prevent the war in Gaza from expanding into a protracted regional conflict. Unfortunately, the administration\u2019s military and economic responses to Iran and its proxies have not only been disproportionate, they appear to be completely disjointed,\u201d the senators wrote.\n\n\u201cWe therefore request that your departments provide us with a classified assessment on the administration\u2019s plan to deter Iranian aggression and prevent the escalation of conflict in the Middle East. This assessment should include an estimation of how Iran has already leveraged\u2014and could in the future leverage\u2014against U.S. persons and interests the tens of billions in assets it now has access to due to your administration\u2019s use of U.S. sanctions waivers and is to be provided in a member or staff-level briefing no later than December 7, 2023,\u201d the senators continued.\n\nTo read the senators\u2019 full letter, click here.\n\nBACKGROUND:\n\nLast month, Senator Capito cosponsored a bill that would freeze the $6 billion that the Biden administration made available to Iran, a state sponsor of Hamas\u2019 terrorist attacks against Israel.\n\nOn August 18, Senator Capito joined her colleagues in demanding answers from the Biden administration after it announced the release of $6 billion to the Iran regime.\n\n# # #", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T01:14:16Z"]], "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.capito.senate.gov/news/press-releases/capito-colleagues-demand-answers-from-biden-administration-on-latest-iran-sanctions-waiver"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.493970863521099, "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"}