{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-cruz-introduce-bill-sanctioning-foreign-government-officials-who-hold-americans-hostage", "Cotton, Cruz Introduce Bill Sanctioning Foreign Government Officials Who Hold Americans Hostage", "2019-11-05", "2019", "2019-11", "Republican", "Senate", "AR", "Tom Cotton", "C001095", "www.cotton.senate.gov", "cotton", "https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\n\nContact: Caroline Tabler or James Arnold (202) 224-2353\n\nNovember 5, 2019\n\nCotton, Cruz Introduce Bill Sanctioning Foreign Government Officials Who Hold Americans Hostage\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2014 U.S. Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) today introduced The Global Hostage Act, a bill that would require the president to impose sanctions on foreign government officials responsible for taking Americans hostage. It would also bar those officials and their families from receiving U.S. visas. The bill text is available here.\n\n\u201cIf you\u2019re in the business of kidnapping Americans, you shouldn\u2019t be able to send your kids to American universities or take lavish vacations in the United States. My bill would punish those who hold Americans hostage by sanctioning their assets and blocking their travel to the United States,\u201d said Cotton.\n\n\u201cAcross the globe brutal regimes and terrorist groups seize Americans and use them as hostages, hoping to receive concessions from the United States,\u201d Cruz said. \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t give them that hope. To that end, our bill imposes sanctions on all those who engage in hostage taking of American citizens and legal permanent residents, and bars their family members from entering the United States. This is a battle I have been waging throughout my service in the Senate, including keeping out diplomats appointed by the Iranian regime who seized our hostages in 1979.\u201d\n\nSpecifically, the bill:\n\n\u00b7 Requires that the executive branch impose mandatory sanctions on foreign government officials responsible for taking U.S. hostages.\n\n\u00b7 Denies U.S. visas to sanctioned hostage takers and their family members.\n\n\u00b7 Creates a mechanism for Congress to require that the executive branch review specific foreign government officials for hostage-taking sanctions eligibility.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-06-27T23:43:09Z"]], "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://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-cruz-introduce-bill-sanctioning-foreign-government-officials-who-hold-americans-hostage"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7290320247411728, "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"}