{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-protestors-who-deface-statues-must-face-mandatory-minimums", "Cotton: Protestors Who Deface Statues Must Face Mandatory Minimums", "2024-06-13", "2024", "2024-06", "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 Patrick McCann (202) 224-2353\n\nJune 13, 2024\n\nCotton: Protestors Who Deface Statues Must Face Mandatory Minimums\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2014 Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) today introduced the Saving Treasured Artifacts Through Uniform Enforcement (STATUE) Act, legislation that would impose mandatory minimum prison sentences for defacing statues on federal land. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) is co-sponsoring the legislation.\n\nSenator Cotton introduced the legislation after protestors damaged the area surrounding the White House, including painting pro-Hamas and antisemitic slogans on statues in Lafayette Square Park.\n\n\u201cAny protestor who defaces statues of America\u2019s heroes must face the full extent of the law. As Joe Biden seeks to appease the pro-Hamas wing of the Democratic Party, it\u2019s clear his administration won\u2019t do anything to punish the protestors who defaced the area around the White House recently. The Senate should take up my legislation to punish these pro-Hamas lunatics,\u201d said Senator Cotton.\n\nText of the legislation may be found here.\n\nThe STATUE Act would:\n\nImpose a minimum sentence of five years imprisonment and a $1,000 fine or a fine equal to the amount of damage to the property, whichever is greater.\n\nAmend the Veterans\u2019 Memorial Preservation and Recognition Act so that it applies to all monuments or property under the jurisdiction of the federal government.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:11:47Z"]], "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-protestors-who-deface-statues-must-face-mandatory-minimums"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3922513462603092, "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"}