{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cruz.senate.gov?p=news&id=2040", "Houston Chronicle: Texas Republicans rip Obama initiative on Cuba", "2014-12-17", "2014", "2014-12", "Republican", "House", "TX", "Ted Cruz", "C001098", "www.cruz.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "President Obama\u2019s move on Wednesday to normalize relations with Cuba got mixed reactions in Congress, with Sen. Ted Cruz and a number of other Texas Republicans accusing the administration of lending legitimacy to the authoritarian Castro regime. \u201cFidel and Raul Castro have just received both international legitimacy and a badly-needed economic lifeline from President Obama,\u201d said Cruz, the son of a Cuban refugee.\u00a0 \u201cBut they remain in control of a totalitarian police state modeled on their old state sponsor, the Soviet Union.\u201d Cruz compared the move to Obama administration attempts at rapprochement with what he called \u201crogue regimes\u201d like Russia and Iran. Democrats in the Texas delegation backed Obama\u2019s contention that decades of sanctions have produced no positive changes in the communist island nation. Read more", 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.cruz.senate.gov?p=news&id=2040"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7788902148604393, "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"}