{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.gallego.senate.gov/news/press-releases/icymi-gallego-joins-the-daily-beast-podcast-slams-trumps-handling-of-the-iran-war-discusses-his-social-media-ban/", "ICYMI: Gallego Joins the Daily Beast Podcast; Slams Trump\u2019s handling of the Iran War, Discusses his Social Media Ban", "2026-08-24", "2026", "2026-08", "Democrat", "Senate", "AZ", "Ruben Gallego", "G000574", "www.gallego.senate.gov", "gallego", "https://www.gallego.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Last Friday, Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) joined the Daily Beast Podcast with host Joanna Coles to discuss the Iran War and parallels he sees with his service in Iraq and the Trump Administration\u2019s latest blunders. They also discussed his recent bill to require parental approval for kids under the age of 16 to use social media.\n\nSee coverage below:\n\nOn his proposed legislation to put parents back in control of their kid\u2019s social media: \u201cSome of the most important developmental time in a kid\u2019s life, especially teenagers\u2019 lives, are below the age of 16. So, let\u2019s give these kids a fighting chance and let\u2019s give that power to the parent who doesn\u2019t necessarily want to be the bad guy but now has a real reason to be that break.\n\n\u201cI am sure that you also saw I have this cell phone ban planned where public schools that receive federal dollars need to come up with a cellphone ban within a year in order for them to continue to have support. What does that cellphone ban look like? It could be very different for every parent, every school. The fact is we\u2019ve seen studies that show the schools that have cellphone bans have better outcomes, less violence, higher self-esteem, and better grades.\u201d\n\nOn politicians making the same mistakes as they did in the Iraq War: \u201cI am seeing a lot of other Ruben Gallegos that are going to be put through a stupid, dumb, illegal war. We are going to live with another generation of American boys and girls that are going to have carry this burden of bad leadership. That\u2019s what got me to Iraq, it was bad leadership that chose to go to war in Iraq. It was bad decision making on the conduct of the war and the leadership to get us out of there wasn\u2019t there. Does that sound familiar to everyone here?\u201d\n\nOn the calls to put American boots on the ground in Iran: \u201cI care about United States interests first and I am not going to sacrifice US soldiers, sailors, marines, young men and women for Iranian freedom and sovereignty. I would gladly help them out through diplomatic efforts and anything below the threshold of war, but I am not going to commit men and women to regime change again. We\u2019ve tried this in the middle east and that\u2019s how I ended up losing my best friend in a war and dealing with the problems of PTSD. We were out there being freedom fighters for other people and other countries that should\u2019ve done it on their own.\u201d\n\nOn questions about Trump\u2019s health: \u201cHe\u2019s an overweight 80-year-old man who does not eat well. It\u2019s very natural for things to be going bad, and it\u2019s also very natural for us as a country to be asking who is actually making some of these decisions? All of these things where very legitimate questions under Biden should also be asked right now and pushed under this administration.", 1, "2026-08-25T05:31:37Z", "2026-08-25T05:33:09Z"]], "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.gallego.senate.gov/news/press-releases/icymi-gallego-joins-the-daily-beast-podcast-slams-trumps-handling-of-the-iran-war-discusses-his-social-media-ban/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8083069697022438, "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"}