{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/democrats-block-grassley-effort-to-protect-unaccompanied-migrant-children-from-sexual-harm", "Democrats Block Grassley Effort to Protect Unaccompanied Migrant Children from Sexual Harm", "2024-09-18", "2024", "2024-09", "Republican", "Senate", "IA", "Chuck Grassley", "G000386", "www.grassley.senate.gov", "grassley", "https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a senior member and former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sought to cut off federal funds to entities the Justice Department (DOJ) has identified as facilitating sexual abuse and harassment against unaccompanied alien children (UACs). Democrats objected to Grassley\u2019s measure, instead proposing a bloated amendment that would cement the Biden-Harris policies that are putting thousands of migrant kids in harms\u2019 way.\n\n\u201cHow many more children have to endure abuse before Congress finally says enough is enough? I say it shouldn\u2019t be even one more,\u201d Grassley said on the Senate floor.\n\nGrassley noted Democrats\u2019 proposal:\n\nPrioritizes speed over safety by mandating the government determine a child\u2019s placement no later than seven days after the government receives a sponsor application;\n\nFails to require across-the-board post-release services for all children;\n\nRestricts information-sharing with law enforcement; and\n\nLeaves the door open for dangerous sponsors to obtain children. Specifically, it\n\nDoes not require sponsors to undergo fingerprint-based background checks,\n\nDoes not disqualify sponsors based on their criminal records,\n\nDoes not require sponsors to have a pre-existing relationship with a child, and\n\nDoes not require sponsors to return their proof-of-identity documents in a timely manner.\n\n\u201cI came to the floor to offer a commonsense solution to deny bad actors access to kids. My bill would put contractors on notice that they can\u2019t willfully blind themselves to child abuse in order to get rich off taxpayers\u2019 dollars. Democrats couldn\u2019t even take that blindness seriously,\u201d Grassley concluded.\n\n-30-", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:43:57Z"]], "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.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/democrats-block-grassley-effort-to-protect-unaccompanied-migrant-children-from-sexual-harm"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.016806975007057, "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"}