{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.kaine.senate.gov/press-releases/kaine-statement-on-need-for-congressional-oversight-of-weapons-transfers", "Kaine Statement on Need for Congressional Oversight of Weapons Transfers", "2023-12-30", "2023", "2023-12", "Democrat", "Senate", "VA", "Tim Kaine", "K000384", "www.kaine.senate.gov", "kaine", "https://www.kaine.senate.gov/news", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) and the Senate Armed Services Committee, released the following statement regarding the Biden Administration\u2019s decision to transfer weapons to Israel without congressional oversight:\n\n\u201cJust as Congress has a crucial role to play in all matters of war and peace, Congress should have full visibility over the weapons we transfer to any other nation. Unnecessarily bypassing Congress means keeping the American people in the dark. We need a public explanation of the rationale behind this decision\u2014the second such decision this month.\u201d\n\nKaine has long been a leading voice for the need to make decisions related to war and peace through a deliberate congressional process. This month, Kaine\u2019s bipartisan legislation to prevent any U.S. president from unilaterally withdrawing from NATO without congressional approval was signed into law. Earlier this year, the Senate voted to pass Kaine\u2019s bipartisan legislation to repeal the 1991 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMFs) and formally end the Gulf and Iraq wars.\n\nKaine strongly condemned Hamas\u2019 October 7 terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians and has been vocal about the need to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. He\u2019s taken a series of steps to prioritize the release of hostages taken by Hamas, including directly engaging the Qatari and Egyptian governments, address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and protect civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, and counter Hamas\u2019 terrorist threats. Kaine led his colleagues in calling for a short-term cessation of violence in order to ensure humanitarian assistance is reaching civilians in Gaza.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T01:14:16Z"]], "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.kaine.senate.gov/press-releases/kaine-statement-on-need-for-congressional-oversight-of-weapons-transfers"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 3.6576371639966965, "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"}