{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.lee.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=4B7FF1A8-B002-4A05-B1FE-A32C0B1FB8C9", "Sens. Lee and Rubio Call Out Cultural Imperialism of OAS", "2016-10-03", "2016", "2016-10", "Republican", "House", "UT", "Mike Lee", "L000577", "www.lee.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) urged the State Department Monday, to re-examine the way U.S. contributions to the Organization of American States (OAS) are utilized in light of ongoing concerns of ideological agenda pushing by the UN-backed entity. Part of this inquiry includes a push to fully implement the Organization of American States (OAS) Revitalization and Reform Act of 2013 and address concerns about the OAS imposing its cultural views on OAS member states.  \u00a0  The letter states that legislators \u201chave heard from Central and South American officials that their own national sovereignty is threatened by what they view as \u2018cultural imperialism\u2019 imposed by an organization that is seemingly more concerned with pushing an ideological agenda than respecting the local rule of law.\u201d  \u00a0  The U.S. provided for more than one-third (41.7%) of the OAS\u2019 2015 total budget, continuing in the historic pattern of the U.S. contributing the largest sum of funds for this entity. The OAS Revitalization and Reform Act of 2013 requires a multiyear strategy be provided to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and a quarterly briefing that analyzes the progress made by the OAS. The letter suggests it is not clear that the Department is implementing the requirements of this law.  \u00a0   Considering that the U.S. is the largest donor of the OAS, the letter requests an in-person briefing from State Department officials responsible for Western Hemisphere Affairs and U.S. representation to the OAS.  \u00a0  You can read the full letter here:\r\nLetter to State Department to fully implement the Organization of American States (OAS) Revitalization and... by Senator Mike Lee on Scribd", 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.lee.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=4B7FF1A8-B002-4A05-B1FE-A32C0B1FB8C9"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8017751388251781, "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"}