{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=65d10a8c-4247-44a1-85ef-bace6a411685", "STATEMENT BY SENATOR JOHN McCAIN ON MILITARY TIMES SURVEY OF DECLINING MORALE IN U.S. ARMED FORCES", "2014-12-08", "2014", "2014-12", "Republican", "House", "AZ", "John McCain", "M000303", "www.mccain.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, D.C. \u00ad\u2013 U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) released the following statement on the Military Times report published today on declining morale in the U.S. armed forces:\r\n\u201cEveryone interested in strengthening America\u2019s national security and the well-being of our military men and women should be alarmed by the new Military Times survey finding a \u2018worsening morale crisis\u2019 in the U.S. armed forces.\u00a0In recent years, I have repeatedly sounded the alarm about the negative impact that the draconian budget cuts under sequestration and this Administration\u2019s feckless foreign policy are having on the morale of our troops. This new survey reports significant drops in areas like job satisfaction, respect for superiors, budget stability, and belief that the organization has soldiers\u2019 best interest in mind over the last five years.\u00a0We saw similar themes expressed in the independent Navy Retention Survey released in September, finding low morale, lack of desire to ascend to their boss\u2019s job, and widespread distrust of senior leadership as reasons for concern.\r\n\u201cMuch of this is the responsibility of Congress \u2013 namely, the irresponsible and devastating sequestration cuts imposed last year. Repealing defense sequestration is among my top priorities in the new Congress.\u00a0However, when nearly every category surveyed reveals a significant dip from 2009 to today, we must all take notice and ask, \u2018Why is morale so low and what can we do to fix it?\u2019\r\n\u201cThe growing dissatisfaction among the all-volunteer force during this Administration is cause for grave concern and requires immediate attention and action by the Commander-in-Chief, senior Defense Department leaders and the U.S. Congress.\u201d\r\n###", 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.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=65d10a8c-4247-44a1-85ef-bace6a411685"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5981059987097979, "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"}