{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=AB15D834-13F2-435E-B2D0-41EB31DC15EF", "SASC CHAIRMAN JOHN McCAIN URGES SECRETARY ASHTON CARTER NOT TO PURSUE MIDNIGHT REGULATIONS AT DOD", "2016-11-21", "2016", "2016-11", "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), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, sent a letter to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter today urging him not to move forward with the implementation of any new rules or regulations that would change long-standing policy during the presidential transition and lame-duck session of Congress.\r\nThe text of the letter is below and here.\r\nDear Secretary Carter:\r\nI write to urge you to suspend all efforts on the development and implementation of rules and regulations at the Department of Defense that would change long-standing policy, including with regard to military personnel ratings, standards, uniforms, job titles, and related issues. Many of the Department's recent actions in this regard have been questionable and misguided, and any effort to continue in that direction during a presidential transition and lame-duck session of Congress would be inappropriate.\r\nMilitary personnel policy will continue to be a priority for the defense committees during the next Congress, building on the landmark reforms that have begun over the past two years. This important, bipartisan work will proceed with the transparency, public scrutiny, and congressional oversight that it deserves. Until that time, please refrain from making and further implementing any major policy changes through executive action.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\r\nSincerely,\r\nJohn McCain\r\nChairman\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=AB15D834-13F2-435E-B2D0-41EB31DC15EF"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.840888824313879, "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"}