{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=2EE9EC61-AC8C-4086-BA06-54132746B8DF", "National Security Threats Not Waiting For Democrats To Get Serious", "2023-12-05", "2023", "2023-12", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Mitch McConnell", "M000355", "www.mcconnell.senate.gov", "mcconnell", "https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding national security priorities:\n\n\u201cThe Senate has spent months considering supplemental action to meet serious, connected threats to America\u2019s national security.\n\n\u201cAs I\u2019ve said from the outset, our work needs to address four urgent challenges: Putin\u2019s war on a sovereign democracy in Europe, the terror campaign against Israel and U.S. forces in the Middle East, China\u2019s aggressive escalation against Taiwan and peaceful nations in the Indo-Pacific, and the Biden Administration\u2019s continuing failure to contend with the crisis at our southern border.\n\n\u201cSenate Republicans\u2019 focus on securing the border didn\u2019t just begin this fall. We\u2019ve watched for three years as the border descended into chaos on President Biden\u2019s watch. And for three years, we\u2019ve urged his Administration to fulfill even its most basic responsibility to enforce our immigration laws.\n\n\u201cAnyone who suggests that Senate Republicans are injecting the issue of border security into this discussion at the last minute either isn\u2019t serious or isn\u2019t paying attention.\n\n\u201cContinuing to pretend that upholding American sovereignty is any less urgent than helping our allies and partners defend theirs is reckless.\n\n\u201cBorders in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona are every bit as inviolable as those in Ukraine, Israel, and the Indo-Pacific.\n\n\u201cAnd the sooner our Democratic colleagues realize it, the sooner we can deliver on urgent national security priorities.\n\n\u201cNeedless to say, America\u2019s adversaries aren\u2019t waiting for us to get serious about our own security. In the South China Sea, for example, the PRC is increasingly using aggressive posturing and outright force to disrupt peace, stability, and lawful maritime commerce.\n\n\u201cBeijing now greets lawful passage in international waters with threatening, unsafe conduct and hyperventilating bluster and continues to undermine the long-established territorial claims of sovereign nations throughout southeast Asia.\n\n\u201cUnfortunately, China is not the only adversary stepping up its aggression in the maritime domain.\n\n\u201cIran and its network of terrorists continue to illustrate the failures of the Biden Administration\u2019s deterrence in dangerous detail. On Sunday, a U.S. Navy destroyer and Israeli-flagged commercial vessels came under fire from the same Houthi rebels this Administration had inexplicably taken off its list of terror organizations when it took office as a concession to Iran.\n\n\u201cOf course, terrorist violence at sea is only the latest in a laundry list of Iran-backed attempts to kill Americans in region since October 7th. At least 77 times now, Tehran\u2019s proxies have used lethal force against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria.\n\n\u201cBy any objective standard, the Biden Administration\u2019s response has been woefully inadequate. Tehran remains demonstrably undeterred. As President Obama\u2019s former Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, put it last week, \u2018I would be much more aggressive\u2019.\n\n\u201cSo, effective deterrence requires both capabilities and credibility. And America can\u2019t hope to deter our adversaries if we signal hesitation and fear of escalation.\n\n\u201cConsider the enemy we\u2019re up against. One of Hamas\u2019 top terrorists in Gaza told the media recently: the slaughter of Israelis on October 7th was, \u2018just a rehearsal\u2019. A bloody rehearsal that left 1,200 innocent people dead and hundreds more in terrorist captivity.\n\n\u201cThese savages mean what they say about erasing Israel from the map. But this is not just Israel\u2019s fight.\n\n\u201cToday, at least eight Americans are still being held hostage in Gaza. And if Iran and its proxies get their way, there will be more Americans killed and captured.\n\n\u201cThis is not a time to go soft on terror. This is not a time to put constraints on Israel. This is a time to support your friends and stand up to your adversaries.\n\n\u201cAs the Senate considers urgent national security priorities, our adversaries in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East are watching closely what we do.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:56:20Z"]], "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.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=2EE9EC61-AC8C-4086-BA06-54132746B8DF"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.003866083920002, "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"}