{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=45285B95-D9A1-48CE-9C3D-9F152E7836CD", "Attacks On Freedom Of Navigation Are Direct Challenge To American Leadership", "2023-12-18", "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 Iran-backed terrorism:\n\n\u201cThe weekend brought even more glaring evidence that Iran and its terrorist proxies feel emboldened to escalate their attacks in the Middle East. In the past two months, the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen have repeatedly used lethal force in brazen attacks against both military and commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea.\n\n\u201cJust two days ago, the destroyer U.S.S. Carney engaged and destroyed at least 14 terrorist drones. U.S. Navy vessels have thus far succeeded in defending against these attacks.\n\n\u201cBut the risk of American casualties is growing. Air defense is not perfect. And it doesn\u2019t come cheap \u2013 the Navy is having to use expensive interceptors to bring down low-cost suicide drones.\n\n\u201cCommercial vessels have been less fortunate. Several ships have been hijacked or struck by drones and anti-ship missiles in recent weeks \u2013 including two strikes just today.\n\n\u201cThis violence represents a grave and immediate economic threat. Iran\u2019s network of terrorists is making an artery that carries nearly 12 percent of global trade essentially inoperable.\n\n\u201cIn recent days, four of the world\u2019s five largest shipping companies have suspended operations in the Red Sea. The carriers who account for more than half of maritime container traffic are opting to add weeks to transit times and untold extra fuel costs to avoid terrorist attack. And supply chains everywhere are bracing for the effects.\n\n\u201cMake no mistake: An undeterred adversary is laying down a direct challenge to American leadership. And the world is watching to see if we rise to meet it the way we\u2019ve met it before in countless times.\n\n\u201cProtecting the freedom of navigation is an essential American interest because maritime commerce has been central to our nation\u2019s economy from the very beginning.\n\n\u201cThe U.S. Navy and Marine Corps waged their first successful expeditionary campaign against the Barbary pirates in order to protect American shipping. The \u2018shores of Tripoli\u2019 are immortalized in the Marine Corps hymn. And freedom of navigation operations have been an essential part of U.S. power projection ever since.\n\n\u201cIn recent years, these operations have been especially important in the Indo-Pacific, where China increasingly threatens sea lanes.\n\n\u201cBut let\u2019s be clear: If America conducts freedom of navigation operations as peace-time exercises but fails to actually protect this freedom from immediate, real-time threats, then we\u2019re just play-acting as a global superpower.\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s happening right now in the Red Sea isn\u2019t an exercise. It\u2019s a blaring siren that deterrence has failed.\n\n\u201cThe United States and our allies and partners have a stake in defending the freedom of navigation. If we fail to take more serious action against Iran-backed Houthi terrorists, we\u2019ll embolden other aggressors to challenge this freedom everywhere, and risk major consequences.\n\n\u201cNeedless to say, our greatest strategic adversary and systemic rival is watching especially closely how we respond to this brazen challenge.\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=45285B95-D9A1-48CE-9C3D-9F152E7836CD"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.1448969598859549, "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"}