{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=6A66402D-901D-4F7E-92AD-0CF9E3DF326C", "McConnell at Hearing on Russian Abduction of Ukrainian Children", "2025-12-03", "2025", "2025-12", "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. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, made the following comments today at a State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Subcommittee hearing on Russian abduction of Ukrainian children:\n\n\u201cThank you, Mr. Chairman, for convening this hearing. And thank you all for being here today.\n\n\u201cI\u2019d like to offer a particular welcome to you, Madam Ambassador. Getting a town that\u2019s often consumed by its own metaphorical political warfare to pay attention to the harsh realities of your country\u2019s real-life war for survival is a challenge \u2013 and I commend you for your work.\n\n\u201cRussia\u2019s systematic abduction of Ukrainian children is horrifying. And it\u2019s just a small glimpse into the tremendous pain and suffering that Russia\u2019s unprovoked war against Ukraine has caused. Putin has stolen children from innocent families, and his war has stolen youth from a generation of Ukrainians.\n\n\u201cAs I\u2019ve said before, we should know enough history by now not to dismiss this as just \u2018a quarrel in a faraway country, between two people of whom we know nothing.\u2019\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s Neville Chamberlain, by the way. And we know how his dismissive attitude to Hitler\u2019s aggression toward Czechoslovakia turned out.\n\n\u201cLike then, there\u2019s a clear aggressor and a clear victim today. Like then, the moral and strategic dimensions are not in conflict for the West. Like then, we have an interest in the outcome of this war.\n\n\u201cBut the price of peace matters. It must be a just peace, especially for the innocent children and families torn apart by Putin\u2019s war. It must be an enduring peace. And I\u2019m concerned that this sort of peace will remain out of reach until we\u2019re willing to put more concerted pressure on Putin and sustain support for Ukraine.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "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=6A66402D-901D-4F7E-92AD-0CF9E3DF326C"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3197730295360088, "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"}