{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=7C3C9D9A-A948-4D2D-88E0-3DD1F950B9EC", "McConnell: It\u2019s Well Past Time For The Senate To Pass NDAA, Government Funding", "2024-12-02", "2024", "2024-12", "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 outstanding business:\n\n\u201cThe Senate has three weeks to complete some of the most important business of the year. And at this late hour, we\u2019ll have to act on legislation that comes to us from the House.\n\n\u201cBut let\u2019s be absolutely clear: December drama is not the way to demonstrate we\u2019re serious about our most basic governing responsibilities.\n\n\u201cWith the exception of urgent supplemental assistance to states and communities hit hard by natural disasters in recent months, essential and predictable annual assignments like the NDAA and government funding are now well overdue.\n\n\u201cOur colleagues on the Armed Services Committee completed their work on the NDAA back in June. They conducted extensive hearings, considered a wide array of amendments, and \u2013 thanks to the work of Ranking Member Wicker \u2013 secured an increase to topline authorization with bipartisan support.\n\n\u201cThey handed the legislation off to the Democratic Leader with months to spare.\n\n\u201cSimilarly, in the Appropriations Committee worked diligently to present full-year funding bills ahead of the start of the fiscal year. I\u2019m particularly proud of the work of committee Republicans, under Vice Chair Collins\u2019 leadership, to secure higher topline funding for the national defense.\n\n\u201cThe most important power in the Senate is the power to set our agenda. Only the Majority Leader holds that power.\n\n\u201cAnd last year, the Majority Leader said publicly that \u2018The United States is ready to compete vigorously with the PRC.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe overwhelming consensus of U.S. national security experts contradicts that view.\n\n\u201cBut even if we once were ready to compete and deter aggression from the adversaries who are working together to threaten us\u2026\n\n\u201c\u2026Letting critical national security legislation collect dust for months while the Senate rubber-stamps radical nominees is one heck of a way to sustain that elusive readiness or project American resolve.\n\n\u201cThe full Senate was denied a chance to work its will on the NDAA.\n\n\u201cAs a result, the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee was forced to negotiate against the House\u2019s much lower top line for defense spending from a weaker position.\n\n\u201cThe same is true for Defense appropriations and Vice Chair Collins\u2019 efforts.\n\n\u201cAs Ranking Member Wicker has pointed out repeatedly, we\u2019ve got a lot of work to do to repair America\u2019s military and rebuild our defense industrial base.\n\n\u201cAnd finishing urgent business in December won\u2019t be cause for celebration.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019ll just be the end of an utterly avoidable delay.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:07:19Z"]], "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=7C3C9D9A-A948-4D2D-88E0-3DD1F950B9EC"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 6.887124851346016, "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"}