{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=9EBC440B-00A0-44C5-95C4-10124EFC340A", "McConnell: Critical Defense Legislation Deserves a Bipartisan Amendment Process", "2021-11-30", "2021", "2021-11", "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 the National Defense Authorization Act:\n\n\u201cYesterday, a bipartisan majority of Senators rejected the Democratic Leader\u2019s effort to shut down debate on the National Defense Authorization Act and block new measures to get tougher on Russia.\n\n\u201cThe Democratic Leader wants to block the Senate from fully and robustly debating a number of important issues \u2014 from how to manage the fallout from the reckless Afghanistan retreat to how to respond to China\u2019s dramatic and destabilizing military modernization to how to restore deterrence against an emboldened Iran.\n\n\u201cThe NDAA is supposed to be the bipartisan forum for debating and acting on these kinds of issues. Months ago, the Armed Services Committee moved this process forward 23-3. But the Democratic Leader has botched the floor process.\n\n\u201cIt is especially bizarre to see the Democratic Leader so focused, so intent, on blocking the Senate from dealing seriously with the growing aggression from Putin\u2019s Russia. He seems downright desperate to block new bipartisan action on Nord Stream 2. It\u2019s strange to see.\n\n\u201cSenators Risch and Cruz have proposed language concerning this Putin pipeline that the House was able to pass almost unanimously. Unlike the House provision, the Risch/Cruz amendment includes a waiver provision that would give the President more flexibility, which makes the Democratic Leader\u2019s effort to shut the process down and block their amendment all the more baffling.\n\n\u201cIf there is opposition to this amendment \u2013 if it can be improved with modifications \u2013 then by all means, let\u2019s have a public debate.\n\n\u201cLikewise, Senator Portman has been a leading voice for bolstering our European partners and delivering more meaningful support to Ukraine\u2019s military.\n\n\u201cAs Putin masses forces on Ukraine\u2019s border, the Senate should debate how to help the Ukrainians defend themselves. The Democratic Leader is trying to shut that down too.\n\n\u201cThe NDAA is not finished yet. So the Senate cannot be finished yet either.\n\n\u201cWe need the same kind of normal, robust, bipartisan amendment process that always characterizes this bill. And we need the Democratic Leader to stop trying to block the Senate from sanctioning Putin\u2019s cronies.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:30:49Z"]], "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=9EBC440B-00A0-44C5-95C4-10124EFC340A"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 4.444255027920008, "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"}