{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=AD0ED61E-7654-4EB0-BF0B-9805A074DEB5", "President Must Convey Support To Israel, Credible Deterrence To Iran", "2023-10-17", "2023", "2023-10", "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 President Biden\u2019s trip to Israel:\n\n\u201cI was encouraged to hear that President Biden will visit Israel tomorrow.\n\n\u201cAs the Jewish State mourns the victims of the barbaric October 7th attacks, and as Israeli forces continue their work to root out the terrorists responsible, it is important for the President to represent Israel\u2019s closest ally and bear witness to the destruction wrought by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and their patrons in Tehran.\n\n\u201cThe President will have a number of responsibilities on this consequential trip.\n\n\u201cFirst, he needs to console a grieving nation while demonstrating America\u2019s firm resolve to back Israel in its time of need.\n\n\u201cThe American people feel the pain of our friends in Israel. And we mourn our own citizens who were slaughtered alongside Israelis by these savages.\n\n\u201cIn our grief and in our anger, America\u2019s interests and Israel\u2019s interests are intertwined. And our policies must be as well.\n\n\u201cPresident Biden needs to demonstrate our support for the difficult but necessary steps Israel must take to destroy the terrorists\u2019 capacity to wage war.\n\n\u201cHe needs to reject the false moral equivalence that Israel\u2019s perennial critics are using to mask anti-Semitic hatred.\n\n\u201cHe needs to resist the already mounting pressure in the media and in diplomatic channels to constrain Israel\u2019s efforts to defend itself.\n\n\u201cHe needs to make it clear that his Administration will do everything possible to give Israel the time and space to conduct the required military operations, for as long as it takes.\n\n\u201cIn his words and actions, President Biden must also deter Iran and Hezbollah from further additional involvement in this terrorist war. The deployment of carrier battle groups, a Marine Expeditionary Unit, and additional fighter squadrons to the region are a good first step.\n\n\u201cBut deterrence requires both capabilities and credibility. The President needs to show that he means business.\n\n\u201cHis tone, his statements, and his actions need to send an unambiguous message to Iran about America\u2019s resolve.\n\n\u201cNo more splitting hairs about whether intelligence demonstrates Iran\u2019s direct involvement in the October 7th attacks.\n\n\u201cThe Supreme Leader has rejoiced at the images of dead Israelis.\n\n\u201cA senior Iranian official called it \u2018a proud operation.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd Hamas has a history of thanking Iran for its support in public!\n\n\u201cNo more absurd suggestions that seeking to free up $6 billion in Iranian assets doesn\u2019t embolden Tehran. We have reams of evidence that the regime that chants \u2018Death to America\u2019 and \u2018Death to Israel\u2019 puts its money where its mouth is.\n\n\u201cUltimately, President Biden must also accept that the fundamental assumptions of his Administration\u2019s Iran policy were morally and practically bankrupt.\n\n\u201cThe President\u2019s team begged Iran to re-enter the Obama Administration\u2019s flawed nuclear deal. Iran sensed their desperation and played hard to get.\n\n\u201cThen, the Administration sought to de-escalate tensions by overlooking Iranian plots against American citizens and former officials and ignoring Tehran\u2019s growing repression at home and aggression abroad.\n\n\u201cWell, Iran had other ideas. They like killing Americans as much as they like killing Israelis.\n\n\u201cAfter all, the way Tehran sees it, America is the Great Satan to Israel\u2019s Little Satan. And we should expect that until Iran\u2019s rulers are afraid of us, they will continue to undermine America\u2019s influence, to test our boundaries, to kill our citizens.\n\n\u201cThe Biden Administration\u2019s previous Iran policy is now history. The President must go back to the drawing board.\n\n\u201cHe should start by doing what I\u2019ve recommended to him since he took office: Work with Republicans to craft a bipartisan Iran policy that will survive his Administration. A plan that addresses all aspects of the threat Iran poses.\n\n\u201cAnd more immediately, the President needs to show Iran and its terrorist proxies like Hizballah that further involvement in this conflict will risk crippling economic sanctions and the decisive use of American military strength.\n\n\u201cThe terrorists and their sponsors with Israeli and American blood on their hands represent a clear and present danger to the United States, our allies, and our interests.\n\n\u201cIt is long past time for America meet this threat with serious and credible deterrence.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:43:12Z"]], "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=AD0ED61E-7654-4EB0-BF0B-9805A074DEB5"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8430411107838154, "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"}