{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=C8A1C9FE-24D1-4E25-BCC2-7E97BACC6106", "McConnell On Anniversary Of September 11th Attacks: Cannot Wait For Adversaries To Come To Us", "2024-09-11", "2024", "2024-09", "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 September 11 attacks:\n\n\u201cTwenty-three years ago today, forces of evil brought their war on the United States to American soil.\n\n\u201cThey filled a clear blue sky with smoke, fire, and the shattered lives of 2,977 innocent people.\n\n\u201cBefore the dust had settled, the world witnessed the extraordinary heroism of first responders, the compassion of neighbors and volunteers, and the will of a proud nation not to let this savagery go unanswered.\n\n\u201cThe terrorists had started this war, but America resolved then to finish it.\n\n\u201cAt times, that resolve has wavered. Over the years since September 11th, 2001, I\u2019ve counseled administrations of both parties not to short-change, hamstring, or abandon our fight against the terrorists or let up on the adversaries who support them.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve urged colleagues in Congress not to make the job of the warfighter harder by taking essential counterterrorism authorities off the table.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019ll continue to do so, as our colleagues consider our recent vote on section 702 and the one we\u2019ll take in less than two years to further extend this vital intelligence collection authority.\n\n\u201cThe Biden-Harris Administration pretends the war on terrorism is over. The Vice President, herself, claimed last night that \u2018there is not one member of the United States military who is in active duty in a combat zone\u2026 [for] the first time this century.\u2019\n\n\u201cThis, of course, would be news to the U.S. servicemembers who conducted operations against ISIS in Iraq last week\u2026 And to the sailors intercepting Houthi rockets in the Red Sea\u2026 And to the families of servicemembers killed and injured in the attack on Tower 22 near Jordan\u2019s border with Syria earlier this year.\n\n\u201cOur current Commander-in-Chief, and the Biden-Harris Administration, are not the first to chase the tail of shutting down terrorist detention at Guantanamo Bay. They\u2019re not the first to indulge the idea of a pivot away from a region full of important U.S. interests. And they\u2019re not the first to suggest that America gets to decide unilaterally when threats from Afghanistan end.\n\n\u201cBut they were the ones who followed through with a disastrous retreat that torched American credibility and left thirteen servicemembers dead.\n\n\u201cThe Administration pinned its hopes on the mistaken idea that because the U.S.-led coalition had made tremendous progress in keeping terrorist threats under control, we could continue to do so from \u2018over the horizon\u2019\u2026\n\n\u201cSo how\u2019s that going?\n\n\u201cDespite assurances from the Secretary of Defense that over-the-horizon operations would not suffer from a lack of human intelligence after the U.S. withdrawal, the Administration hasn\u2019t conducted a single strike against ISIS-K \u2013 the terrorists responsible for the Abbey Gate bombing, among other atrocities \u2013 since 2021.\n\n\u201cOf course, that\u2019s not because the terrorists have been quiet.\n\n\u201cIn fact, by one analysis earlier this year, ISIS-K \u2018planned twenty-one external plots or attacks in nine countries\u2019 in the previous twelve months, compared to just three between 2018 and the spring of 2022.\n\n\u201cThe ODNI annual threat assessment was forced to acknowledge that \u2018Terrorists will maintain an interest in conducting attacks\u2026 against U.S. persons, allies, and interests worldwide.\u2019\n\n\u201cAnd indeed, America\u2019s retreat from Afghanistan has invited violence elsewhere. From the resurgence of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria\u2026 To the AQAP in Yemen\u2026 To al Qaeda affiliates across the Sahel.\n\n\u201cAnd then there is Hamas. And Palestinian Islamic Jihad. And Hizballah. And the Houthis. And Iraqi terrorist groups. All of whom have been trained and equipped, aided and abetted, by the world\u2019s most active state sponsor of terror: Iran.\n\n\u201cHamas\u2019 attack on October 7 is described as Israel\u2019s September 11. Relative to population, it was actually September 11th fifteen times over.\n\n\u201cIt was the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. And it wouldn\u2019t have been possible without the involvement of Tehran.\n\n\u201cThe chaos stemming from this genocidal assault \u2013 and the violent choreography by the IRGC of attacks on Israel and U.S. interests across the region \u2013 is evidence of the failure of this Administration\u2019s passive, accommodating approach to Iran and its terrorist proxies.\n\n\u201cAmerica\u2019s weakness and hesitation will not deter our adversaries. Withholding critical assistance from partners on the front lines will not defeat them.\n\n\u201cThis is true in Israel just as it is true in Ukraine. And there is no doubt that allies, partners, and adversaries in Asia and elsewhere are watching a tentative America pull its punches. They are questioning our resolve and our commitment to our friends.\n\n\u201cIf we are unwilling to change Iran\u2019s calculus and compel an end to attacks on American forces in Iraq and Syria, or international vessels on the high seas\u2026\n\n\u201cAnd if we\u2019re unwilling to stand with partners like Israel or Ukraine\u2026\n\n\u201cCan we be trusted to stand up to the PRC?\n\n\u201cTwenty-three years ago, a dangerous world struck America here at home. We must not wait for today\u2019s threats to do the same.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:46:43Z"]], "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=C8A1C9FE-24D1-4E25-BCC2-7E97BACC6106"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.682376954704523, "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"}