{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=CC5F2B9A-A0D8-4002-853A-3B2787A9F929", "McConnell Remarks On U.S. Interests And Repressive Regimes", "2024-09-16", "2024", "2024-09", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Mitch McConnell", "M000355", "www.mcconnell.senate.gov", "mcconnell", "https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases", "scraper", "\u2018I\u2019ve repeatedly warned colleagues on both sides against setting aside America\u2019s interests in pursuit of closer relations with foreign leaders who they think share their values\u2026 And I\u2019ve been clear-eyed about the regimes with which the United States shares neither interests nor values, and acted accordingly.\u2019\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding national security priorities:\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve repeatedly warned colleagues on both sides against setting aside America\u2019s interests in pursuit of closer relations with foreign leaders who they think share their values.\n\n\u201cI made it clear to Washington Democrats that whatever kudos the Paris climate deal earned them with European greens, punishing America for producing affordable, reliable, and abundant energy was welcome news to China, the world\u2019s leading emitter of carbon\u2026 and to Russia, which would weaponize Europe\u2019s own reliance in due course.\n\n\u201cLikewise, I\u2019ve urged fellow Republicans to recognize that, despite whatever affinity we might be expected to hold for a Hungarian ruling party that professes traditional values, legitimizing Victor Orban\u2019s reckless obeisance to China, Russia, and Iran is not in America\u2019s interests.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019ve been clear-eyed about the regimes with which the United States shares neither interests nor values, and acted accordingly.\n\n\u201cFor example, the strategic case for maximum pressure and credible deterrence against Iran, the world\u2019s most active state sponsor of terror, is compelling enough on its own. Weakening sanctions in exchange for empty promises on nuclear proliferation is not in America\u2019s strategic interests. Neither is responding to proxy violence with half-measures.\n\n\u201cThe only way to achieve measurable improvements to the security of America\u2019s interests in Iran\u2019s backyard is to change Iran\u2019s calculus. This is, of course, an opportunity for the United States and allies with common interests in the region to work more closely together in applying meaningful pressure on Tehran \u2013 an opportunity as-yet unseized.\n\n\u201cBut lest anyone forget, just as Tehran\u2019s export of terror threatens America\u2019s interests, its repression at home is an affront to American values.\n\n\u201cToday is the second anniversary of the beating, detention, and murder of Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iran\u2019s morality police. Tehran\u2019s thugs killed another 500 people and detained thousands more who took to the streets in protest.\n\n\u201cToday, Iranian women are continuing their protest against the regime\u2019s repressive morality laws. Many are walking the streets without head coverings, and 34 political prisoners have gone on a hunger strike. Tehran is marking the anniversary in its own way, placing Ms. Amini\u2019s surviving family under unofficial house arrest.\n\n\u201cFurther east, in Kabul, another group of medieval theocrats is dragging Afghan women and girls even further backward into the familiar repression of Taliban rule. A new \u2018vice and virtue law\u2019 amounts to an even more severe crackdown on education for Afghan girls, with even tighter restrictions on women\u2019s behavior in public.\n\n\u201cLike in Iran, Taliban repression is not difficult to recognize as abhorrent. And the latest developments are an outcome many of us saw coming years ago. Unfortunately, they\u2019re also a shameful reminder of a decision that damaged American interests\u2026 and a sales campaign that denied observable reality.\n\n\u201cRecall that, as the Taliban surged back into power in Kabul, President Biden insisted that, quote, \u2018human rights will be the center of our foreign policy\u2019. Remember how the President\u2019s national security advisor declared that the Administration was \u2018absolutely resolutely committed\u2019 to \u2018alleviate the burden that [Afghan] women and girls will face in the days ahead.\u2019\n\n\u201cI\u2019m curious how the Administration would rate the effectiveness of that commitment. I wonder whether it thinks its confidence in so-called \u2018over-the-horizon\u2019 counterterrorism has paid off.\n\n\u201cAnd when the Administration\u2019s special envoy warns that its \u2018patience with the Taliban is running out,\u2019 I can\u2019t help but ask why on earth any such patience would align with America\u2019s interests in the first place, let alone our values.\u201d\n\n###", 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=CC5F2B9A-A0D8-4002-853A-3B2787A9F929"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0062369983643293, "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"}