{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=D0265091-BC21-4772-82C5-1B94F4C05E02", "McConnell: America Needs To Show We Haven\u2019t Forgotten How To Lead", "2023-12-20", "2023", "2023-12", "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 national security priorities:\n\n\u201cNegotiations on border security continue to make headway. I\u2019m grateful to Senator Lankford for his uninterrupted focus on the task at hand: meaningful policy changes.\n\n\u201cOur colleagues at the negotiating table are under no illusions about how difficult it is to fix our nation\u2019s broken asylum and parole system.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re working on what would be the first serious repair in more than 30 years.\n\n\u201cBut there\u2019s no longer any disagreement that the situation at the southern border is unsustainable and requires the Senate to act.\n\n\u201cThis is the core of America\u2019s national security. It will be an essential part of supplemental legislation to address pressing security challenges. And negotiations will continue in earnest until we get there.\n\n\u201cThe Senate cannot afford to get this wrong. From south Texas to southeast Asia, and from the Black Sea to the Red Sea, it\u2019s an historically challenging and consequential time to protect America\u2019s interests, our allies, and our own people.\n\n\u201cThe world is witnessing the first land war in Europe since 1945. Ukraine\u2019s citizen soldiers are in the trenches right now, resisting Russian aggression with Western assistance.\n\n\u201cAmerican leadership has strengthened the NATO alliance, prompted our closest allies and trading partners to share more of the burden of collective defense, and driven historic investments in the military strength and industrial capacity we need here at home to compete with our biggest adversaries.\n\n\u201cFinishing the job will require more of that leadership.\n\n\u201cMeanwhile, Israel is responding to the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.\n\n\u201cOur ally needs the time, space, and support required to eliminate the terrorist savages responsible for the horrors of October 7th.\n\n\u201cAnd the entire region needs American leadership to restore deterrence against Iran and its terrorist proxies who attack U.S. personnel with impunity.\n\n\u201cFrom the other side of the world, our friends in the Indo-Pacific are watching closely what goes on in Europe and the Middle East and investing seriously in their own military strength\u2026 because they know that China is doing the same.\n\n\u201cOur single greatest strategic adversary is growing increasingly aggressive, increasingly advanced, and increasingly keen to seize an edge over a global superpower that fails to act like one.\n\n\u201cMr. President, the stakes are high this holiday season for our allies and partners on the front lines of authoritarian aggression. The challenges are real for brave American servicemembers who are spending this time of year far from home and loved ones to keep us safe.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a dangerous world \u2013 one that doesn\u2019t reward weakness.\n\n\u201cAmerica needs to show that we haven\u2019t forgotten how to lead, and that we\u2019re committed to restoring the hard power that leadership requires.\n\n\u201cSo I\u2019m encouraged by our colleagues\u2019 commitment to keep working toward an agreement on national security, beginning with security here at home.\n\n\u201cThe Senate will not let the challenges we face go unanswered.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:56:20Z"]], "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=D0265091-BC21-4772-82C5-1B94F4C05E02"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8246100042015314, "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"}