{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov//public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ContentRecord_id=E0F0BE56-7920-4FB1-BDCC-5AFB072F5D88", "Senate Building Strong Momentum on Nominees", "2017-11-09", "2017", "2017-11", "Republican", "House", "KY", "Mitch McConnell", "M000355", "www.mcconnell.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made the following remarks on the Senate floor regarding the need to confirm more of the president\u2019s nominees:\r\n\r\n\u201cThis has been another important week here in the Senate. We\u2019re moving forward on multiple aspects of the president\u2019s agenda. Later today, the Senate Finance Committee will release its plan for tax reform. I\u2019ll have more to say on this in a moment, but I would like to once again commend Chairman Hatch for his leadership to get us to this point.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe Senate is also focused on confirming the president\u2019s nominees, so they can get to work. We have built strong momentum from last week when we confirmed four circuit court nominees. This week, we have confirmed nominees for the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, and the National Labor Relations Board. Soon, we will also confirm the head of a critical office at the EPA.\r\n\r\n\u201cWilliam Wehrum will put his experience to good use as Assistant Administrator for the EPA\u2019s Office of Air and Radiation. This office is one of the EPA\u2019s most important \u2014 but, unfortunately, under the Obama Administration, it was also among the offices with the most significant overreach. Obviously it was in desperate need of new leadership from someone who understands how to implement clean air policies in a balanced way. That\u2019s William Wehrum. I look forward to advancing his nomination shortly.\r\n\r\n\u201cConfirming President Trump\u2019s talented nominees to the federal government will continue to be a priority of this Senate, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to get this done.\u201d\r\n\r\n\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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?ContentRecord_id=E0F0BE56-7920-4FB1-BDCC-5AFB072F5D88"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8901827968657017, "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"}