{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/murphy-statement-on-us-cuba-relations", "MURPHY STATEMENT ON US-CUBA RELATIONS", "2014-12-17", "2014", "2014-12", "Democrat", "House", "CT", "Christopher Murphy", "M001169", "www.murphy.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "MURPHY STATEMENT ON US-CUBA RELATIONS\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tMurphy: New engagement and dialogue is more likely to succeed than isolationist policies of the last fifty years\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tWednesday, December 17, 2014\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) released the following statement after President Obama announced the release of Alan Gross and efforts to normalize trade and travel relations between the United States and Cuba.\r\nI applaud President Obama\u2019s announcement today that the United States will finally take steps to re-establish diplomatic relations with Cuba.\u00a0 Decades of embargo and isolation have not worked to bring fundamental change to Cuba and have instead become a source of friction between the United States and our partners in the Western Hemisphere and across the globe. \r\nIt is high time that we take a different approach to bring democracy and prosperity to the people of Cuba.\u00a0 The changes announced by the President today \u2013 including increased people-to-people ties and expanded commerce - should help to empower the people of Cuba to improve their lives.\u00a0 While these new policies will not bring change overnight, I am optimistic that this new engagement and dialogue is more likely to succeed than our hard-line, isolationist policies of the last fifty years. In any event, I look forward to carefully reviewing the details of this policy in the Foreign Relations Committee early in the next session of Congress. \r\nI am also pleased that Alan Gross has been released from prison in Cuba and is finally back home with his family.\u00a0 Cuba has a long way to go, but today marks an important first step in what I hope will be a much brighter future between the peoples of the United States and Cuba.", 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.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/murphy-statement-on-us-cuba-relations"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3901919592171907, "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"}