{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.paul.senate.gov/news-dr-rand-paul-syria-diplomacy-and-president-trump-bringing-troops-home/", "Dr. Rand Paul on Syria, Diplomacy, and President Trump Bringing Troops Home", "2018-12-19", "2018", "2018-12", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Rand Paul", "P000603", "www.paul.senate.gov", "paul", "https://www.paul.senate.gov/news/", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:\n\nDecember 19, 2018\n\nContact: Press@paul.senate.gov, 202-224-4343\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Tonight, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) took to the Senate floor to object to legislation that would prolong the conflict in Syria and hinder their rebuilding process.\n\nIn his brief remarks, Dr. Paul thanked President Trump for bringing American troops home from the war-torn country, a decision Dr. Paul has long advocated for as part of his efforts to restore a focused and constitutional foreign policy. Dr. Paul also called for a shift to diplomacy instead of new sanctions.\n\n\u201cToday, President Trump announced that we have won the war against ISIS in Syria. Our troops are coming home. Thank you, Mr. President. The Syrian Civil War is largely over, but Syria\u2019s a mess and desperately needs reconstruction. These sanctions will delay and possibly prevent reconstruction of Syria and the beginning of a healing time. Now is the time for diplomacy. There are many actors, including Russia, Iran, Turkey, the U.S., and others, but this is the time for diplomacy, not for new sanctions. So I object,\u201d Dr. Paul said on the Senate floor.\n\nYou can find video of tonight\u2019s remarks HERE.\n\nIn another speech on the Senate floor earlier today, where he also called for greater oversight of the Deep State, Dr. Paul addressed the Washington mentality that has weakened our national security and led politicians to keep U.S. troops perpetually tied up in conflicts all over the world, saying, \u201cMost of the voices around here like to stay everywhere for all time, and they believe that it doesn\u2019t work unless you go somewhere and stay forever.\u201d\n\nIn contrast, Dr. Paul observed that President Trump \u201chas the courage to say, \u2018We won in Syria, and we\u2019re coming home.'\u201d On multiple occasions, Dr. Paul has encouraged President Trump to focus on an America-First policy, which would include bringing troops home from multiple locations in the Middle East, including Syria and Afghanistan.\n\nYou can watch Dr. Paul\u2019s earlier comments on Syria HERE, and you can find his entire speech from this morning HERE.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-06-27T23:11:43Z"]], "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.paul.senate.gov/news-dr-rand-paul-syria-diplomacy-and-president-trump-bringing-troops-home/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0478280019015074, "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"}