{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.paul.senate.gov/news-sen-rand-paul-highlights-90000-taxpayer-dollars-spent-department-state-promote-peaceful/", "Sen. Rand Paul Highlights $90,000 Taxpayer Dollars Spent by the Department of State to Promote Peaceful Relations between the U.S. and the United Kingdom", "2016-03-11", "2016", "2016-03", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Rand Paul", "P000603", "www.paul.senate.gov", "paul", "https://www.paul.senate.gov/news/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator Rand Paul today released latest edition of \u2018The Waste Report,\u2019 which is an ongoing project cataloguing egregious examples of waste within the U.S. government.\n\nThe latest edition of \u2018The Waste Report\u2019 uncovers the U.S. Department of State expending $90,000 of taxpayer dollars to promote peaceful relations between the U.S. and the United Kingdom. All the while, the same Department of State considers the U.S. to have \u201cno closer ally than the United Kingdom.\u201d\n\n\u2018The Waste Report\u2019 can be found HERE or below.\n\nNo lead-in needed for this one. The U.S. Department of State is spending $90,000 to promote better understanding between the U.S. and\u2026.wait for it\u2026.the United Kingdom (UK).\n\nAccording to the grant solicitation, the successful recipient shall make sub-awards between $250 and $40,000 to facilitate, among other things, student and faculty exchange, speakers, and film and art programs.[1] We do not recommend sharing The Patriot.\n\nThe U.S. Embassy in London justifies this grant under the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961, quoting, \u201cto enable the Government of the United States to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries\u2026 and thus to assist in the development of friendly, sympathetic, and peaceful relations between the United States and other countries of the world.\u201d[2]\n\nPromoting peaceful relations? While it is true that the United States and the United Kingdom had a rocky start to our relationship, after more than a century of alliance it is probably safe to say we are on pretty good terms with our friends across the pond. You might even say we have a \u201cspecial relationship,\u201d as Winston Churchill did in his famous 1946 \u201cIron Curtain\u201d speech and has been repeated by leaders from both countries ever since.[3]\n\nDon\u2019t take our word for it, according to the same Department of State that is funding this project, \u201cThe United States has no closer ally than the United Kingdom\u2026 Bilateral cooperation reflects the common language, ideals, and democratic practices of the two nations.\u201d In other words, they are our best friend and we have a lot in common.\n\nIn fact, Britons seem to already have a favorable opinion of our two nations\u2019 relationship. A 2010 survey found 66 percent of Britons had a favorable opinion of the U.S. and 62 percent consider us to be their strongest ally.[4] This is pretty remarkable when you consider that Canada and Australia are still Commonwealth Realms \u2013 autonomous nations that still recognize the Queen of England as their monarch.\n\nWith the internet, YouTube, and 24-hour news, if anything, we probably understand each other more now than ever before. Not to mention that approximately 4 million Brits (6 percent of their population) visit the United States each year[5] and 3 million Americans visit the UK.[6] Heck, even the NFL is playing American football in the UK and talking about a team being based there.[7]\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T20:47:03Z"]], "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-sen-rand-paul-highlights-90000-taxpayer-dollars-spent-department-state-promote-peaceful/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9102059993892908, "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"}