{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.ricketts.senate.gov/news/press-releases/ricketts-the-federal-government-needs-leaders-that-will-keep-americans-safe-2/", "Ricketts: \u201cThe Federal Government Needs Leaders That Will Keep Americans Safe\u201d", "2024-09-11", "2024", "2024-09", "Republican", "Senate", "NE", "Pete Ricketts", "R000618", "www.ricketts.senate.gov", "ricketts", "https://www.ricketts.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/?jsf=jet-engine:press-list&pagenum=", "scraper", "September 11, 2024\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE) paid tribute to the 2,996 people who were killed on September 11th, 2001. Ricketts made the comments while on a conference call with Nebraska media.\n\n\u201cThe Americans we lost on 9/11 were mothers and fathers, wives and husbands, daughters and sons,\u201d Ricketts said. \u201cMany were heroes who risked their lives to save others. Each year on Patriot\u2019s Day, we recommit as a nation to honoring their memories. It is also a sobering reminder of the dangers Americans continue to face at home and around the world.\u201d\n\nRicketts criticized the Biden-Harris administration for policies that make Americans less safe at home and project weakness abroad. Instead, America needs a policy of peace through strength.\n\n\u201cThe federal government\u2019s most fundamental responsibility is to keep the American people safe,\u201d Ricketts closed. \u201cInstead, we\u2019ve seen three years of open border policies and an appeasement-first foreign policy. It\u2019s created a national security catastrophe at our southern border and emboldened our adversaries around the world. Today, we must recommit to do better. The federal government needs leaders that will keep Americans safe.\u201d\n\nTRANSCRIPT:\n\nSenator Ricketts: \u201cToday marks 23 years since radical Islamic terrorists murdered nearly 3,000 Americans on September 11th.\n\n\u201cThe Americans we lost on 9/11 were mothers and fathers, wives and husbands, daughters and sons. Many were heroes who risked their lives to save others.\n\n\u201cEach year on Patriot\u2019s Day, we recommit as a nation to honoring their memories.\n\n\u201cIt is also a sobering reminder of the dangers Americans continue to face at home and around the world.\n\n\u201cIn the past year, we\u2019ve been reminded of that all too many times.\n\n\u201cHamas\u2019 October 7th attack on Israel killed 1,195 innocent women and men, including over 40 Americans.\n\n\u201cHamas also took over 200 people hostage. 11 months later, at least 97 people, including 7 Americans, have yet to be returned. We fear many of them have already been killed.\n\n\u201cSadly, those who wish to do us harm aren\u2019t just overseas.\n\n\u201cWhen asked last year about the terrorist threats facing us at home, the FBI Director said: \u201cI see blinking lights everywhere.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Biden-Harris administration\u2019s open borders policy and appeasement-first approach to foreign policy has left us less safe.\n\n\u201cLast Fiscal Year, there were 169 encounters with individuals on the terror watchlist at the Southern border between ports of entry.\n\n\u201cUnder President Trump, that annual number was repeatedly in the single digits.\n\n\u201cWhile these individuals were not granted entry, we\u2019ve repeatedly seen others with ties to radical terror groups slip through the cracks.\n\n\u201cLast year, a man on the terrorist watch list from Afghanistan was released by Border Patrol after crossing our border illegally.\n\n\u201cAfter spending nearly a year roaming around the U.S. freely, he was arrested this past April.\n\n\u201cHe was released again after the Biden-Harris administration failed to tell the judge in his case about his ties to terrorism. Only to be arrested again 24 hours later when media reported about his second release.\n\n\u201cThe incompetence doesn\u2019t end there.\n\n\u201cIn June of this year, 8 foreign nationals with ties to ISIS were arrested because of concerns they were plotting a terrorist attack on U.S. soil.\n\n\u201cThe men from Tajikistan illegally crossed our southern border, then applied for asylum. Under the Biden-Harris administration\u2019s abuse of parole, they were released into the U.S.\n\n\u201cThe federal government\u2019s most fundamental responsibility is to keep the American people safe.\n\n\u201cInstead, we\u2019ve seen three years of open border policies and an appeasement-first foreign policy that\u2019s created a national security catastrophe at our southern border and emboldened our adversaries around the world.\n\n\u201cToday, we must recommit to do better. The federal government needs leaders that will keep Americans safe.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:46:43Z"]], "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.ricketts.senate.gov/news/press-releases/ricketts-the-federal-government-needs-leaders-that-will-keep-americans-safe-2/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6039370093494654, "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"}