{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.schmitt.senate.gov/media/press-releases/schmitt-re-passes-declaration-of-independence-on-senate-floor-ahead-of-america-250/", "Schmitt Re-Passes Declaration of Independence on Senate Floor Ahead of America 250", "2026-06-18", "2026", "2026-06", "Republican", "Senate", "MO", "Eric Schmitt", "S001227", "www.schmitt.senate.gov", "schmitt", "https://www.schmitt.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "Schmitt Honors the Legacy of America\u2019s Founders and Reaffirms the Sacred Inheritance of Every American Citizen\n\nU.S. SENATE \u2014 Today, U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) took to the Senate Floor to reaffirm America\u2019s Declaration of Independence ahead of our country\u2019s 250thbirthday. Senator Schmitt explained how the United States\u2019 Founding Fathers penned the Declaration of Independence\u2014risking everything to defy an empire, affirming their inalienable rights and establishing a new nation of free people. As America celebrates its founding 250 years later, Senator Schmitt proudly re-passed the Declaration of Independence on the Senate floor to remind every American of our nation\u2019s founding principles and the importance of defending them.\n\nWatch the senator\u2019s full speech here.\n\nExcerpts of his remarks as prepared for delivery:\n\n\u201cOn July 4, 1776, fifty-six men crossed a line from which there was no retreat. These men knew the king they defied. They knew the empire that would come for them\u2026\n\n\u201cThey made a bold declaration to the world that never had been made before. It was in fact\u2014revolutionary. Our Rights come from God. Government rests on consent. Citizens are not subjects. America is a nation. Those truths made America possible. And every generation that inherits America must decide whether those truths still command it. That is why I rise today in support of repassing the Declaration of Independence\u2026\n\n\u201cIn Missouri, we know the Declaration did not stay on the Atlantic coast\u2026\n\n\u201cIt inspired the naming of Missouri towns like Liberty, Independence, and Defiance. Missouri is what the Declaration looks like when it walks west and builds a country. America was made by people like that\u2026We love our country. We honor the men who built it\u2026\n\n\u201cLet Congress repass the Declaration of Independence\u2026\n\n\u201cAnd let this generation take its place in the long line of patriots who understood that freedom is inherited only when it is fought for.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-06-19T06:50:32Z", "2026-06-19T06:53:40Z"]], "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.schmitt.senate.gov/media/press-releases/schmitt-re-passes-declaration-of-independence-on-senate-floor-ahead-of-america-250/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.778322970494628, "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"}