{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.scott.senate.gov/media-center/press-releases/scott-cotton-46-senate-gop-colleagues-to-biden-harris-admin-delaying-weapons-to-israel-undermines-our-ally-accommodates-iran/", "Scott, Cotton, 46 Senate GOP Colleagues to Biden-Harris Admin: Delaying Weapons to Israel Undermines Our Ally, Accommodates Iran", "2024-08-02", "2024", "2024-08", "Republican", "Senate", "SC", "Tim Scott", "S001184", "www.scott.senate.gov", "timscott", "https://www.scott.senate.gov/media-center/press-releases/jsf/jet-engine:press-list", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senators Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) today led nearly all of their Senate Republican colleagues in sending a letter to the Biden-Harris administration, protesting its partial arms embargo against Israel. The senators urged the White House to cease accommodating Iran, stop jeopardizing the lives of American servicemembers, and to deliver the necessary weapons systems to Israel.\n\nAlso co-leading the letter were Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Ranking Member Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and Senate Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Roger Wicker (R-Miss.).\n\nAdditional signatories included Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.), John Kennedy (R-La.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), John Thune (R-S.D.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), and Todd Young (R-Ind.).\n\nIn part, the senators wrote:\n\n\u201cWhen Prime Minister Netanyahu publicly raised the weapons hold in June, your administration adamantly denied the accusation. You ignored Congressional inquiries, including a May 6, 2024, letter from Senator Marshall, a May 6, 2024, letter from Senator Ernst, a May 14, 2024, letter from Senator Risch and a June 20, 2024, letter from Senator Cotton. All the while, you were deliberately delaying the delivery of weapons, ammunition, and equipment to Israel. These include 120 mm tank ammunition, 120 mm mortar ammunition, light tactical vehicles, air-to-air missiles, F-15s, F-35 engines, joint direct attack munition kits, 2,000 pound bombs, rifles, and guided missile systems.\u201d\n\nFull text of the letter may be found here.\n\nIn the 118th Congress, Senator Scott has been a leader in pushing for a tougher U.S. posture toward Iran and its proxies and unequivocally supporting our greatest ally in the Middle East, Israel, by:\n\nChampioning legislation to ensure congressional oversight of any proposed changes to arms sales to Israel;\n\nIntroducing a resolution that condemns any action by the Biden administration to withhold or restrict weapons for Israel;\n\nDemanding that President Biden strongly oppose the International Criminal Court\u2019s (ICC) efforts to politically target Israel and introducing a bill to sanction the ICC for such action;\n\nIntroducing a resolution reiterating Israel\u2019s right to self-defense and condemning certain statements from U.S. lawmakers that interfere in Israel\u2019s sovereign electoral process;\n\nLeading several efforts calling on the Biden administration to censure Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), following a report showing Iran\u2019s nuclear enrichment activity tripled by the end of last year;\n\nChampioning S. Res. 417, a resolution expressing solidarity with Israel in the wake of the October 7th attack, which passed the Senate with near unanimous support;\n\nVoting in support of the FY24 NDAA, which included numerous provisions to increase U.S. security cooperation with Israel;\n\nMeeting with victims of Hamas and members of victims\u2019 families, hearing first-hand about the brutality inflicted by Hamas on innocent civilians, including innocent children;\n\nSupporting passage of the 2024 supplemental appropriations bill, which provided over $26 billion to support Israel and U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM).\n\nAuthoring the Stop Support for Hamas Act with Senator Ricketts to cut U.S. funding for UNRWA and prevent bilateral U.S. assistance from winding up in the hands of Hamas terrorists;\n\nIntroducing the Preventing Terrorism at the U.N. Act to restrict U.S. funding to the United Nations until UNRWA is abolished; and\n\nVoting against and condemning Senator Bernie Sanders\u2019 anti-Israel resolution.\n\nIn his capacity as Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over economic sanctions, Senator Scott has led the charge in pushing back on the Biden administration\u2019s disturbing pattern of sanctions non-enforcement and sanctions relief to Iran, which have made funds more accessible for the Iranian regime and its terror proxies to attack U.S. servicemembers and our allies. His efforts include:", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:41:32Z"]], "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.scott.senate.gov/media-center/press-releases/scott-cotton-46-senate-gop-colleagues-to-biden-harris-admin-delaying-weapons-to-israel-undermines-our-ally-accommodates-iran/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.2481512278318405, "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"}