{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.tillis.senate.gov/2026/8/tillis-kelly-press-trump-administration-to-reverse-cuts-to-joint-military-exercises-with-south-korea", "Tillis, Kelly Urge Trump Administration to Reverse Cuts to Joint Military Exercises with South Korea", "2026-08-18", "2026", "2026-08", "Republican", "Senate", "NC", "Thom Tillis", "T000476", "www.tillis.senate.gov", "tillis", "https://www.tillis.senate.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) sent a letter to Department of War (DOW) Secretary Pete Hegseth urging the Trump Administration to reverse its decision to substantially reduce joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea and urged the administration to maintain the training necessary to preserve the readiness of the alliance.\n\n\u201cFor more than 70 years, the alliance between the United States and South Korea has been a cornerstone of peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and throughout the Indo-Pacific,\u201d the senators wrote. \u201cSouth Korea is a capable military ally, and the ability of our forces to operate together is not guaranteed. It is built and sustained through rigorous, realistic, and recurring joint training.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis is not the time to reduce the readiness of U.S. and allied forces in the region,\u201d the senators continued. \u201cJoint exercises such as Ulchi Freedom Shield provide U.S. and ROK forces critical opportunities to practice command and control, combined operations, logistics, and responses to evolving threats. Reducing these exercises risks degrading interoperability and readiness while sending the wrong signal to North Korea and our adversaries.\u201d\n\n\u201cOur allies should not be punished for declining to support unilateral U.S. military actions in the Middle East, particularly when such shortsighted measures undermine American military readiness\u2026The United States should continue to stand firmly alongside our South Korean allies and ensure our servicemembers have the training they need to fight and win should deterrence fail,\u201d the senators concluded.\n\nClick here to read the full text of the letter.\n\n###?", 1, "2026-08-19T05:29:02Z", "2026-08-19T05:30:24Z"]], "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.tillis.senate.gov/2026/8/tillis-kelly-press-trump-administration-to-reverse-cuts-to-joint-military-exercises-with-south-korea"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9161969646811485, "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"}