{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.tuberville.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/tuberville-hagerty-introduce-legislation-to-protect-american-assets/", "Tuberville, Hagerty Introduce Legislation to Protect American Assets", "2024-09-24", "2024", "2024-09", "Republican", "Senate", "AL", "Tommy Tuberville", "T000278", "www.tuberville.senate.gov", "tuberville", "https://www.tuberville.senate.gov/press-releases/", "scraper", "In violation of USMCA, the Mexican President has repeatedly threatened to declare an American company\u2019s property as a \u201cProtected Natural Area\u201d to unjustifiably seize their assets\n\nWASHINGTON \u2013 Yesterday,U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) joined U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and colleagues in introducing the Defending American Property Abroad Act, legislation to impose retaliatory prohibitions that deter and punish any Western Hemisphere nation that unlawfully seizes American assets. This legislation responds to ongoing efforts by the Government of Mexico to seize a deep-water port owned by Alabama-based Vulcan Materials Company, which is a flagrant violation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) governing trade between the two nations.\n\nSpecifically, this legislation would prohibit vessels from entering a U.S. port if they had previously used a port, land, or infrastructure that had been illegally seized from a U.S. entity by a foreign nation in the Western Hemisphere. It also requires the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to identify and ban illegally seized ports from U.S. trade and requires the United States Trade Representative to report to Congress on how such expropriations would be addressed during the upcoming review of the USMCA, scheduled for 2026.\n\n\u201cFor more than a year, Mexican President L\u00f3pez Obrador has continued to show undue aggression toward American businesses, primarily Alabama\u2019s Vulcan Materials,\u201d said Senator Tuberville. \u201cThe continued escalation against Vulcan\u2019s operation in Mexico is a disgrace to the longstanding trade agreement between our two countries that has been in place for 30 years. The Biden-Harris administration has refused to stand up to President L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s threats, which is why it\u2019s time for Congress to take action and urgently move this legislation to ensure this doesn\u2019t happen to more American companies under a new Mexican president.\u201d\n\nU.S. Senators Tuberville and Hagerty were joined by U.S. Senators John Barrasso (R-WY), Katie Britt (R-AL), Ted Budd (R-NC), and Tim Kaine (D-VA) in co-sponsoring the legislation.\n\nFull text of the bill can be found here.\n\nBACKGROUND:\n\nIn May 2022, Mexican President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador (AMLO) abruptly shut down Vulcan\u2019s operations with false claims that the firm was violating its contract, and since then the Mexican Government, under AMLO\u2019s direction, has waged an unceasing pressure campaign against Vulcan, including multiple lawsuits and, at times, sending military and law enforcement to its facility in Quintana Roo, Mexico. Last month, AMLO announced that he is pushing to designate the port and mine a \u201cProtected Natural Area.\u201d\n\nThe Alabama delegation has been united in advocating for Vulcan in its ongoing dispute with Mexico. Earlier this year, Senators Tuberville, Britt, Hagerty, and Kaine sent a letter to Alicia B\u00e1rcena, Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, urging her to take action regarding the Mexican government\u2019s mistreatment of Vulcan Materials Company.\n\nLast year, the Alabama delegation met with Mexico\u2019s Ambassador to the U.S. Moctezuma to advocate for Vulcan. In 2022, Senator Tuberville sent a letter with former Senator Richard Shelby and eight other U.S. senators calling on the Biden-Harris administration to discourage Mexican aggression against American companies with investments or operations in Mexico.\n\nSenator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans\u2019 Affairs, and HELP Committees.\n\n###", 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.tuberville.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/tuberville-hagerty-introduce-legislation-to-protect-american-assets/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.0634038373827934, "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"}