{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.young.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/young-colleagues-call-for-state-department-to-step-up-efforts-to-combat-ccps-growing-military-footprint/", "Young, Colleagues Call for State Department to Step Up Efforts to Combat CCP\u2019s Growing Military Footprint", "2023-10-03", "2023", "2023-10", "Republican", "Senate", "IN", "Todd Young", "Y000064", "www.young.senate.gov", "toddyoung", "https://www.young.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) called on the State Department to step up efforts to combat the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s (CCP) growing military footprint around the world.\n\nThe senators, who all serve on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, outlined how the CCP\u2019s \u201cambitious project to develop overseas naval facilities and logistical hubs to fuel potential future operations\u201d threatens U.S. national security interests. The senators called for a \u201cwhole-of-government\u201d approach and asked Secretary of State Antony Blinken to explain how the State Department was working to advance American diplomatic interests on this topic.\n\n\u201cWe write to raise serious concerns regarding the People\u2019s Liberation Army (PLA) and its growing military footprint across the Indo-Pacific and around the world,\u201d the senators wrote. \u201cAs you know, the PLA Navy now has the world\u2019s largest naval fleet, with at least 340 warships, and is increasingly focused on projecting this force beyond the region. This could pose a direct threat to United States and allied interests in a number of ways. Therefore, we request an update on the Department of State\u2019s efforts to diplomatically address and counter the PLA\u2019s growing military expansion.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhile tracking these developments and reporting on them publicly, as DoD is required by Congress to do, is an important first step to identify the challenges we face, the United States Government must now employ a whole-of-government approach to proactively engage partner countries to warn them of the risks of PLA expansion to their sovereignty and stability,\u201d the senators continued. \u201cThe United States maintains the world\u2019s most robust and talented diplomatic presence, and we must use the Department of State\u2019s resources to advance our interests in countering PLA expansion.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:43:12Z"]], "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.young.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/young-colleagues-call-for-state-department-to-step-up-efforts-to-combat-ccps-growing-military-footprint/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5526448842138052, "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"}