{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://cook.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rep-paul-cook-issues-statement-on-iranian-sanctions", "Rep. Paul Cook Issues Statement on Iranian Sanctions", "2013-11-13", "2013", "2013-11", "Republican", "House", "CA", "Paul Cook", "C001094", "cook.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON \u2013\u00a0Earlier today, Rep. Paul Cook (R-Yucca Valley) participated in a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing examining the status of nuclear negotiations with Iran. At the hearing, committee members expressed serious concerns about the Obama Administration\u2019s proposed nuclear weapons deal with Iran. A bipartisan group of members raised serious objections and concerns to any proposal to lift the sanctions imposed on Iran and instead called for the Senate to join the House of Representatives in tightening sanctions by passing H.R. 850, the Nuclear Iran Prevention Act. This bill passed out of the House earlier this year on an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 400-20.\nFollowing the hearing, Congressman Cook released the following statement:\n\u201cI\u2019m gravely concerned about the administration\u2019s proposal to lift sanctions without receiving any significant concessions from the Iranian regime. Weakening sanctions on Iran while it continues to pursue nuclear weapons is exactly the wrong approach to take. Existing sanctions are the only reason that Iran has even come to the table to negotiate, and loosening them just as they are beginning to work would only encourage Iran to continue its pursuit of nuclear weapons. History has shown that appeasing aggressors and trading concrete concessions for a dictator\u2019s promise is dangerous. As we\u2019ve seen with North Korea, lifting sanctions without verifiable and irreversible nuclear disarmament will do nothing to prevent the world\u2019s leading state sponsor of terrorism from pursuing the world\u2019s most dangerous weapons.\n\u201cLess than a month ago, we remembered the 241 American servicemen killed in a terrorist attack by Hezbollah, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard\u2019s most dangerous terrorist proxy. President Rouhani was a senior Iranian Defense official at the time of the bombing and since then has helped lead some of the regime\u2019s most brutal crackdowns on student activists. Rather than relaxing sanctions on this dangerous man and the terrorist regime he represents, it\u2019s time for the Senate to join the House in tightening sanctions by passing H.R. 850, the Nuclear Iran Prevention Act of 2013. Senate passage of this bill, which had overwhelming bipartisan support in the House, would tighten existing sanctions and send a strong message that the United States will never accept a nuclear Iran. If the administration insists on lifting sanctions for reversible and largely cosmetic Iranian concessions, the United States will be left with only two options: accept a nuclear-armed Iran or take the United States into another war in the Middle East.\u201d\nA member of the House Armed Services, Veterans' Affairs, and Foreign Affairs Committees, Cook is a former educator who served as an infantry officer and retired as a Colonel after 26 years in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was awarded the Bronze Star medal with valor device and two Purple Hearts for actions in combat.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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": ["http://cook.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rep-paul-cook-issues-statement-on-iranian-sanctions"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8919069077819586, "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"}