{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://pascrell.house.gov//media-center/press-releases/pascrell-statement-on-us-cuba-relationship", "Pascrell Statement on U.S.  Cuba Relationship", "2014-12-17", "2014", "2014-12", "Democrat", "House", "NJ", "Bill Pascrell", "P000096", "pascrell.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Paterson, NJ \u2013 Today, U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09) issued the following statement regarding the U.S. \u2013 Cuba relationship.\n\u201cToday\u2019s news is certainly momentous, especially for those of us who lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis and witnessed the decades of oppression the Cuban people faced at the hands of the Castro regime. That oppression continues to this day, evidenced by the imprisonment of Alan Gross for doing nothing more than attempting to provide humanitarian aid to the Cuban people. I\u2019m very pleased that after more than five years and deteriorating health, Alan will be coming home to his family.\n\u201cI have many questions about the President\u2019s announcement. It is clear that our 50-year long embargo of Cuba has failed to bring about the change we desired to free the Cuban people from an oppressive regime. \u00a0However, I share the concern of Senator Menendez and others that the quick normalization of relations that the President envisions are only rewarding the Cuban government for decades of bad behavior and gross violations of human rights. I will be monitoring these developments closely and must insist that any opening of relations comes side-by-side with an opening of the Cuban government's political system from totalitarianism to one that respects democracy, human rights, and personal freedoms -- that is the only Cuba we can recognize.\n\u201cThis is a moment for US-Cuban relations and today we say yes to the potential for change, but we must say no to an immediate halt of sanctions on Cuba.\u201d\n###", 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://pascrell.house.gov//media-center/press-releases/pascrell-statement-on-us-cuba-relationship"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8622449822723866, "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"}