{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://ros-lehtinen.house.gov/press-release/congress-approves-legislation-sanction-human-rights-violators-venezuela", "Congress Approves Legislation to Sanction Human Rights Violators in Venezuela", "2014-12-10", "2014", "2014-12", "Republican", "House", "FL", "Ileana Ros-Lehtinen", "R000435", "ros-lehtinen.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Congress Approves Legislation to Sanction Human Rights Violators in Venezuela\n\u201cIt is fitting and appropriate that today, international human rights day, the House of Representatives sends President Obama this important legislation that sanctions officials of the Venezuelan regime accused of committing human rights abuse\u201d\n(Washington, DC) \u2013 U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, made the following statement after the passage of S. 2142 \u2013 the Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act of 2014. Statement by Ros-Lehtinen:\n\u201cIt is fitting and appropriate that today, International Human Rights Day, the House of Representatives sends to President Obama this important legislation that sanctions officials of the Venezuelan regime accused of committing human rights abuses. I\u2019d like to thank Senators Menendez and Rubio for working with me to garner Congressional approval for legislation that seeks to deny visas of human right violators, freeze their assets and block their properties in the United States. Congress has acted in a unified and bipartisan manner to send\u00a0a clear and unequivocal message that the we will not continue tolerate impunity of violations of human rights in Venezuela and we support the calls of democracy and freedom by the people of Venezuela. I call on President Obama and the State Department to vigorously enforce the sanctions against Venezuelan officials swiftly.\u201d\nNOTE: Chairman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is the author of H.R. 4587 \u2013 the Venezuelan Human Rights and Democracy Protection. The bill passed the House of Representatives on May 28, 2014. Senators Bob Menendez and Marco Rubio were the Senate authors of S. 2142, which passed Monday December 8th.\n\u00a0\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://ros-lehtinen.house.gov/press-release/congress-approves-legislation-sanction-human-rights-violators-venezuela"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8551529608666897, "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"}