{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://simpson.house.gov/blog/?postid=351574", "Simpson Praises H.R. 354 passing House and Senate", "2013-09-27", "2013", "2013-09", "Republican", "House", "ID", "Mike Simpson", "S001148", "simpson.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Simpson Praises H.R. 354 passing House and Senate  \r\n  \r\n    Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson praised the passage of H. Res. 354, by the House and Senate this week; legislation that will address the impending closure of the Federal Helium Reserve in early October by allowing it to continue supplying helium while also reforming our nation\u2019s helium policy.\u00a0 \r\n\"Thousands of high-tech manufacturing jobs in the United States depend on a reliable supply of helium,\u201d Simpson said.\u00a0 \u201cMicron Technology, which is based in my district, is a large semiconductor manufacturer and a global leader in computer memory technology, and they depend on helium for their manufacturing processes. \u00a0If the Reserve stopped making helium available for sale to private entities like Micron, a significant delay might not just slow the production of computer chips, but the computers, life-saving medical devices, and weapons systems that they power.\u201d\r\nThe Federal Helium Reserve was created in 1926 to ensure a steady helium supply for the nation\u2019s defense needs.\u00a0 However, federal demand did not live up to expectations, and by the 1990\u2019s, the Reserve had accrued a $1.3 billion debt.\u00a0 In 1996, Congress passed reforms to require the sale of the Federal Helium Reserve by 2015.\u00a0 \r\nThe Reserve is expected to pay off the debt earlier than expected, by October 2013, without having sold off all of the helium. As a result, the Reserve, by law, will close and no longer have the authority to sell the remaining 11 billion cubic feet of helium.\u00a0 This will create an immediate worldwide helium shortage and cut the domestic supply in half.\u00a0 \r\n\u201cThis bill gets the government out of the helium business and moves toward a market based approach,\u201d Simpson said.\u00a0 \u201cIt also reduces the federal deficit by $90 million over 10 years.\u201d\u00a0 \r\n H. Res. 354 will next be presented to President Obama for his signature.", 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://simpson.house.gov/blog/?postid=351574"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0681739076972008, "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"}