{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://www.barrasso.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ID=784DB4F3-401C-464C-BB85-74A77B937BB7", "Barrasso: Obama Administration's Failed Foreign Policy Puts Americans at Risk", "2016-09-13", "2016", "2016-09", "Republican", "House", "WY", "John Barrasso", "B001261", "www.barrasso.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Click here to watch Sen. Barrasso\u2019s remarks.\r\nWASHINGTON, D.C.\u2014 Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor outlining how under the failed foreign policy of the Obama administration, American power has declined and respect around the world has evaporated.Excerpts of Senator Barrasso\u2019s remarks:\u201cAs a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, I come here again to the floor because I\u2019ve seen one example after another.\u201cExamples of how the Obama administration seems to not know what\u2019s going on when it comes to foreign policy.\u201cThe president\u2019s foreign policy should secure America\u2019s national interests and demonstrate America\u2019s leadership around the world. \u201cThe question is, has the Obama foreign policy team done that? No, it really has not.\u201cLook at what former President Jimmy Carter had to say.\u201cHe said this about President Obama: \u2018I can't think of many nations in the world where we have a better relationship now than we did when he took over.\u2019\u201cHe went on to say, \u2018the United States\u2019 influence and prestige and respect in the world is probably lower now than it was six or seven years ago.\u2019\u201cSo you have to ask yourself, why has this happened?\u201cI think it\u2019s clear that President Obama has really refused to stand up to the aggression of other countries. Every time the president does this, he emboldens our adversaries around the world to be more aggressive.\u201cEvery day that the president allows these threats to go unanswered, he is endangering America and our allies. Our allies don\u2019t respect us, our enemies no longer fear us.Foreign Policy Failures with Syria\u201cAnd let\u2019s just take a look at Syria. It was five years ago that President Obama called on Assad to step aside.\u201cA few months later, Secretary Hillary Clinton said that it was only \u2018a matter of time\u2019 before the Assad regime would fall. \u201cThe Obama administration\u2019s policy was to wait and hope for the best. It didn\u2019t back up its words with any meaningful support for the moderate opposition in Syria. \u201cIn 2012, President Obama said that if Assad used chemical weapons he would be crossing a \u2018red line.\u2019\u201cAssad knew that when President Obama and his team make threats like that, they are empty threats. So the very next year, Assad used chemical weapons \u2013 and the President of the United States did nothing. \u201cThe red line became a green light \u2013 and it remains a green light today.\u201cEarlier this year, the State Department admitted that \u2018Syria has used chlorine as a chemical weapon systematically and repeatedly against the Syrian people every year.\u2019\r\n\u201cIt wasn\u2019t just one time in 2013 \u2013 it was every year since then.\u201cDid President Obama secure America\u2019s national interests with his weak response in Syria?\u201cDid he demonstrate American leadership? He did not. Foreign Policy Failures with Russia\u201cLet\u2019s move from Syria to Russia. \u201cWe all remember secretary of state at the time, Hillary Clinton, going to Russia, pushing her \u2018reset\u2019 button. We all remember in 2012 President Obama laughed off the suggestion that Russia was a serious threat to the United States.\u201cRussia responded to the \u2018reset\u2019 in terms of what Russia has ignored it, sent troops into Ukraine, sent troops into Crimea, annexed Crimea, and invaded eastern Ukraine. \u201cPresident Obama again showed weakness in responding to a very aggressive military action by Russia. When President Obama shows weakness, which is repeatedly, leaders around the world who watch him, move accordingly, and that\u2019s why Russia moved. \u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019ve seen Vladimir Putin being so aggressive in using his military to keep Assad in power. Recently, President Putin even launched airstrikes from Iranian territory against opposition forces in Syria. \u201cThe CIA director told the Senate in June that Assad is \u2018in a stronger position than he was last year.\u2019\u201cHe said that this is \u2018a result of the Russian military intervention.\u2019\r\n\u201cDespite this, the president continues his misguided obsession in negotiating with Russia \u2013 as if our two countries have the same goal in mind when it comes to Syria. \u201cThe White House says it\u2019s negotiated a ceasefire with Russia in Syria. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen this before. Russia makes promises, Russia breaks promises. Russia makes new promises, Russia breaks promises. \u201cSyria makes promises, Syria breaks promises. Syria makes other promises; Syria breaks other promises. We\u2019ve seen it with the chemical weapons. \u201cFor almost eight years, this administration has been living in a cocoon of self-delusion with regard to Russia.Foreign Policy Failures with Iran\u201cWhat about Iran? The president likes to talk about his nuclear deal with Iran as if he thinks it\u2019s the greatest foreign policy success of all time.\u201cHe believes that this deal is paving the way for an Iran without nuclear weapons, but instead it\u2019s paving the way for a nuclear armed Iran. \u201cThe deal means that the Iranian economy has already begun to benefit from access to more than $100 billion in assets. \u201cNow we\u2019ve learned that just when that deal went into effect, President Obama went even further and arranged to send Iran another $1.7 billion in cash.\u201cHe sent $400 million as a downpayment in January. And within 24 hours of sending them cash in Iran, the Iranians agreed to release a group of Americans who they\u2019d been holding hostage.\u201cThe White House says it this wasn\u2019t a ransom payment to free these American hostages. They want the American people to believe it was just a coincidence in timing. \u201cWell, you can bet that the Iranians don\u2019t believe it\u2019s a coincidence, and actually they said it\u2019s not a coincidence. \u201cWe know from experience that the Iranians see hostage-taking as a valid way of conducting their own foreign policy. The president plays right into their hands. \u201cNow they\u2019ve also gotten the message that for them it can be a very profitable approach as well. \u201cPresident Obama has been greasing the skids to get billions of dollars to Iran. He\u2019s done nothing about getting Iran to pay the money it owes to U.S. victims of terrorism. \u201cAccording to the Congressional Research Service, courts have awarded more than $55 billion in damages to victims of Iran\u2019s terrorism. \u201cThese include victims of the 1979 embassy hostage crisis. They include victims of the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon, and the 1995 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia. \u201cHas President Obama done anything to secure America\u2019s national interests by letting Iran think that we pay ransom for hostages?\u201cIs that a demonstration of American leadership? Of course it\u2019s not. \u201cWe all know that the world is a dangerous place, and that there are countries that are headed by thugs and zealots.\u201cAnd when the president of the United States responds on behalf of the people of the United States, and responds with weakness and desperation, other leaders interpret that fear, and see it as fear, and smell the weakness every time.\u201cWe are going to keep seeing this kind of aggression and bullying by these macho men who run Iran, Syria, Russia, North Korea, and China. \u201cWe need a foreign policy aimed at securing America\u2019s national interests and demonstrating America\u2019s leadership.\u201cUnder President Obama, American power has declined, respect around the world has evaporated.\u201cAnd the Obama foreign policy has been a complete failure.\u201d \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 ###", 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://www.barrasso.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ID=784DB4F3-401C-464C-BB85-74A77B937BB7"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.1666850186884403, "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"}