{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "is_view": false, "human_description_en": "where chamber = \"Senate\", party = \"Democrat\" and year = 2017 sorted by date descending", "rows": [["https://raskin.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-elect-raskin-gop-rules-change-targets-federal-workers-sets-stage-ravage", "Rep.-Elect Raskin: GOP Rules Change Targets Federal Workers, Sets Stage to Ravage Social Safety Net", "2017-01-02", "2017", "2017-01", "Democrat", "Senate", "MD", "Jamie Raskin", "R000606", "raskin.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "(WASHINGTON, D.C.) \u2013 Representative-elect Jamie Raskin (MD-08) is raising serious concerns about the House Republicans\u2019 proposed rule changes for the 115th Congress. Members will vote on the House rules package, H. Res. 5, after they are sworn in on Tuesday, January 3rd. The Republicans\u2019 proposed rules package would impose a number of significant changes, including one provision that would authorize the Sergeant-at-Arms to unilaterally exercise the House of Representatives\u2019 power to punish Members--without any due process at all. He has identified two more \u201cdeeply troubling\u201d provisions that would target federal workers in the appropriations process; and set the stage for an on attack Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.\nExposing Federal Workers to Individual Attack \u2013 Section 3(a) of H. Res. 5\n\u201cThis change would reinstate the so-called \u2018Holman Rule\u2019 to allow provisions reducing federal workers\u2019 salaries, and even abolishing their positions, to be slipped into general appropriation bills,\u201d said Raskin. \u201cThe same people who are asking agencies to \u2018name names\u2019 of federal employees who are working on climate change, or other politically incorrect projects, now want to weaponize the appropriations process in the coming war against the federal workforce. Not only do they want Cabinet Secretaries who oppose the mission of their departments, they want to be able to target individual federal employees for salary cuts and to threaten them en masse with wholesale firing.\u201d\n\u201cThe war on science, health care, and the environment is fast becoming a war on the federal workforce,\u201d Raskin noted. \u201cWe rely on federal workers to make scientific progress, to protect the environment, to move our economy, to care for our veterans, to protect our country\u2019s borders, to deliver our Social Security checks, and to make America work. We should not turn the clock back on House rules to permit the targeting and scapegoating of federal employees and the politicization of the civil service.\u201d\nAttacking Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid \u2013 Section 2(b) of H. Res. 5\n\u201cThis change would require our House committees to recommend moving programs from \u2018mandatory funding\u2019 to \u2018discretionary funding\u2019 in their oversight plans,\u201d Raskin observed. \u201cThis is the first step to privatizing Social Security, voucherizing Medicare, and vaporizing Medicaid in block-grants. The GOP clearly seeks to dismantle the guaranteed funding mechanisms for the programs that serve the aged, people with disabilities, and our most vulnerable citizens. Exposing these programs to the vagaries of the annual appropriations process is dangerous for millions of Americans who depend on them to survive. They\u2019re turning the nation\u2019s safety net into a tight rope.\u201d\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"], ["https://raskin.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-elect-raskin-says-gop-rules-change-unconstitutional-power-grab", "Rep.-Elect Raskin Says GOP Rules Change an Unconstitutional Power Grab", "2017-01-02", "2017", "2017-01", "Democrat", "Senate", "MD", "Jamie Raskin", "R000606", "raskin.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "(WASHINGTON, D.C.) \u2013 Representative-elect Jamie Raskin (MD-08) is raising serious concerns about the House Republicans\u2019 proposed rule changes for the 115th Congress. Members will vote on the House rules package, H. Res. 5, after they are sworn in on Tuesday, January 3rd. The Republicans\u2019 proposed rules package would impose a number of significant changes, including a provision that would authorize the Sergeant-at-Arms to unilaterally exercise the House of Representatives\u2019 power to punish Members--without any due process at all.\n\u00a0\u201cFrom the first Congress in 1789, the full House and only the full House has exercised the power to punish, censure, and fine Members. But this rule for the first time proposes to delegate this constitutional power to punish Members to the Sergeant-at-Arms, who would be able to declare Members guilty of certain rules violations without any due process at all,\u201d Raskin explained.\n\u201cMembers could be fined $2,500 for doing or saying something that they consider protected under the Speech and Debate Clause by an administrative officer, who reports only to the House Speaker, without seeing any formal charges, without being afforded a hearing, and without even the opportunity to be heard. This power grab shreds the most basic notions of due process for legislators while transferring the constitutional power that belongs only to the House itself to an unelected official.\u00a0 Whoever wrote this rule has not thought it through. We must defeat it first thing on Tuesday.\u201d\n\u201cThe Republicans\u2019 rule change authorizes the Sergeant-at-Arms to impose a $2,500 fine on Members of Congress who allegedly use photographic, audio, or visual recording devices in an improper way on the House floor. Article 1 of the Constitution clearly provides for punishment of Members of Congress, but it has historically required a vote by the full House of Representatives to do so. Republicans want to depart from two centuries of legal precedent to delegate this legislative authority to the Sergeant-at-Arms.\u201d\n\u00a0\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "truncated": false, "filtered_table_rows_count": 2, "expanded_columns": [], "expandable_columns": [], "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"], "units": {}, "query": {"sql": "select url, title, date, year, month, party, chamber, state, member_name, bioguide_id, domain, scraper, source, date_source, text, has_text, collected_at, updated_at from releases where \"chamber\" = :p0 and \"party\" = :p1 and \"year\" = :p2 order by date desc limit 101", "params": {"p0": "Senate", "p1": "Democrat", "p2": "2017"}}, "facet_results": {"party": {"name": "party", "type": "column", "hideable": false, "toggle_url": "/press/releases.json?chamber=Senate&party=Democrat&year=2017", "results": [{"value": "Democrat", "label": "Democrat", "count": 2, "toggle_url": "http://dpwillis-congress-press-search.hf.space/press/releases.json?chamber=Senate&year=2017", "selected": true}], "truncated": false}, "chamber": {"name": "chamber", "type": "column", "hideable": false, "toggle_url": "/press/releases.json?chamber=Senate&party=Democrat&year=2017", "results": [{"value": "Senate", "label": "Senate", "count": 2, "toggle_url": "http://dpwillis-congress-press-search.hf.space/press/releases.json?party=Democrat&year=2017", "selected": true}], "truncated": false}, "state": {"name": "state", "type": "column", "hideable": false, "toggle_url": "/press/releases.json?chamber=Senate&party=Democrat&year=2017", "results": [{"value": "MD", "label": "MD", "count": 2, "toggle_url": "http://dpwillis-congress-press-search.hf.space/press/releases.json?chamber=Senate&party=Democrat&year=2017&state=MD", "selected": false}], "truncated": false}, "year": {"name": "year", "type": "column", "hideable": false, "toggle_url": "/press/releases.json?chamber=Senate&party=Democrat&year=2017", "results": [{"value": "2017", "label": "2017", "count": 2, "toggle_url": "http://dpwillis-congress-press-search.hf.space/press/releases.json?chamber=Senate&party=Democrat", "selected": true}], "truncated": false}}, "suggested_facets": [], "next": null, "next_url": null, "private": false, "allow_execute_sql": true, "query_ms": 799.3467836640775, "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"}