{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://harshbarger.house.gov/media/press-releases/harshbarger-democrats-vote-13th-time-keep-government-shut-down-food-and", "Harshbarger: Democrats Vote for the 13th Time to Keep the Government Shut Down as Food and Paychecks Run Out", "2025-10-28", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "House", "TN", "Diana Harshbarger", "H001086", "harshbarger.house.gov", "harshbarger", "https://harshbarger.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 For the thirteenth time, Senate Democrats have voted to continue the government Shutdown \u2013 rejecting a clean, bipartisan funding bill they themselves have supported in the past.\n\nAs a direct result of their obstruction, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits will expire on November 1, leaving nearly 700,000 Tennesseans uncertain about how they\u2019ll put food on the table. The WIC program is projected to run out of funding, jeopardizing nutrition support for women, infants, and children across the state. And troops, TSA agents, and air traffic controllers face missed paychecks even as they work to protect our freedom and keep our nation running.\n\n\u201cDemocrats had yet another opportunity to reopen the government today. Instead, they voted to punish American families\u2014starving children of food assistance, stiffing our troops, and calling it \u2018leverage.\u2019 It\u2019s despicable. Families who depend on food assistance, service members who protect our freedom, and the workers who keep our skies safe continue to pay the price for the Democrats\u2019 political games and negligence.\u201d \u2013 Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger\n\nBACKGROUND:\n\nThe big picture:\n\nFor the 13th time, Democrats voted to keep the government closed, blocking a clean, bipartisan bill that would restore funding for food assistance, pay our troops, and keep essential operations running. It\u2019s important to note, Democrats promoted the exact same funding bill when they were in the Majority, but now they\u2019ve rejected this same funding bill 13 separate times.\n\nWhy it matters:\n\nSNAP benefits begin expiring November 1, affecting nearly 700,000 Tennesseans.\n\nThe WIC program\u2014which supports mothers and infants\u2014is within days of running out of money.\n\nMilitary families, TSA agents, and air traffic controllers face uncertainty about their next paycheck.\n\nWhat Democrats are saying on the shutdown:\n\n\u201cEvery day gets better for us.\u201d \u2014 Sen. Chuck Schumer\n\n\u201cThere are going to be families that are going to suffer... but this is one of the few leverage points we have.\u201d \u2014 Rep. Katherine Clark\n\n\u201cIf you reopen the government and we lose our leverage\u2026\u201d \u2014 Sen. Bernie Sanders\n\nA senior Democrat aide said the party would not reopen the government \u201cshort of planes falling out of the sky.\u201d\n\nBetween the lines:\n\nDemocrats are using the shutdown and the American people\u2019s lives as leverage to push unrelated policy goals like restoring taxpayer-funded healthcare for illegal immigrants to the tune of $1.5 trillion.\n\nThe bottom line:\n\nEvery day the Democrat led Shutdown continues is another day American families suffer while Democrats celebrate their \u201cleverage.\u201d It\u2019s time to end the political games and reopen the government.", 1, "2026-04-04T05:28:40Z", "2026-04-04T05:30:10Z"]], "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": ["https://harshbarger.house.gov/media/press-releases/harshbarger-democrats-vote-13th-time-keep-government-shut-down-food-and"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.0409729331731796, "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"}