{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://omar.house.gov/media/press-releases/omar-scott-casar-introduce-legislation-protect-workers-hard-earned-wages", "Omar, Scott, Casar Introduce Legislation to Protect Workers\u2019 Hard-Earned Wages from Medical Debt Collection", "2026-09-14", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "House", "MN", "Ilhan Omar", "O000173", "omar.house.gov", "omar", "https://omar.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON\u2014 Today, House Committee on Education and Workforce Ranking Member Robert C. \u201cBobby\u201d Scott (VA-03), Subcommittee on Workforce Protections Ranking Member Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN-05), and Vice Ranking Member Rep. Greg Casar (TX-35), introduced the Protecting Workers\u2019 Wages from Medical Debt Act. This bill would prohibit workers\u2019 wages from being garnished to pay for medical debt.\n\nRight now, approximately 100 million Americans are trapped with $220 billion in medical debt. Looming unpaid medical bills can devastate working families, whether they have health insurance or not. Unfortunately, the medical debt crisis has become more dire as millions of Americans are being stripped of their health care due to President Trump and Congressional Republicans\u2019 disastrous \u201cBig, Ugly Bill.\u201d\n\nOver the last several years, new reports of hospitals and debt collectors suing patients for outstanding bills and forcibly cutting their wages to repay the debt have highlighted the predatory nature of wage garnishments.\n\nCurrently, federal law allows up to 25 percent of a worker\u2019s take-home pay to be garnished each workweek. Over 30 states have taken action to better protect consumers and have added additional protections to prevent workers\u2019 wages from being unnecessarily garnished. However, when workers are struggling, these constraints are not enough.\n\nThe Protecting Workers\u2019 Wages from Medical Debt Act protects workers, many of whom are struggling to make ends meet, by prohibiting wages from being garnished for the payment of medical debt. Specifically, the bill:\n\nBans any amount of a worker\u2019s wage from being subject to garnishment for medical debt, and\n\nProhibits any state or court from issuing or enforcing a wage garnishment order for medical debt.\n\n\u201cIn the richest country in the world, medical debt should not be a threat to working people\u2019s livelihood. The American people should not have to slash spending on necessities to pay for life-saving care and no one should be denied future health care because of unpaid medical bills. Unfortunately, that is the reality many Americans are facing right now,\u201d said Ranking Member Scott. \u201cI am proud to work with Reps. Omar and Casar on this commonsense legislation, which will ensure families are not thrown into further hardship simply because they got sick and needed care.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn 45 states, some workers have a portion of their take-home pay forcibly cut to pay off medical debt,\u201d said Subcommittee on Workforce Protections Ranking Member Omar. \u201cI'm partnering with Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) to ban this practice and ensure no worker is thrown into further financial hardship over often-predatory debt.\u201d\n\n\u201cNobody should lose their wages because they got sick,\u201d said Vice Ranking Member Greg Casar (D-TX). \u201cTrump and Republicans ripped health care away from millions of Americans to pay for tax cuts for billionaires. Now families who get sick are being hit with bills they can't pay, and in most states a hospital or debt collector can take a cut of their paycheck before they ever see it. This needs to end, and our bill would stop it.\u201d\n\nThe Protecting Workers\u2019 Wages from Medical Debt Act is endorsed by: American Federation of Teachers (AFT); Center for Health and Democracy; Families USA; Public Citizen; and Service Employees International Union (SEIU).\n\nTo read a fact sheet on the Protecting Workers\u2019 Wages from Medical Debt Act, click here.\n\nTo read the bill text on the Protecting Workers\u2019 Wages from Medical Debt Act, click here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-09-15T09:50:21Z", "2026-09-15T09:52:05Z"]], "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://omar.house.gov/media/press-releases/omar-scott-casar-introduce-legislation-protect-workers-hard-earned-wages"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.177372109144926, "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"}