{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20131016000016/http://pearce.house.gov:80/press-release/pearce-pay-employees-wipp-labs", "PEARCE: PAY EMPLOYEES AT WIPP, LABS", "2013-10-09", "2013", "2013-10", "Republican", "House", "NM", "Steve Pearce", "P000588", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, DC (October 9, 2013) \u2013 Today, addressing concerns over upcoming furloughs at WIPP, U.S. Congressman Steve Pearce sent a letter to Dr. Ernest Moniz U.S. Secretary of Energy, urging him to protect pay for employees at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, Los Alamos National Labs, and Sandia National Labs.\n\u201cLast weekend, the House passed legislation ensuring that all furloughed federal employees will receive the certainty of back pay,\u201d said Pearce.\u00a0 \u201cTo ensure that the thousands in New Mexico who work at DOE contractor facilities like WIPP are included in this budget certainty, I asked Secretary Moniz to act and certify the labs and WIPP will be able to provide for employees, protecting our jobs and local economies,\u201d said Pearce.\u00a0 \u201cOur contractors and employees at WIPP, Sandia, and Los Alamos provide a vital service to our nation, and there is no reason to allow damage to our communities when it can easily be prevented.\u00a0 I ask Secretary Moniz to join us in that spirit of cooperation, for the good of New Mexicans and the nation.\u201d\nIn the letter, Pearce pointed out that \u201cThe employees at our national labs and WIPP play a key role in our nation\u2019s defense and growing our economy by focusing on everything from the development of weapons systems to energy efficiency studies...\u201d and that furloughs at WIPP \u201cwould have serious and lasting economic consequences for the nearby community of Carlsbad and the surrounding area.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cIn the spirit of HR 3223,\u201d wrote Pearce, \u201cI again ask you\u00a0 to certify these expenses and to guarantee any and all furloughed personnel at these critically important facilities are compensated accordingly.\u201d\nThe full text of the letter can be viewed here.\n###", 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": ["https://web.archive.org/web/20131016000016/http://pearce.house.gov:80/press-release/pearce-pay-employees-wipp-labs"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7046312093734741, "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"}