{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/barrasso-demands-democrats-drop-far-left-shutdown-ransom/", "Barrasso Demands Democrats Drop Far-Left Shutdown Ransom", "2025-09-30", "2025", "2025-09", "Republican", "Senate", "WY", "John Barrasso", "B001261", "www.barrasso.senate.gov", "barrasso", "https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom/news-releases/", "scraper", "\u201cRepublicans are fighting for veterans, service members, law enforcement, Border Patrol agents, seniors, and rural hospitals. Democrats are willing to shut down the government for illegal immigrants, climate extremism, and wasteful Washington spending.\u201d\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Senate Majority Whip, today spoke on the Senate Floor, demanding Senate Democrats drop their far-left shutdown ransom and join Republicans in voting for the clean continuing resolution to keep the government open.\n\nClick HERE to watch Senator Barrasso\u2019s remarks.\n\nSen. Barrasso\u2019s remarks as prepared:\n\n\u201cThe Minority Leader once again refused to admit it is Democrats who are driving America into a shutdown. Let me remind everyone what Senator Schumer himself said in 2013. This was when the government faced another government shutdown. He said, \u2018What if I persuaded my caucus to say, \u2018I am going to shut the government down\u2026 unless I get my way?\u2019 It\u2019s a politics of idiocy.\u2019 A shutdown is \u2018idiocy.\u2019 Those are the Minority Leader\u2019s words \u2013 not mine.\n\n\u201cToday, Republicans are committed to keeping the government open. We are going to vote to do that again today. The House already passed a clean continuing resolution with bipartisan votes. It keeps the government open and funded at the current levels for seven weeks. It allows Republicans and Democrats on the Appropriations Committee to continue their bipartisan work on full-year funding bills. That is where Senators in both parties have a very important part to play. This continuing resolution is now before the Senate. Senate Republicans support it. Senate Democrats should join us and vote yes to keep the government open. Democrats had no problem voting for 13 clean continuing resolutions just like this one under Joe Biden. Now, they refuse.\n\n\u201cInstead, Democrats are demanding a ransom of more than $1 trillion to keep the government open for just four weeks. The proposal is a far-left wish list. Democrats want to spend $400 billion to keep Biden Bonus COVID Payments forever. They want to repeal reforms that strengthen Medicaid for those who need it the most. They want to provide free healthcare for able-bodied, working-aged adults who refuse to work. Democrats want to send billions of dollars overseas because of their obsession with extreme climate policies.\n\n\u201cThe Minority Leader made a statement today on healthcare that I found to be preposterous. I\u2019m a doctor. I practiced medicine for 24 years. I was at a rural hospital in Wyoming just this week. The Democrats\u2019 proposal, the ransom note they provided, wants to repeal the critically-important $50 billion Rural Hospital Fund. Every Democrat in this body voted against a $50 billion Rural Hospital Fund. Just a few minutes ago the Senate Minority Leader came to the Floor. He said one of his members went to some rural communities in his home state and said that the healthcare providers there are really concerned. Well, then those healthcare providers haven\u2019t been informed by the Democrat Senators from that state about what is in the bill that passed this summer, and the incredible resources that are being made to make sure that rural hospitals can be sustained, can stay afloat, can stay open, can provide healthcare. The Democrats are so against rural communities of this country that they actually introduced a bill in July called the Protecting Healthcare and Lowering Costs Act. It\u2019s preposterous because that act alone repeals the $50 billion for the rural hospital communities. They didn\u2019t just do it once with their bill in July. They\u2019ve done it again with a ransom note from Chuck Schumer to the Republicans. Hospitals all across my state realize it\u2019s important for their sustainability to provide healthcare in rural communities where the next hospital may be a hundred miles away. That\u2019s something foreign to the other side of the aisle, who ignore so often the rural communities in their own states, don\u2019t campaign there, don\u2019t go there, don\u2019t talk to those people.\n\n\u201cThis is an outrageous shakedown by Senate Democrats. And that\u2019s why we\u2019re going to have a shutdown. Because they refuse to keep the government open while working on bipartisan funding bills. Everything they\u2019re doing is focused on satisfying the most radical, extreme, dangerous, and scary part of their party.\n\n\u201cIn March, Senator Schumer did the right thing. He voted with Republicans to keep the government open. The far-left immediately attacked him for it. Nancy Pelosi said, \u2018I myself don\u2019t give away anything for nothing.\u2019 AOC questioned why Senator Schumer would \u2018hand away our leverage for free.\u201918 of Democrats\u2019 own candidates who are running for Senate in open seats refuse to say whether they will vote for him as Leader if they do get elected. So now, according to an Axios report from last week, Senator Schumer has built a \u2018private war room\u2019 with liberal groups to orchestrate a shutdown. He and his staff have met with these groups every week for the past two months to plan this shutdown that begins tonight at midnight. Senator Schumer is doing exactly what he once called the \u2018politics of idiocy.\u2019 He is threatening to shut the government down unless he gets everything he wants.\n\n\u201cRepublicans will not pay Senator Schumer\u2019s ransom and the American people aren\u2019t going to pay the ransom. We will not sell out our nation\u2019s service members, our law enforcement officers, our seniors, or our air traffic controllers.\n\n\u201cLet me remind everyone who pays the price for a Schumer Shutdown. The American Legion warns a shutdown will \u2018directly affect the lives of veterans and their families.\u2019 They\u2019ll pay the price for a Schumer Shutdown.\n\n\u201cVietnam Veterans of America put it plainly: \u2018For veterans, a shutdown is \u2026 an immediate disruption of care, support, and progress on life-saving initiatives.\u2019 They\u2019ll pay the price for a Schumer Shutdown.\n\n\u201cThe National Fraternal Order of Police says a shutdown \u2018will cause major disruptions for programs that fund public safety efforts in our communities.\u2019 They\u2019ll pay the price for a Schumer Shutdown.\n\n\u201cThe National Association of Police Organizations adds, \u2018Federal law enforcement officers, who are working to protect our cities and communities from violent crime, drugs, and guns, will be putting their lives on the line without getting paid.\u2019 They\u2019ll pay the price for a Schumer Shutdown.\n\n\u201cThe Association of Mature American Citizens warns that seniors on fixed incomes will face \u2018backlogs and service disruptions.\u2019 They\u2019ll pay the price for a Schumer Shutdown.\n\n\u201cThe National Cattlemen\u2019s Beef Association says farmers and ranchers will lose \u2018predictability and stability\u2019 as harvest season begins. They\u2019ll pay the price for a Schumer Shutdown.\n\n\u201cThe National Grocers Association warns that vital programs feeding low-income families and children will run out of money. That is the reality of a Schumer shutdown.\n\n\u201cHere\u2019s the bottom line. Republicans are fighting for veterans, service members, law enforcement, border patrol agents, seniors, and rural hospitals. Democrats are willing to shut down the government for illegal immigrants, climate extremism, and wasteful Washington spending. Twelve years ago, Senator Schumer decried the politics of idiocy. If Democrats shut the government down at midnight tonight, the idiocy will be theirs.\n\n\u201cThe House did its job. It passed a continuing resolution to fund the government. President Trump is ready to sign it. It is time for the Senate to pass it. The American people are watching. I urge my Democrat colleagues to join with us. Tear up the ransom note. Keep the government open. Otherwise, Democrats will own the Schumer Shutdown. And the American people will suffer the costs and consequences.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:10:29Z"]], "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://www.barrasso.senate.gov/barrasso-demands-democrats-drop-far-left-shutdown-ransom/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.400636974722147, "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"}