{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/senator-blumenthal-week-in-review-10/24/25-10/31/2025", "Senator Blumenthal: Week in Review 10/24/25-10/31/2025", "2025-10-31", "2025", "2025-10", "Democrat", "Senate", "CT", "Richard Blumenthal", "B001277", "www.blumenthal.senate.gov", "blumenthal", "https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press", "scraper", "Fighting for Americans\u2019 Access to Affordable Health Care\n\n[WASHINGTON, D.C.] \u2013 U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) spoke on the Senate Floor calling out Republicans for refusing to join Democrats in protecting affordable health care by extending Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits.\n\nLast week, more than 15,000 residents across Connecticut received letters warning of expected health insurance premium increases for 2026. If Republicans continue to refuse to come to the table and work with Democrats on extending the ACA tax credits, millions of people will suffer as premiums rise to incomprehensible levels.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re in the midst of a health care crisis\u2026The American people know that this crisis is real and urgent, because they know if you don\u2019t have your health, you don\u2019t have anything. That old saying epitomizes the importance of health care when it affects our children, who can\u2019t get health care for themselves, our seniors, who also depend on others, and everyday Americans across the country, who are at their kitchen tables tonight, or workplaces, with their families, wondering when will it happen?\u201d said Blumenthal. \u201cEverybody needs health care, and it should be regarded as a human right. And we face an imminent and real and present crisis right now for millions of Americans who will no longer be able to afford health care insurance, beginning in days or weeks, because premiums are skyrocketing.\u201d\n\nIn his remarks, Blumenthal highlighted the stories of Connecticut residents facing astronomical health insurance premium increases.\n\n\u201cFor example, a couple in their 60s, living in Hartford, Connecticut, our capital, making a hundred thousand dollars a year, will go from paying $260.83 to $2,614.60. That\u2019s for the same plan,\u201d Blumenthal said. \u201cA family of four living in Hartford, making $159,767, roughly $160,000 a year, the average salary for a family of four in our state would be forced to pay $1,159.52 more. They go from $796.65 this year to $1,956.17 next year. I don\u2019t know how they can afford it. And the simple answer is probably they can\u2019t, and that family will be at risk of financial catastrophe without health care insurance coverage.\u201d\n\nA video of Blumenthal\u2019s speech is available here.\n\nBlumenthal further called out President Trump and congressional Republicans for the looming health care crisis on Twitter/X.\n\n\u201cWith health insurance premiums doubling or even tripling, Trump & Republicans are making CT families & Americans nationwide choose between affordable health care or putting food on the table. It\u2019s cruel & unnecessary & will undoubtedly cost people their health & their lives,\u201d wrote Blumenthal on Twitter/X.\n\nBlumenthal highlighted the story of a Connecticut constituent who is suffering from the health care crisis created by President Trump and congressional Republicans on Twitter/X.\n\n\u201cRepublicans would like you to believe that we can deal with the health care crisis they\u2019ve created \u2018later.\u2019 For my constituents like Jessica, \u2018later\u2019 isn\u2019t an option,\u201d wrote Blumenthal with an accompanying video on Twitter/X.\n\nBlumenthal joined U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Indiana State Senator and Minority Leader Shelli Yoder to discuss how the impending health care crisis caused by Republicans will impact families across the country. The Senators called on President Trump and Congressional Republicans to work with Democrats on a bipartisan solution that would extend the credits, keep costs from skyrocketing, and reopen the government.\n\n\u201cWhat we face here is a monster. It is an absolutely scary specter of Americans losing health care, and if you don\u2019t think that\u2019s scary, you should talk to the every-day American\u2014whether it\u2019s in Indiana or Connecticut\u2014who worries about putting food on the table, paying the rent or mortgage, giving their kids clothing, and now, potentially doubling and tripling their premiums. They can\u2019t afford it. It\u2019s that simple. And so, there\u2019s an urgency here\u2014Americans can\u2019t afford to get sick on Donald Trump\u2019s timetable,\u201d said Blumenthal.\n\nCalling for Protections to SNAP Benefits\n\nBlumenthal issued the following statement after federal courts ordered the Trump Administration to continue providing some benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) during the government shutdown:\n\n\u201cWhile I welcome this court order, it\u2019s only a temporary stop gap\u2014 a band aid on a deeper, gaping wound. Millions of Americans are struggling to put food on the table\u2014 a harsh reality that President Trump has abjectly failed to recognize, and Republicans have made worse by refusing to work with Democrats on reopening the government and providing access to health care. The Administration is forcing Americans to make unconscionable choices, like whether to feed a hungry child or to take them to a doctor for medical treatment. Americans see through this cruelly malign strategy\u2014 inflicting pain to maximize political pressure. They\u2019re using our most vulnerable Americans as political pawns.\u201d\n\nExpanding Social Security Benefits for Seniors\n\nBlumenthal along with U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), and U.S. Representative Nikki Budzinski (D-IL) introduced the bicameral Boosting Benefits and COLAs for Seniors Act, legislation to protect and expand Social Security benefits for older adults. As Social Security benefits have failed to accurately account for rising costs and inflation, the Boosting Benefits and COLAs for Seniors Act makes necessary changes to the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) formula, better supporting older Americans who rely on Social Security benefits. This year\u2019s COLA was announced last week as 2.8 percent\u2014a number that three out of four Americans aged 50 and older say is not enough to keep up with rising prices.\n\n\u201cThis overdue measure makes necessary adjustments to Social Security benefits\u2014more accurately accounting for rising prices and inflation\u2014to better support older Americans,\u201d said Blumenthal. \u201cOur nation\u2019s seniors are struggling to afford basic necessities like food, medication, and clothing, and the overall cost of living index may not reflect their particular needs. This legislation ensures that older Americans have the support they deserve to live with dignity.\u201d\n\nThe Boosting Benefits and COLAs for Seniors Act directs the Social Security Administration to adjust benefits based on the Consumer Price Index for Americans aged 62 or older (CPI-E), whereas current benefits are based off the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners (CPI-W). The CPI-E takes into account more of the costs incurred by older Americans, such as medical expenses\u2014making it more a more reflective index to use when calculating benefits.\n\nThe full text of the bill can be found here.\n\nSlamming Trump\u2019s Assault on Voting Rights\n\nBlumenthal spoke on the Senate Floor slamming the Trump Administration\u2019s continued efforts to suppress voters and attack the right to vote itself\u2014including rigging election maps, intimidating election officials, and undermining the Voting Rights Act. Blumenthal\u2019s remarks come as voters head to the polls on November 4th.\n\n\u201cWhat has always separated America from other nations around the world is the right to vote. But as we stand here, this cherished right is coming under attack, because in 2026, we can expect a continuation of what is happening in these last nine months\u2014that the Trump Administration is doing everything it can to undermine the confidence in elections and sow distrust in the election process,\u201d said Blumenthal. \u201cIt\u2019s like a spider weaving a web. The Trump Administration has crafted multiple strands when combined together, attack and change the voting landscape in a way that America will not recognize. Trump is attempting to strip power from the states, consolidate it for himself, and subvert the will of the people. It is systematic. It\u2019s strategic. And it is deeply and urgently serious.\u201d\n\nBlumenthal called upon his colleagues and the American public to decidedly stand against President Trump\u2019s attack on voters and to promote fair and free elections, saying \u201cNow, each of these individual actions of anti-election assault is serious and significant, but each action needs to be seen together as something deeper and broader. It is the sum and substance of totalitarianism. Not at some distant point in the future, not a vague storm cloud on the horizon, but the destruction of democracy here and now. As we approach our democracy's 250th anniversary, we can't afford the luxury of defeatism or despair or complacency.\u201d\n\nA video of Blumenthal\u2019s full remarks can be found here.\n\nBlumenthal Bulletin\n\nBlumenthal introduced legislation protecting children from AI chatbots.\n\nBlumenthal spoke at a press conference on the dangers of Big Tech\u2019s exploitative AI chatbots.\n\nBlumenthal questioned White House ballroom contractors on their participation in the construction project and the terms of their involvement.\n\nBlumenthal joined advocates from Veterans Service Organizations in slamming the dangerous narrative that VA\u2019s disability compensation process is \u2018too generous\u2019 at a hearing.\n\n-30-", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"]], "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.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/senator-blumenthal-week-in-review-10/24/25-10/31/2025"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6899867914617062, "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"}