{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.donnelly.senate.gov/newsroom/press/donnelly-hits-it-down-the-middle-icymi", "Donnelly Hits it Down the Middle: ICYMI", "2013-10-31", "2013", "2013-10", "Democrat", "House", "IN", "Joe Donnelly", "D000607", "www.donnelly.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Donnelly Hits it Down the Middle: ICYMI\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tCoverage of his Role in Helping End Government Shutdown\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tThursday, October 31, 2013\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWashington, D.C.\u2014Senator Joe Donnelly was a member of the group of 14 senators that helped end the government shutdown and prevented further harm to our economy.\u00a0 In case you missed it, below is a sampling of coverage of his work and the larger efforts of the bipartisan group.\r\n\u201cAlthough things haven\u2019t gotten any better since the 2012 elections, the good news is that the past 12 months have made clear that Indiana got it right when it elected Sen. Joe Donnelly as its junior senator.\u00a0 If you\u2019re fed up with Washington\u2019s mess, that\u2019s understandable. If you think Congress is one of the nation\u2019s biggest sources of trouble, you\u2019re in the majority. But Joe Donnelly, it should be noted, isn\u2019t part of the problem.\r\n\u2026\r\n\u201cAs we talked last week, the first-year senator said his work in the group of 14 Senate moderates, which advocated for a bipartisan and balanced deal to end the shutdown, one that would pave the wave for long-term budget talks, \u2018showed that party had nothing to do with\u2019 his thinking. To conservative critics who say he supports his party too blindly, he said: \u2018I don\u2019t know what else I can do but continue to hit it straight down the middle.\u2019\u201d\r\n-Matt Tully: Joe Donnelly tries to 'hit it straight down the middle\u2019 (Indianapolis Star)\u00a0\r\n\u201cThe good news is that the Senate group who hatched this plan shows wonderful promise. Fourteen senators from both parties worked day and night this week to figure a way forward, and it was their plan \u2014 more than public frustration or even the efforts of President Barack Obama \u2014 that is expected to defuse the impasse in the House. As of Wednesday afternoon, nothing has been voted on, but predictions are that this will be the deal that sticks.\r\n\u2026\r\n\u201cThe bipartisan Senate group retreated from the noise, worked together and came up with a plan that was acceptable to leadership on both sides. It corners Boehner and reasserts tea party rage as a minority concern: loud but subordinate to the primacy of governing and responsibly managing the nation\u2019s debt payments.\u201d\r\n- Stephen Henderson: \u201cThe shutdown is over, but our crisis in government is not\u201d (Detroit Free Press)\u00a0\r\n\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot thrown at Donnelly and his Capitol Hill colleagues in recent weeks, too \u2014 mainly derision from a disgusted American public. But Donnelly emerged as one of the cooler heads, as one of 14 senators in the middle of a deal credited with helping to end the 16-day federal government shutdown and debt ceiling crisis.\u201d\r\n-Dave Bangert: Sen. Donnelly on shutdown chances, health care pain and a Purdue QB (Lafayette Journal and Courier)\r\n\u201cAfter a couple of Hoosier members of the House tea party contingent uttered strange comments that became late night talk show punchlines in the past two weeks, it was refreshing to see a different Indiana congressman, Sen. Joe Donnelly, among those 14 lawmakers involved in those behind-the-scenes, bipartisan talks.\u00a0Like other participants, Donnelly, a centrist Democrat and a freshman senator, had to compromise.\r\n\u2026\r\n\u201c\u2019The easiest thing in the world is to be the loudest person in the Senate, the loudest person in the House, the person getting the most attention. But that doesn\u2019t get anything done,\u2019 Donnelly told the media. \u2018What gets things done is the relationships you have to work together to make our nation stronger. And you had 14 people in a room who trusted one another, who knew they could trust each other\u2019s word, and who knew that their only goals were to try to make this nation stronger.\u2019\u201d\r\n-Mark Bennett: Indiana\u2019s Donnelly part of \u2018The Middle\u2019 that got deal done (Terre Haute Tribune-Star)\r\n###\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t Press Contact \n\t\t\t\t\tDonnelly_Press@Donnelly.Senate.Gov", 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://www.donnelly.senate.gov/newsroom/press/donnelly-hits-it-down-the-middle-icymi"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7469980046153069, "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"}