{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hawley.senate.gov/icymi-hawley-op-ed-cap-credit-card-interest-rates-help-americans-hammered-bidenomics/", "ICYMI Hawley Op-ed: Cap credit-card interest rates to help Americans hammered by Bidenomics", "2023-09-21", "2023", "2023-09", "Republican", "Senate", "MO", "Josh Hawley", "H001089", "www.hawley.senate.gov", "hawley", "https://www.hawley.senate.gov/press-releases/page/", "scraper", "By U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) | Sept. 20, 2023 | New York Post\n\nExploiting people through high interest rates is wrong.\n\nIn a world of Wall Street excess, that simple idea now sounds foreign.\n\nBut for thousands of years, it was basic fairness.\n\n\u201cThou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother,\u201d declares Deuteronomy 23:19.\n\nThe Western world took that principle to heart.\n\nFrom the Roman Empire on, nations enforced usury laws that severely restricted interest rates on loans.\n\n[\u2026]\n\nTimes have changed. Our leaders forgot why those laws existed in the first place.\n\n[\u2026]\n\nThe total amount of credit-card debt is more than $1 trillion \u2014 the highest in history.\n\nDelinquent payment rates are at their highest level in a decade.\n\nCompounding the problem, President Joe Biden\u2019s inflationary policies have pushed consumer prices to the stratosphere.\n\nThis kicked off a vicious cycle.\n\nAnd as costs rise, Americans are forced to use their credit cards to cover basic necessities like rent and groceries.\n\n[\u2026]\n\nAmerican households get the short straw: Not only are they paying more for basic necessities, they\u2019re now paying to clean up the Biden administration\u2019s financial mess.\n\nThis burden falls heaviest on the nearly 50% of Americans carrying a credit-card balance, many struggling to make ends meet.\n\n[\u2026]\n\nJust this year, Tyson Foods announced chicken-plant closures in small-town Missouri that will force 2,000 people out of work.\n\nThose workers and their families still need to live.\n\nIf they end up carrying a credit-card balance, why are they fair game for corporate plunder?\n\nAs a nation, we can do better than that.\n\n[\u2026]\n\nSupporting America\u2019s workers and families means tackling the everyday problems they face \u2014 not giving handouts to corporations or foreign governments and hoping the benefits will eventually trickle down.\n\n[\u2026]\n\nOld slogans about the magic of the market won\u2019t cut it anymore.\n\nActually passing a law to cap interest rates is a first step toward a better future \u2014 a future rooted in our own tradition.\n\nAmerican workers and families deserve it.\n\nCongress can pass legislation that makes a real difference.\n\nRepublicans should step up to take the lead.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:35:26Z"]], "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.hawley.senate.gov/icymi-hawley-op-ed-cap-credit-card-interest-rates-help-americans-hammered-bidenomics/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9236456826329231, "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"}