{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=8BF5E4BA-D796-46C7-BB53-ACD9372385F0", "McConnell: Servicemembers Deserve Open Gov\u2019t, Full-Year Defense Funding", "2025-10-30", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Mitch McConnell", "M000355", "www.mcconnell.senate.gov", "mcconnell", "https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding the consequences of Democrats\u2019 shutdown for the U.S. Armed Forces and the need to pass full-year defense appropriations:\n\n\u201cGovernment shutdowns have real consequences. I\u2019ve said so countless times.\n\n\u201cIncredibly, it seems to have taken Democrats a month to remember that the proverbial stove is, in fact, hot. And yet, they\u2019re not ready to turn it off\u2026 Just turn it down a notch\u2026 Just low enough that they can take the political heat.\n\n\u201cMy friend from Delaware is right: Our military deserves a lot better than a government shutdown that jeopardizes their paychecks and the services military families count on.\n\n\u201cDuring Democrats\u2019 shutdown, the President has had to scrape together unobligated balances within the Defense budget in order to uphold the nation\u2019s promise to servicemembers through another pay period.\n\n\u201cI certainly hope he won\u2019t have to divert resources from urgent modernization again to make payroll in another two weeks. But that ball, of course, is in the Democrats\u2019 court. And I hope they\u2019ll realize soon that the surest way to help servicemembers and civilian DoD employees is to simply turn government funding back on\u2026 and pass full-year appropriations.\n\n\u201cI know my counterpart on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, of all people, understands this. He knows what would really help our armed forces \u2013 because he and I worked closely together on a full-year bill for defense that would pay servicemembers and invest more in the capabilities they need to keep America safe.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m grateful for Senator Coons\u2019 collaboration on the bipartisan bill that earned overwhelming support in committee and would add $22 billion above the President\u2019s defense request. This, by the way, is the bill that almost every Democrat voted against considering two weeks ago. I know the Ranking Member cares about the promises we make to the all-volunteer force and the challenges we expect them to face. I know he\u2019s concerned about the erosion of Congress\u2019 authority to set and fund national security priorities. So am I. And if we cannot appropriate, we will render ourselves irrelevant.\n\n\u201cThe way to provide real certainty and deliver serious, full-year appropriations is to open the government and pass our bill. It\u2019s that simple.\u201d\n\n###", 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.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=8BF5E4BA-D796-46C7-BB53-ACD9372385F0"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8148089982569218, "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"}