{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=E2180E9A-3CEC-442A-A810-1089BBD7D963", "Denied $4.9T Spending Spree, Democrats Call for Breaking the Senate and Packing the Court", "2021-12-16", "2021", "2021-12", "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. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding governing institutions:\n\n\u201cAs cracks keep forming in the Democrats\u2019 reckless taxing and spending spree, some of our colleagues seemed to channel their frustration into even more radical attempts to attack our governing institutions.\n\n\u201cIn the span of a few hours, one Senate Democrat had renewed calls to \u2018nuke\u2019 the Senate and break the rules, and another published a national op-ed arguing that Democrats should attack the rule of law and pack the Supreme Court.\n\n\u201cTwo frontal assaults on two branches of government, proposed in the space of about two hours!\n\n\u201cEntire generations of statesmen would have seen either one of those unhinged proposals as Armageddon for our institutions. Apparently, today\u2019s Democrats try both at once and just call it Wednesday!\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve heard false claims that the Senate obeying our rules to address the debt limit somehow paves the way for radicals to break the rules.\n\n\u201cAnd Madam President, I\u2019d ask consent that an additional statement on that subject appear at a different place in the record.\n\n\u201cSo, look \u2014 we have discussed over and over again why Democrats will not be allowed to federalize our elections and lord over all 50 states like a self-appointed board of elections on steroids.\n\n\u201cMy colleagues across the aisle have pushed absurd bills that would do things like neuter Voter I.D. laws\u2026 make every state legalize ballot harvesting\u2026 turn the Federal Election Commission into a biased, partisan body\u2026 and even send taxpayer money to political campaigns.\n\n\u201cIt isn\u2019t about quote-unquote \u2018voting rights.\u2019 It\u2019s a naked power grab.\n\n\u201cDemocrats have been pushing the same kinds of bills for years, even as their stated justifications have changed wildly. When Republicans win elections or start polling well, Democrats and the media say our democracy badly broken, on death\u2019s door and needs a radical overhaul. The answers presented are these policies.\n\n\u201cWhen Democrats win elections, Democrats and the media say our democracy is sterling, beyond reproach, and just needs some modest safeguards to protect the status quo. But again, the answers presented are these policies.\n\n\u201cLately, their pretext has been demagogic attacks on reasonable state voting laws and proposals. If any state scraps any of the temporary pandemic procedures that Democrat operatives favor, the radical left says the sky is falling.\n\n\u201cBut outside the liberal bubble, nobody buys this nonsense. The country is not buying the hysteria. On Election Day last month, even in deep blue New York, voters rejected liberal ballot measures that would have liberalized no-excuse absentee voting and loosened up the rules on voter registration.\n\n\u201cNot even blue New York wants these policies to weaken their elections. But some Democrats want to break the Senate and trash its rules to force these sorts of things on all 50 states?\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s beyond absurd.\n\n\u201cI understand my colleagues are frustrated they may not get to spend $4.9 trillion on their way out the door for Christmas. But believe me, lashing out at our democracy, at the Supreme Court, and at the Senate itself is not going to solve anything.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:37:48Z"]], "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=E2180E9A-3CEC-442A-A810-1089BBD7D963"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.58402300439775, "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"}