{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/press/release/murkowski-calls-on-colleagues-to-stay-in-dc-work-to-end-shutdown", "Murkowski Calls on Colleagues to Stay in DC, Work to End Shutdown", "2025-10-27", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "AK", "Lisa Murkowski", "M001153", "www.murkowski.senate.gov", "murkowski", "https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/press/press-releases?PageNum_rs=4", "scraper", "Washington, DC \u2014 Today, on day 27 of the federal shutdown, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) called for the Senate to remain in Washington, DC for as long as it takes to reach agreement to reopen the government. During her remarks on the Senate floor, Murkowski read messages she has received from Alaskans impacted by the shutdown and expressed her frustration with the lack of progress being made on both sides of the aisle to end the stalemate.\n\nWatch Senator Murkowski\u2019s full remarks here.\n\nRough Transcript\n\nMurkowski: Madam President, we are in day 27 of a government shutdown. 27 days where the government is shutdown.\n\nYet, we are here, you are presiding, there are pages on the floor, there are people in the gallery, there are people coming and going, we\u2019ve got Capitol Hill Police in the area, and it just feels like business as usual. We\u2019re going to have committee hearings this week, we\u2019re going to be voting on judges and some CRAs, and it just kind of feels like business as usual.\n\nAnd yet it is so not business as usual. We\u2019re pretending that everything is okay.\n\nWe\u2019re pretending that people are not being impacted by this shutdown.\n\nI\u2019m looking at the people that are here recording this, that will be working to process this vote. None of them are getting paid.\n\nThe Capitol Hill Police, that I visit with on a daily basis outside and inside, are not getting paid.\n\nAnd they share with me, \u201cWell, I still had to drive in, I\u2019ve got a forty-minute drive to get here, so I\u2019ve got to fill up my car. I have kids at home, young kids, and so they go to childcare\u2026 so I\u2019ve still got to pay the childcare provider\u2026 my expenses are not going away.\u201d\n\nAnd yet every single one of them says, \u201cI\u2019m not complaining. I\u2019m not complaining. I\u2019ve signed up for this, this is my mission, and I will be here.\u201d\n\nAnd they\u2019re proud to be here.\n\nBut what is wrong is that their families are stressed.\n\nI was talking with one Capitol Hill police officer on Thursday of last week, and he said, \u201cEvery day I go home, and my wife says, \u2018So? Did they open it up? Are we going to be paid?\u2019\u201d\n\nAnd he said, \u201cAnd I tell her nope, no progress today.\u201d\n\nAnd so, we\u2019re starting to feel that. Because people who would otherwise be saying \u201cI signed up for this, I\u2019m not going to complain, I\u2019m just going to what I\u2019m going to do.\u201d\n\nBut we\u2019re starting to feel this in real time. It\u2019s having an impact, not only financially, but I fear from a mental health perspective.\n\nWe had a call come in yesterday\u2026actually today. And this is a person calling in from Fairbanks. And she said, \u201cIt\u2019s getting chilly in Fairbanks. I woke up to a $2,500 bill for heating oil. Normally, this wouldn\u2019t be that big of a problem for me, but I\u2019m a federal employee. I love my job, but it\u2019s been very frustrating to have constant threats of shutdowns and RIFs looming over my head. I work hard. I\u2019m so tired of being labeled as one who\u2019s not working hard. I\u2019d first like to propose that Congress doesn\u2019t get paid while we aren\u2019t getting paid, and maybe take fewer long weekends.\u201d\n\nWell, I would let her know that for many of us, we have deferred our pay. It\u2019s not right that our staff should not get paid and yet we get paid.\n\nBut she raises a good point. She says, \u201cMaybe, we in Congress should take fewer long weekends.\u201d\n\nI think she is right.\n\nWe left here Thursday afternoon, members are just now coming back, we\u2019ll have our first vote here at 5:30pm.\n\nAnd in the meantime, people have done important stuff. We have important jobs. We go home; we do important things. And maybe we are able to carve out a little time to be with our families as well and try to have that balance.\n\nBut for some, they still had to come in this weekend. Some of those Capitol Hill Police Officers had to come in this weekend to keep this place moving.\n\nSome of the folks who are here to provide services to the building had to come in this weekend, and they weren\u2019t getting paid.\n\nAnd so, I think the suggestion about us, maybe taking fewer long weekends, is something that not only we should consider, but I\u2019m going to challenge this body.\n\nI got a long commute home, folks. I\u2019m not begrudging that. But I don\u2019t think we should be going home and just behaving as if this was another week in the United States Senate. Not when we have a government shutdown.\n\nThere is so much that is coming at us like a freight train.\n\nLittle kids are excited because Friday is going to be Halloween. Let me tell you, the scary costumes on Halloween night are going to be the scariest thing. It\u2019s going to be what is delivered, what\u2019s left on the doorstep the next morning, November 1, when it then becomes official SNAP payments will not be processed. Will not be available for the 66,000 in Alaska who rely on those food benefits.\n\nThe WIC payments \u2013 the Women, Infant, and Children payments, those too will be impacted.\n\nIt is a reality for us that we are seeing an impact across our society in ways that are not only scary, but overwhelming, for some.\n\nWe had a pretty tough week-and-a-half with a major disaster \u2013 thank you to the President for declaring that Presidential disaster following ex-Typhoon Halong.\n\nBut I can tell you that those that are reliant on SNAP benefits are increasingly stressed because of what they have just gone through with displacement within their homes. And now, it\u2019s across the whole state. And our food banks are stressed. We were stressed going into the beginning of winter already, we keep in close touch with our food banks.\n\nBut what I\u2019m hearing is that we are already hearing the lines at the food bank growing longer. And, what is hard to hard to see, is knowing how many military families are part of those lines.\n\nNow, Madam President, this is simply not right.\n\nNow we may have what we call a \u201crifle-shot\u201d votes this week, maybe we will take up again that will pay all the federal workers.\n\nMaybe there will be a way that the military, who has been paid up until the end of this month, we will be able to make that next pay increment. I certainly hope so.\n\nAnd not just our military, but our U.S. Coast Guard, and those that are in law enforcement.\n\nMaybe there is going to be a vote that will allow us to pay our Capitol Police, I\u2019ve signed on to that bipartisan measure.\n\nMaybe there is going to be a vote for us to pay out the SNAP benefits, I\u2019ve signed on to that legislation as well.\n\nMaybe, but maybe not.\n\nAnd again, if we do take the rifle-shot approach, who else are we leaving behind. What have we done for the men and women who make sure when we go through those airports [we\u2019re safe], the TSA, what have we done to make sure that our air traffic controllers that are keeping us safe in the skies, that their wives aren\u2019t yelling at the end of the long, stressful day, saying, \u201cWhen is this going to end!\u201d\n\nSo, we have got to figure this out.\n\nAnd I know that we have our positions.\n\nAnd if people don\u2019t know what the Republican positions are and what the Democrat positions are, they haven\u2019t been listening to this discussion for the past twenty-seven days. We know what it is.\n\nWe have got to come together, which means we\u2019ve got to talk to one another.\n\nAnd it can\u2019t be about Republicans winning and Democrats losing. Or Democrats winning and Republicans losing.\n\nBecause right now, right now, those that are losing are the American people.\n\nThose that are calling us up and saying, \u201cSocial Security hasn\u2019t released my survivors benefit after my husband\u2019s death.\u201d Sorry, you\u2019re just going to have to wait.\n\nA fellow in Petersburg was told that his telehealth appointment with his cardiologist was cancelled because of the lapse in the authorization in telehealth benefits.\n\nAnd so, they basically said, \u201cIf you want to keep this appointment, you\u2019re going to have to fly to Seattle.\u201d\n\nThose of you know that know Alaska know that Petersburg and Seattle are not connected by a road and it\u2019s not cheap.\n\nA couple in Anchorage said they\u2019ve been waiting on an approval from the FDA on a compassion-use exception for a medication to treat Stage IV Ovarian Cancer. And now, they\u2019re told, \u201cJust hold on, the government\u2019s not operational right now.\u201d\n\nWe have a lot in our maritime community, and in order for them to be lawfully on the water, they need have to have their licensed renewed through the new Merchant Mariner Credentialing. That\u2019s on hold.\n\nWe\u2019ve got a housing situation in Sitka, and we\u2019ve got an Army Corps permit for the Housing Authority that\u2019s been delayed. We can\u2019t figure that one out.\n\nWe\u2019re talking to people trying to get an SBA loan, a local business owner in downtown [Anchorage].\n\nThe school district in Sleetmute, they have been waiting to get the Impact Aid emergency construction dollars so that they can repair this roof that is literally falling down in the back of the school. And they\u2019re told, \u201cThere\u2019s nobody here to take your call, because the government is not open.\u201d\n\nSo, for those that think this is not that big of a deal, they need to start asking people. Not only people who are federal employees. Not only people who are SNAP recipients.\n\nThey need to be asking people about some of the day-to-day, matter of fact things that happen when you have a small business, or you\u2019re trying to get your fishing vessel out in the water.\n\nReal Alaskans are being impacted. And real Alabamans are being impacted. Americans are being impacted when we don\u2019t do our job.\n\nAnd maybe this idea that we don\u2019t go home this weekend until we resolve this, maybe it doesn\u2019t work. Maybe we just look at each other and say, \u201cI\u2019m not going to talk to you.\u201d\n\nMaybe we just continue on with multiple rounds of the same vote we\u2019ve been taking for the last twenty-seven days and see if we get a different result.\n\nNow, some say that\u2019s the definition of insanity. I don\u2019t know.\n\nBut what I do know is that when we leave and we assume that things are fine, or we send that message that things are fine because we\u2019ve just gone home, and it\u2019s just business as usual here, then people whose lives are really being impacted right now, they think we don\u2019t get it.\n\nWe do get it, we need to act to end the shutdown, and I\u2019m going to call on all of my colleagues to stay here until we get it done.\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.murkowski.senate.gov/press/release/murkowski-calls-on-colleagues-to-stay-in-dc-work-to-end-shutdown"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.6332950219511986, "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"}