{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/press/release/murkowski-duckworth-bipartisan-legislation-to-expand-leave-benefits-for-public-health-commissioned-officers-passes-senate", "Murkowski, Duckworth Bipartisan Legislation to Expand Leave Benefits for Public Health Commissioned Officers Passes Senate", "2025-10-10", "2025", "2025-10", "Republican", "Senate", "AK", "Lisa Murkowski", "M001153", "www.murkowski.senate.gov", "murkowski", "https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/press/press-releases?PageNum_rs=5", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Bipartisan legislation led by U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) to help expand leave benefits for the devoted health professionals serving in the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) Commissioned Corps passed the Senate by unanimous consent. Despite being responsible for leading our nation\u2019s emergency response to dangerous public health crises and natural disasters, PHS officers are still the only federal entity\u2014civilian or uniformed\u2014without access to essential leave benefits, including extended parental leave, emergency leave, court appearance leave and rest and recuperation leave. The Senators\u2019 Uniformed Services Leave Parity Act would rectify this issue by ensuring PHS officers have access to the same authorized leave that is available to members of the Armed Services.\n\n\u201cI was proud to help lead the effort to advance the Uniformed Services Leave Parity Act, first in the HELP Committee and then on the Senate floor, bringing us one step closer to fixing this longstanding inequity,\u201d said Murkowski. \u201cOur Public Health Service officers stand on the front lines during national crises\u2014from public health emergencies to natural disasters\u2014and deserve the same benefits afforded to their fellow uniformed service members.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhen disease or disaster threatens our public safety, PHS officers are on the front lines helping keep the American people healthy and out of harm\u2019s way\u2014there\u2019s no reason they shouldn\u2019t have the same leave benefits that officers of the Army, Navy or any of our other uniformed services do,\u201d said Duckworth. \u201cThis bipartisan legislation would help ensure these devoted health professionals have equal access to the benefits they deserve, and I\u2019m proud it passed the Senate by unanimous consent.\u201d\n\nWhen it comes to leave benefits, the inequity that persists between PHS and the other uniformed services undermines PHS\u2019s ability to recruit and retain qualified professionals that help our nation tackle public health crises like natural disasters, COVID-19 or Ebola. Not only does this inequity compromise the wellbeing of PHS officers, but it also ultimately threatens our nation\u2019s public health emergency preparedness.", 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-duckworth-bipartisan-legislation-to-expand-leave-benefits-for-public-health-commissioned-officers-passes-senate"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5729099977761507, "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"}