{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.murray.senate.gov/murray-heinrich-kelly-introduce-anti-cash-grab-act-to-repeal-provision-allowing-a-handful-of-republican-senators-to-receive-payouts/", "Murray, Heinrich, Kelly Introduce Anti-Cash Grab Act to Repeal Provision Allowing a Handful of Republican Senators to Receive Payouts", "2025-11-18", "2025", "2025-11", "Democrat", "Senate", "WA", "Patty Murray", "M001111", "www.murray.senate.gov", "murray", "https://www.murray.senate.gov/category/press-releases/", "scraper", "The Anti-Cash Grab Act repeals last-minute provision allowing Republican senators to collect $500,000 per lawfully subpoenaed phone record\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2014 Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, joined Senators Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch, and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) to introduce the Anti-Cash Grab Act, legislation that will repeal a provision \u2014 quietly added into the government funding bill by U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) at the last minute \u2014 that allows senators to collect $500,000 for every phone record lawfully obtained.\n\n\u201cWhile I was fighting alongside my Democratic colleagues to prevent people\u2019s health care premiums from exploding, Senate Republicans were adding an outrageous provision into the spending bill to give millions of taxpayer dollars to just a handful of Republican senators,\u201d said Senator Murray. \u201cThis corrupt cash grab should be repealed\u2014and quickly.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhile Democrats were fighting to make health care more affordable and help working families put food on the table, Senate Republicans were focused on taxpayer-funded windfalls for themselves. Let\u2019s be crystal clear: negotiating a $500,000 windfall for yourself while refusing to help everyday Americans is wrong and deserves to be called out,\u201d said Senator Heinrich. \u201cOur bill is about accountability, transparency, and fighting for working families. The Senate must take this bill up and pass it now.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhile we were fighting to lower health care costs and keep food on the table for hardworking Americans, Senate Republicans were slipping a taxpayer-funded payout for themselves into the government funding bill,\u201d said Senator Kelly. \u201cIt\u2019s a political cash grab \u2014 plain and simple, and our bill puts an end to it. Republicans and Democrats should be able to agree that ripping off American taxpayers is bad policy.\u201d\n\nIn addition to Murray, Heinrich, and Kelly, the legislation is cosponsored by Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Chris Coons (D-DE), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), John Fetterman (D-PA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Angus King (I-ME), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Peter Welch (D-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).\n\nA one-page summary of the bill can be found HERE.\n\nThe full text of the bill can be found HERE.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"]], "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.murray.senate.gov/murray-heinrich-kelly-introduce-anti-cash-grab-act-to-repeal-provision-allowing-a-handful-of-republican-senators-to-receive-payouts/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6922852955758572, "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"}