{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.murray.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/newsreleases?ContentRecord_id=B8FD83ED-2464-4C05-AADF-CB517608728A", "Senator Murrays Statement on First Conference Committee Meeting", "2017-12-13", "2017", "2017-12", "Democrat", "House", "WA", "Patty Murray", "M001111", "www.murray.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "\"Thank you Chairmen Brady and Hatch, Ranking Members Neal and Wyden, and all of my colleagues on this conference committee.\r\n\"Honestly, I\u2019m not even sure why we are here today.\r\n\"This has been a sham partisan process\u2014a brazen partisan attempt to jam through legislation that would devastate our economy with as little scrutiny or debate as possible\u2014and this dog-and-pony show of regular order today isn\u2019t fooling anyone.\u00a0\r\n\"Because let\u2019s be very clear about what this tax plan would do\u2014it\u2019s pretty simple.\r\n\"The Republican tax plan would be a massive giveaway to the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations.\r\n\"It would raise taxes on the middle class.\r\n\"It would increase health premiums for millions of patients.\r\n\"It would open up the pristine Arctic Refuge to drilling.\r\n\"It would blast a massive hole in our deficit\u2014and put Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security in grave danger.\r\n\"And that\u2019s just the start to the list of damages this horrific plan would do to families and the economy\u2014I could go on and\u00a0on.\u00a0\r\n\"But I want to spend just a minute focusing on one aspect of this Republican tax plan\u2014the truly devastating health care change that would raise families\u2019 premiums, cause millions of people to lose coverage, and create even more chaos and instability in health care markets.\u00a0\r\n\"Now, people have rejected every single Republican attempt to undermine their health care this year. So it\u2019s worth asking\u2014why are Republicans doing this again?\r\n\"The answer is simple: Republicans wanted to spend the savings from taking away millions of people\u2019s health care on tax cuts for those at the top.\r\n\"Here is what will happen if this is jammed through, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office: Premiums will be ten percent higher each year, thirteen million people will lose coverage, and markets will get even more unstable\u2014which experts have said could cause some communities to lose coverage options.\r\n\"And I want to be very clear: none of the bipartisan legislation being discussed would fix that.\r\n\"The health care stabilization bill I worked on with Chairman Alexander and Senator Collins\u2019 reinsurance bill are both good bills that would help push back against President Trump\u2019s sabotage of health care\u2014but they won\u2019t stop the premium increases, coverage losses, and chaos that the Republican tax bill would cause\u2014and that\u2019s assuming they could even pass through the Republican House.\r\n\"So I urge my Republican colleagues to take a step back here\u2014and stop this sham process while they still have a chance.\r\n\"Tax reform is an area where we can find bipartisan consensus\u2014where we can work together to help the middle class and call on the wealthy to pay their fair share.\r\n\"This plan doesn\u2019t do that\u2014it does the opposite\u2014but Democrats are at the table and ready to get to work if Republicans listen to their constituents, reverse course, and set aside this devastating plan.\r\n\"Thank you.\"", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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/public/index.cfm/newsreleases?ContentRecord_id=B8FD83ED-2464-4C05-AADF-CB517608728A"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4633911196142435, "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"}