{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.murray.senate.gov/republican-shutdown-day-15-senator-murray-calls-on-republicans-to-finally-listen-to-their-constituents-prevent-health-care-costs-from-exploding/", "REPUBLICAN SHUTDOWN DAY 15: Senator Murray Calls on Republicans to Finally Listen to Their Constituents & Prevent Health Care Costs from Exploding", "2025-10-15", "2025", "2025-10", "Democrat", "Senate", "WA", "Patty Murray", "M001111", "www.murray.senate.gov", "murray", "https://www.murray.senate.gov/category/press-releases/", "scraper", "KFF: Most Republicans and MAGA Supporters Say Congress Should Extend the Enhanced ACA Tax Credits Set to Expire Next Year\n\nMurray takes case directly to red states as Republicans feel the heat over their refusal to take action to prevent people\u2019s costs from spiking\n\n***RSVP: Murray hosts call with Montanans who rely on ACA tax credits at 5 PM ET today***\n\n***WATCH: Senator Murray\u2019s full floor speech***\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, delivered remarks on the Senate floor on the fifteenth day of President Trump and Republicans\u2019 shutdown.\n\nSenator Murray\u2019s remarks, as delivered, are below:\n\n\u201cThank you, M. President.\n\n[TRUMP USING HIS SHUTDOWN AS PRETEXT TO HURT PEOPLE]\n\n\u201cLet me be clear: shutdowns do not require presidents to fire people en masse. They actually do not require presidents to cancel projects and raise energy prices. Nor do they give presidents new, magical powers to destroy programs they don\u2019t like, or to target political opposition.\n\n\u201cYou don\u2019t have to take my word for it, because this is not our first government shutdown. It is just the first time that a President has blatantly and gleefully tried to use a shutdown against the American people.\n\n\u201cSo when President Trump fires hundreds of public health workers at CDC, without thinking twice about if it will put lives in jeopardy, that is a choice he is making.\n\n\u201cWhen President Trump puts at risk special education programs through mass layoffs, that is a choice he is making to abandon students with disabilities and their families, and weaken their access to rights under our special education laws.\n\n\u201cWhen Trump outright shutters a key community development fund, which has strong bipartisan support and finances housing, and health care, and other community projects across the country, that is a choice he is making.\n\n\u201cPresident Trump is choosing to fire as many people as he thinks he can get away with, to break as much of the government as is possible, to hurt the American people as much as he can, because he thinks he can use regular people as leverage.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s the cold hard reality, and it is plain as day.\n\n\u201cThat is why Trump is governing by a principle of maximum pain.\n\n\u201cIt is not because he \u2018had to,\u2019 it is because he \u2018wanted to.\u2019\n\n\u201cIt is not because he is following any law, it is because he is ignoring countless laws.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not because he held off on layoffs, it is because he is eager to continue to break our government, bend it to his will, and enrich himself in this process.\n\n\u201cTrump knows perfectly well, just as my Republican colleagues know, that shutdowns don\u2019t give him any new power, and they don\u2019t just let him fire people with reckless abandon.\n\n\u201cAfter all, Trump was President for the longest shutdown in American history.\n\n\u201cAnd guess what? Trump didn\u2019t \u2018have\u2019 to fire thousands and thousands of workers when he caused that longest shutdown in history. He didn\u2019t get to run roughshod over our laws when he kept the government shut down for over a month.\n\n\u201cSo don\u2019t let any Republican tell you he simply \u2018had\u2019 to now.\n\n[REPUBLICANS\u2019 REFUSAL TO PREVENT PREMIUMS FROM EXPLODING]\n\n\u201cAnd M. President, let me put another obvious falsehood to rest: Leader Thune keeps saying Democrats are \u2018in thrall to the radical left.\u2019 But here\u2019s the thing: we actually are the ones talking to Republican voters!\n\n\u201cBecause the majority of Republicans, and the overwhelming majority of the American people, do not want to see premiums double, triple, or even quadruple for millions of families.\n\n\u201cAnd many Republicans are starting to realize that too. Look at Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has made clear she thinks Republicans need to look at how to stop these premium hikes. Just look at the growing chorus of Republican members begging Speaker Johnson to bring them back so we can solve this issue.\n\n\u201cClearly, Republicans are feeling the heat.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re suddenly hearing Republican leaders absurdly pretend they\u2019ve always meant to focus on health care, even if they would never talk about it before, and even if the only thing they are saying right now is \u2018no, no, no\u2014we can\u2019t do anything on this right now. We can just think about, possibly talking about it, potentially, maybe, do something, someday.\u2019\n\n\u201cSo House Republicans may not be in DC to talk about this issue with Democrats.\n\n\u201cBut here\u2019s the thing: they are still hearing about it back at home.\n\n\u201cFamilies are staring down massive premium hikes, and they want Republicans to return and finally work on solutions.\n\n\u201cLook, the Republican leader can shut down the government if he is really that desperate to avoid addressing the health care crisis Republicans caused. But he cannot shut down the debate, and he cannot shut down the voices of families who are speaking out about how their premiums are about to skyrocket.\n\n\u201cI have been constantly hearing from folks back home in Washington state. Letters and calls are pouring into my office from families who are worried about how their premiums will double if Republicans refuse to act.\n\n\u201cA woman called into my office to share her husband already received notices that their insurance are going to double in cost.\n\n\u201cA mother whose son has a traumatic brain and spinal cord injury, she called, she\u2019s terrified that she has no idea how they are going to afford the care he needs if health care gets more expensive.\n\n\u201cYou know, last week, I spoke with a freelancer in Seattle who\u2019s worried their monthly payments will increase\u2014monthly\u2014by at least $1,300, and a video producer who told me his premiums would more than double\u2014and be about 60 percent of his mortgage payment.\n\n\u201cThe week before that, I spoke with small businesses owners. They have no idea what they are going to do if the tax credits expire and their health care costs go up.\n\n\u201cMany of them are rethinking whether they can even afford to keep their small businesses, or if they\u2019d choose to just go for catastrophic coverage instead.\n\n\u201cOne small business owner would see his premiums triple, as his wife told me, and that is simply not affordable.\n\n\u201cAnd this is not just happening in Washington state. This health care crisis is about to hammer families across the country, in red and blue states alike.\n\n\u201cIn fact, the biggest rate increases are all in red states. And three-fourths of the people who rely on these tax credits are, too.\n\n\u201cSo why don\u2019t Republicans go home and talk to their constituents about this? And if the Republican Leader doesn\u2019t want to sit down with Democrats to work on a solution?\n\n\u201cHow about he sits down and listens to folks back home who are getting notices this month with massive price hikes for their health insurance.\n\n\u201cIf the Republican leader won\u2019t sit down with Democrats to save people from losing their health care coverage, how about he sits down with small business owners, since nearly half of the people on the marketplaces are small business owners, employees, or self-employed.\n\n\u201cIf he won\u2019t sit down with Democrats to stop premiums from tripling for some families in his state, how about he sits down with farmers, since over a quarter of farmers in this country are covered through the ACA exchanges.\n\n\u201cDoes Leader Thune think farmers are now the radical left?\n\n\u201cDoes he think small businesses are the radical left? Because that is who is about to get crushed by these higher premiums. That is who is watching this debate and hoping, and praying, for action.\n\n\u201cIt is unbelievable that the best the Republican Leader can offer to families worried about the health care crisis is \u2018Wait,\u2019 \u2018Later.\u2019\n\n\u201cThat is really out of touch\u2014with families, and with reality. Rates are being set now. Massive hikes are being announced now.\n\n\u201cOpen enrollment is in a few weeks. In fact, by the way, Idaho open enrollment starts today. Today!\n\n\u201cEvery single Senator needs to watch what is happening in Idaho today, because folks in Idaho are in for a very rude awakening when they log in today and see the rates for the coming year. And that rude awakening is coming to the rest of the country on November 1st if Republicans keep refusing to act.\n\n\u201cSo, every single Senator needs to listen to the families who speak out about these massive rate hikes that are becoming reality.\n\n\u201cI actually spoke to some Idahoans last week. One retiree told me about how her premiums are going to jump 173 percent\u2014that is almost triple.\n\n\u201cYou think that\u2019s bad? Another retiree I spoke with had learned that with tax credits his premium will be $367 a month. Without those tax credits? A whopping $2,232 a month. That\u2019s astounding.\n\n\u201cAnd yet, if Republicans refuse to act, that is the reality that is going to come crashing down on families across our nation.\n\n\u201cThis is not an \u2018end of the year\u2019 problem like Speaker Johnson keeps saying. It is a right now problem.\n\n\u201cThere is a train coming. Families are tied to the tracks.\n\n\u201cWhy on earth would Republican leaders insist on standing by?\n\n\u201cWhy are they twiddling their thumbs?\n\n\u201cWhy do they want to wait until those rates are locked in? And for all the talk of \u2018later,\u2019 why on earth wouldn\u2019t Republican leaders work with us earlier on this?\n\n\u201cThis is not some surprise. We\u2019ve been raising the alarm for months.\n\n\u201cRepublican leaders just didn\u2019t care earlier. And apparently, they still don\u2019t care now.\n\n\u201cWhat a contrast to Republicans\u2019 billionaire tax breaks just a few months ago. Republicans were full speed ahead when it came to shoveling money at some of the richest people on the planet. Remember that?\n\n\u201cMoved heaven and earth. They used magic math. They slashed over a trillion in health care for patients and hospitals. They used every trick in the book for the billionaires!\n\n\u201cBut now? Nothing when it comes to working families. Nothing when it comes to health care.\n\n\u201cM. President, Republicans can either go back home and explain to their own constituents why they think their premiums should double. Or they can come to the table, where Democrats have been this whole time, and work with us to reach a serious deal that reopens the government and responds to this health care crisis.\n\n\u201cDemocrats are not going anywhere. We are staying at the table.\n\n\u201cRight now, Republican Leadership is refusing to take the shutdown or the health care crisis seriously.\n\n\u201cSpeaker Johnson is still refusing to bring his members back from vacation, despite the growing mutiny among Republicans.\n\n\u201cLeader Thune is still refusing to do anything other than vote on the same, failed, partisan CR, over and over.\n\n\u201cAnd President Trump is still treating a government shutdown like his own personal jamboree, tweeting out sombreros, and promising to cut \u2018Democratic programs.\u2019\n\n\u201cLet\u2019s be clear: Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress. And they are basically missing in action when it comes to finding a real solution to reopen the government and save millions of Americans from health care bills that will break the bank.\n\n\u201cWhen will President Trump get serious about a solution?\n\n\u201cWhen will Speaker Johnson and Leader Thune do their jobs and get to the negotiating table?\n\n\u201cWhen will House Republicans end this month-long vacation? Today? Tomorrow? Next week?\n\n\u201cM. President, the American people are waiting.\n\n\u201cBut, of course, Republican leadership isn\u2019t the end-all-be-all. Because Republican voters have made clear: they do not want to see their premiums skyrocket.\n\n\u201cAnd Republican members in the House and Senate alike are hearing from those families back at home who will not let them ignore this, and starting to realize: we actually do need to address this health care issue now.\n\n\u201cBut M. President, the clock is ticking. Rate hikes are going out in the mail. Open enrollment starting today in Idaho. Time is running out.\n\n\u201cThat message is breaking through. I think even Republican leaders are starting to realize there is no spinning their way out of premiums doubling in our country.\n\n\u201cIf they want to get serious about stopping that, and ending this shutdown, all they have to do is say so. Mr. President, our door is open.\u201d\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.murray.senate.gov/republican-shutdown-day-15-senator-murray-calls-on-republicans-to-finally-listen-to-their-constituents-prevent-health-care-costs-from-exploding/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8802441880106926, "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"}