{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.murray.senate.gov/republican-shutdown-day-7-senator-murray-blasts-trump-and-voughts-latest-threats-slams-republicans-refusal-to-get-serious-about-tackling-health-care-costs/", "REPUBLICAN SHUTDOWN DAY 7: Senator Murray Blasts Trump and Vought\u2019s Latest Threats, Slams Republicans\u2019 Refusal to Get Serious About Tackling Health Care Costs", "2025-10-07", "2025", "2025-10", "Democrat", "Senate", "WA", "Patty Murray", "M001111", "www.murray.senate.gov", "murray", "https://www.murray.senate.gov/category/press-releases/", "scraper", "Murray: \u201cI know Republican leaders desperately want to ignore the looming health care crisis they caused. They have put their heads in the sand for months. They have spun wild lies to try to bury the truth. And they are hoping that people stop talking about it. But every day, that gets just harder. Because every day, another warning light goes off showing just how devastating it will be if Republicans refuse to extend the ACA tax credits and let people\u2019s premiums skyrocket.\u201d\n\nKFF: 8 in 10 Americans Say Congress Should Extend the Enhanced ACA Tax Credits Set to Expire Next Year, Including 6 in 10 Republicans\n\nKFF: ACA Marketplace Premium Payments Would More than Double on Average Next Year if Enhanced Premium Tax Credits Expire\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, spoke on the Senate floor on the seventh day of President Trump and Republicans\u2019 shutdown.\n\nSenator Murray\u2019s remarks, as delivered, are below:\n\n\u201cThank you, Mr. President.\n\n[TRUMP THREATS TO NOT PAY BACKPAY IN DEFIANCE OF LAW]\n\n\u201cLet me just start by giving our lawless President and OMB Director a little primer on the letter of the law.\n\n\u201cBecause this morning we learned they\u2019re plotting to try and rob furloughed federal workers of back pay at the end of this shutdown.\n\n\u201cThis flies in the face of the plain text of the law, which could not be more clear.\n\n\u201cPresident Trump should actually know this: he\u2019s caused more shutdowns than any other President after all. And he signed the law that guaranteed their pay.\n\n\u201cThis isn\u2019t new. This isn\u2019t surprising.\n\n\u201cAnd in fact, the OPM guidance the Administration actually issued last month reaffirmed that furloughed employees will be paid.\n\n\u201cTrump doesn\u2019t get to change the rules and rob workers just because he\u2019s worried his shutdown is backfiring. Scaring and intimidating workers won\u2019t work. He is not fooling anyone.\n\n[REPUBLICANS\u2019 HEALTH CARE CRISIS]\n\n\u201cNow, Mr. President, I know Republican Leaders desperately want to ignore the looming health care crisis they caused.\n\n\u201cThey have put their heads in the sand for months. They have spun wild lies to try to bury the truth. And they are hoping that people stop talking about it.\n\n\u201cBut every day, that gets just harder.\n\n\u201cBecause every day, another warning light goes off showing just how devastating it will be if Republicans refuse to extend the ACA tax credits and let people\u2019s premiums skyrocket.\n\n\u201cA new Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that seven out of ten families would not be able to afford their coverage if premiums double. And four in ten would likely to just go uninsured.\n\n\u201cThat means people will skip basic care, they will skimp on prescriptions, they will miss life-saving treatments.\n\n\u201cAnd the hard reality is: people will die. People who otherwise would have sought the care they needed.\n\n\u201cTo every Republican who thinks they can keep sitting on their hands and waiting this out, you need to understand: this is not some distant crisis you can ignore.\n\n\u201cPremiums are being locked in right now.\n\n\u201cLetters are going out to families announcing shocking price increases this month.\n\n\u201cIn Idaho, open enrollment actually starts next week.\n\n\u201cHow is that not urgent?\n\n\u201cTo every Republican who keeps trying to say, \u2018we can talk about this later,\u2019 later is simply too late.\n\n\u201cAnd by the way, why wouldn\u2019t Republican leaders talk about this earlier?\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been asking to fix this for months, and months, and months.\n\n\u201cFor all the talk of, \u2018Oh, we can\u2019t discuss health care while government is shut down.\u2019\n\n\u201cWell, you didn\u2019t discuss it when government was open, either!\n\n\u201cWhere have you been?\n\n\u201cAnd where are you right now for that matter? House Republicans are not even here, and they have not been here for three weeks.\n\n\u201cI cannot help but note the stark contrast between how little House Republicans seem to care about opening up the government and preventing massive health care hikes, and how much they cared about shoveling trillions in tax breaks at some of richest people in the world earlier this year.\n\n\u201cWhere is that urgency now?\n\n\u201cI mean, when the tax breaks for billionaires were set to expire in December, that was the same time as these health care credits expire. Republicans made that priority number one.\n\n\u201cYou can bet they fast-tracked relief for the big wigs and fat cats. Because heaven forbid billionaires like Trump have to worry about filling up their private jets!\n\n\u201cBut families worried about health care? Republican leaders refuse to talk about it.\n\n\u201cThey voted down efforts to save these tax credits three times before government funding was even in question!\n\n\u201cAnd they have spent the last few weeks saying our insistence on preventing people\u2019s premiums from doubling is \u2018unreasonable.\u2019 Unreasonable!\n\n\u201cAnd even now, the best Republicans can offer is \u2018later we can maybe, possibly, talk about, potentially doing something someday?\u2019\n\n\u201cThat is pretty cold comfort to families who are staring down thousands upon thousands in higher health care costs next year.\n\n\u201cThose premium hikes? They aren\u2019t maybe happening someday. They are for real, and they are getting finalized right now.\n\n\u201cIf the Republican Leader would rather send us home for the weekend than have a serious conversation, if House Republicans want to keep hiding as far as they can from the negotiating table, if you are going to not talk with us, then I beg my colleagues: at least talk to your constituents. See what this health care crisis looks like for them.\n\n\u201cBecause here\u2019s the thing Republicans seem especially keen to ignore: this is a problem where inaction will overwhelmingly hurt their own constituents.\n\n\u201cNewsflash for my colleagues: over three-quarters of the families with health care coverage through the ACA marketplace are in red states.\n\n\u201cDo you know which five states will see the highest health care rate hikes next year?\n\n\u201cWest Virginia, looking at a 387 percent rate hike for families that rely on ACA tax credits. Wyoming: 382 percent. Alaska: 346 percent rate hike. Tennessee: 320 percent. Mississippi: 314 percent.\n\n\u201cThat is five red states where premiums are going to more than quadruple for families that rely on those tax credits.\n\nBut you know what, let\u2019s keep going!\n\n\u201cLet\u2019s do the next five. These are states where the average premium will more than triple for families relying on the tax credits. Texas: 289 percent increase. South Carolina: 285 percent. Alabama: 284 percent. South Dakota: 235 percent. North Dakota: 234 percent.\n\n\u201cSo there you have it. The ten states facing the biggest health care increases if Republicans refuse to act are red states.\n\n\u201cAnd you know what, I can still go on.\n\n\u201cPremiums are going to more than double for families relying on the tax credits in states like Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, literally every other red state.\n\n\u201cSo, Mr. President, the bottom line is a lot of people who are going to be hurt if Republicans refuse to save health care and they are represented by Republicans.\n\n\u201cAt least they would be represented by Republicans, but our House colleagues nowhere to be found.\n\n\u201cThey have been gone for three weeks.\n\n\u201cSo, my message to Republican leaders: You need to get serious about opening up the government, and addressing the health care crisis before those premiums double for families across the country.\n\n\u201cYou need to get serious now before those higher costs are locked in, and before families back home decide they can\u2019t afford to stay covered.\n\n\u201cAnd you know, even if House Republicans want to hide from the negotiating table, they are not going to be able to hide from this issue.\n\n\u201cBecause if they stay home, and refuse to come back to DC to hammer out a solution, the people they represent back home are going to make their voices heard about this.\n\n\u201cThey are going to say, \u2018Hey! My monthly premium is going up by over a thousand bucks\u2014monthly premium\u2014what are you doing about it?\u2019\n\n\u201cThey are going to say, \u2018Hey! I am going to lose my health care, what am I supposed to do?\u2019\n\n\u201cThey are going to say, \u2018Hey! If you care so much about opening the government like you say, if you care so much about lowering costs, why don\u2019t you go back and get to work?\u2019\n\n\u201cMr. President, when that message finally breaks through to all the Republicans who are trying to ignore it, as I think it\u2019s clear it is beginning to, here\u2019s another message for them: Democrats are still here. We are still at the table. And we are still ready to work together on a bipartisan deal to reopen the government and address this health care crisis.\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-7-senator-murray-blasts-trump-and-voughts-latest-threats-slams-republicans-refusal-to-get-serious-about-tackling-health-care-costs/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8364031091332436, "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"}