{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.murray.senate.gov/republican-shutdown-day-9-sen-murray-calls-on-republican-leaders-to-finally-sit-down-to-prevent-americans-health-care-costs-from-exploding/", "REPUBLICAN SHUTDOWN DAY 9: Sen. Murray Calls on Republican Leaders to Finally Sit Down to Prevent Americans\u2019 Health Care Costs from Exploding", "2025-10-09", "2025", "2025-10", "Democrat", "Senate", "WA", "Patty Murray", "M001111", "www.murray.senate.gov", "murray", "https://www.murray.senate.gov/category/press-releases/", "scraper", "KFF: 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\nICYMI: Politico \u2013 Republicans Are in Disarray One Week Into the Shutdown\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 ninth day of President Trump and Republicans\u2019 shutdown.\n\nSenator Murray\u2019s remarks, as delivered, are below:\n\n\u201cThank you, Mr. President. We are just over a week into Republicans\u2019 shutdown. And just over three weeks from open enrollment, when massive premium hikes become a stone-cold reality for our families. And yet, Republican leaders refuse to sit down and talk with us about addressing both of those challenges.\n\n\u201cPresident Trump and Russ Vought are just openly\u2014gleefully\u2014plotting how they can make this shutdown as painful as possible.\n\n\u201cHouse Republicans are not even here, for the third week in a row.\n\n\u201cAnd Leader Thune has refused to do anything other than vote on the same failed partisan CR over, and over, and over.\n\n\u201cThe clock is ticking. Republicans would rather sit on their hands than sit down at the table.\n\n\u201cWhen we ask to talk about health care, the only word that the Republican Leader seems to know is \u2018later.\u2019 Excuse me, but why shouldn\u2019t we address this challenge any earlier?\n\n\u201cThe Republican leader bent over backwards to shovel new tax cuts at billionaires earlier this year. He did not tell CEOs to \u2018wait\u2019 when it came to Republican tax breaks that expired at the end of the year.\n\n\u201cWhy is he telling families to wait when rates are being set now? When price announcements will be in the mail any day now? And when open enrollment is right around the corner?\n\n\u201cWhy do Republicans want to wait until higher rates are locked in, and families are priced out of health care? We have got to tackle this before those rates are locked.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve been warning for months about what this will mean for Washington state, and for our country. Maybe the Republican leader needs to hear about what this means for his constituents. In South Dakota, there are 50,000 people who rely on the health care tax credits to get their health coverage. On average, these South Dakota families will see their premiums more than triple if Republicans refuse to save the tax credits.\n\n\u201cThese are hard working families, including many farmers. And that\u2019s not just a challenge in South Dakota. Over a quarter of farmers in our country are covered through the exchanges.\n\n\u201cDo any of my colleagues think we should do nothing while farmers lose their health care? Do any of my colleagues want to stand by while families across the country see their premiums double?\n\n\u201cYou know, we have common ground here, but that doesn\u2019t do any good when Republicans refuse, outright refuse, to come to the table and negotiate.\n\n\u201cIt doesn\u2019t do a lot of good when House Republicans are out on vacation for the third week in a row.\n\n\u201cYou know, this clock has been ticking all year long, and the time to avoid massive premiums is just about up. There is no waiting. There is no later.\n\n\u201cYou can either start talking with us now to reopen the government, and act to stop premium hikes before the open enrollment. Or you can talk to your constituents about why you decided to sit on your hands and do diddly-squat as their premiums went through the roof.\n\n\u201cThe choice is yours. Democrats are here. We are still at the table. We have always been here. We have never left. And we are ready today\u2014today\u2014to work out a serious deal to address the health care crisis and reopen the government.\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-9-sen-murray-calls-on-republican-leaders-to-finally-sit-down-to-prevent-americans-health-care-costs-from-exploding/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 3.1733191572129726, "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"}