{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/watch-padilla-calls-on-republicans-to-pass-democratic-proposal-to-keep-health-care-costs-from-skyrocketing-for-millions-of-americans/", "WATCH: Padilla Calls on Republicans to Pass Democratic Proposal to Keep Health Care Costs From Skyrocketing for Millions of Americans", "2025-12-10", "2025", "2025-12", "Democrat", "Senate", "CA", "Alex Padilla", "P000145", "www.padilla.senate.gov", "padilla", "https://www.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) delivered remarks on the Senate floor, blasting Congressional Republicans for creating a health care crisis in California and across the nation. With just three weeks until the Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits expire at the end of the year \u2014 which will cause health care premiums to skyrocket for over 20 million Americans and 1.7 million Californians \u2014 he called on Republicans to pass Senate Democrats\u2019 proposal to extend these credits for three years.\n\nPadilla emphasized that the Trump Administration already made the biggest cuts to Medicaid in history and is inflicting rising housing, energy, and grocery costs on millions of Californians and Americans across the country, all while President Trump calls affordability a \u201ccon job\u201d and a Democratic \u201choax.\u201d After Republicans shut down the government for 43 days rather than extend lifesaving health care subsidies, Padilla warned that Americans may be forced to forgo health insurance. Four million Americans, including 400,000 Californians, may have to give up their health insurance entirely.\n\nAs Padilla underscored, one month after the shutdown, Republicans still have not put forward a serious plan. Republicans\u2019 last-minute plan allows the ACA tax credits to expire while increasing premiums and deductibles for tens of millions of Americans and forcing them to pay thousands in out-of-pocket expenses.\n\nThe overwhelming majority of Americans support extending the ACA tax credits as costs of living balloon and President Trump\u2019s approval rating on the economy craters. With the upcoming vote on a three-year extension of the tax credits, Padilla urged Republicans to protect Americans\u2019 health care and address their affordability crisis.\n\nKey Excerpts\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re here today just about a month after the longest shutdown in American history. You all remember the 43 days that we went without a fully functioning federal government. Let\u2019s remember why that happened. Plain and simple, it was because our Republican colleagues refused to take steps to save health care for millions of Americans.\u201d\n\n\u201cI find it hard to take the word of the Republican majority that they\u2019re committed to addressing health care costs and to expand coverage to more Americans when they just kicked 15 million Americans off their insurance. And so yes, just about a one month after this longest shutdown in American history, we now find ourselves three weeks away from the expiration of the Affordable Care Act tax credits that so many of us are talking about.\u201d\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t let health coverage lapse for millions of Americans. This isn\u2019t a game. We\u2019re three weeks away from the catastrophic spike of cost in health insurance for so many.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe fact of the matter is our Republican colleagues don\u2019t have a serious plan. Look no further to the fact that it\u2019s the 11th hour now, and they\u2019ve put forward a proposal that wouldn\u2019t lower premiums for a single American. In fact, it would make the problem worse.\u201d\n\n\u201cAmericans are demanding that we do something about the cost of health care and the cost of living overall. \u2026 They\u2019re fed up. They\u2019re demanding that their government do something to help them get by, to help them survive in many cases, to address the affordability crunch.\u201d\n\n\u201cI urge everybody to vote \u2018yes,\u2019 and let\u2019s help millions of Americans keep their health care come the new year because we know that a \u2018no\u2019 vote will only rip that care away from millions of families. The choice, the contrast couldn\u2019t be any more clear.\u201d\n\nSenator Padilla consistently slammed President Trump and Senate Republicans for rejecting Democrats\u2019 bill to avert a government shutdown and protect health care coverage for millions of Americans. In September, Senator Padilla joined California health care leaders in Los Angeles to call on Congressional Republicans to work with Democrats to protect health care coverage for nearly 2 million California residents and avoid a Republican-caused government shutdown. In July, Padilla blasted Senate Republicans\u2019 passage of their tax bill that will kick 15 million Americans off their health care, shutter rural hospitals across the country, gut critical programs, and explode the debt by over $3.5 trillion.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "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.padilla.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/watch-padilla-calls-on-republicans-to-pass-democratic-proposal-to-keep-health-care-costs-from-skyrocketing-for-millions-of-americans/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.211265731602907, "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"}