{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.rickscott.senate.gov/sen-rick-scott-merry-christmas-heres-how-congress-about-waste-your-money", "Sen. Rick Scott: Merry Christmas, Heres How Congress is About to Waste Your Money", "2019-12-19", "2019", "2019-12", "Republican", "House", "FL", "Rick Scott", "S001217", "www.rickscott.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C.  In case you missed it, Senator Rick Scott wrote an op-ed for National Review about the $1.4 trillion, 2,313 page-long spending package that Congress is voting on this week.\nIn the op-ed, Senator Rick Scott wrote, This week, Congress is set to vote on a giant spending package  2,313 pages long  that was just released, was negotiated in secret, spends $1.4 trillion, and is chock full of member projects and special-interest giveaways.\nTo put that number in context: Without any opportunity to read the bill, Congress will vote to spend more than $4,200 for every man, woman, and child in America. That's on top of the $23 trillion in debt we've already accumulated, not to mention that the federal government is already running a trillion-dollar deficit, every year.\n\nAnd let's not forget. This bill spends $1.4 trillion, with no cuts or reforms.\nThis is not how Washington is supposed to work.\n\nBut one simple idea that we can get done right now is No Budget, No Pay. If Congress can't pass a budget and appropriations bills in a timely and orderly fashion, members of Congress shouldn't get a paycheck. You don't get paid if you don't do your job. Why should Congress?\nIt's time to stop the madness. How many more trillions of dollars do we need to spend before we wake up to the danger of our national debt?\nWe need to reform the way Washington works, and we need to do it now.\nRead the full op-ed in the National Review HERE.\n###", 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.rickscott.senate.gov/sen-rick-scott-merry-christmas-heres-how-congress-about-waste-your-money"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7808168884366751, "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"}