{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.toomey.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/toomey-statement-on-passage-of-latest-covid-19-relief-bill", "Toomey Statement on Passage of Latest COVID-19 Relief Bill", "2020-12-21", "2020", "2020-12", "Republican", "House", "PA", "Patrick Toomey", "T000461", "www.toomey.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington,\r\nD.C.\r\n U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) issued the following statement after voting\r\nin favor of the latest COVID-19 relief bill:  For\r\nthe fourth time this year, Congress has passed major spending legislation to\r\nhelp the American people cope with the economic and public health fallout of\r\nthe COVID-19 pandemic. While there is much in this bill that I disagree with,\r\nincluding wasteful government spending and misguided policies that will dampen\r\nthe recovery, the good it does outweighs the bad.  I\r\nam glad that Congress is extending unemployment eligibility for the\r\nself-employed and gig workers; reauthorizing the Paycheck Protection Program to\r\nhelp small businesses hurt by government shutdowns; picking up virtually the\r\nentire cost of the distribution and administering of the COVID-19 vaccine to\r\nthe American people; and providing substantial assistance for education so\r\nchildren can safely return to school. In\r\nthis legislation, Senate Republicans also secured an unqualified victory for\r\ntaxpayers with the wind down of the successful emergency lending facilities\r\nestablished in the CARES Act  just as Congress intended and the law requires.\r\nWithout these protections, the risk for mischief with the Fed's extraordinary\r\npowers was far too real. Concerns about possible political interference are\r\ngreatly diminished since the law now redirects more than $429 billion of unused\r\nfunds to offset about half of the cost of this bill and ensures these\r\nfacilities cannot be restarted or replicated in the future without congressional\r\napproval. ###", 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.toomey.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/toomey-statement-on-passage-of-latest-covid-19-relief-bill"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4283000491559505, "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"}