{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.warnock.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/icymiwarnock-votes-to-pay-federal-workers-amid-shutdown/", "ICYMI: Warnock Votes to Pay Federal Workers Amid Shutdown", "2025-10-27", "2025", "2025-10", "Democrat", "Senate", "GA", "Raphael G. Warnock", "W000790", "www.warnock.senate.gov", "warnock", "https://www.warnock.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "Senator Reverend Warnock voted \u201cYes\u201d for the Shutdown Fairness Act. The legislation would have paid federal workers during the shutdown, including TSA Agents, federal law enforcement, and the military\n\nThe legislation failed by a 54-45 vote\n\nSenator Warnock: \u201cWashington Republicans have created a false choice between reopening the government and preventing premiums from doubling on average for 1.2 million Georgians. It\u2019s not complicated, Congress can and must reopen the government, get paychecks out to all federal workers, and fund health care\u201d\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2013 This week, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) voted \u201cYes\u201d on the Shutdown Fairness Act, legislation that would have provided permanent funding to federal agencies to pay the salaries and benefits of employees and contractors who are required to work during a government shutdown. Senator Warnock has also voted seven times on legislation to reopen the government and extend premium tax credits that would keep premiums from doubling on average for 1.2 million Georgians.\n\nSelect coverage of Senator Warnock\u2019s vote to support federal workers can be found below:\n\nCNN: Sen. Warnock says he supported GOP bill to pay some federal \u200bworkers because they shouldn\u2019t be \u201cpunished\u201d\n\nDemocratic Sen. Raphael Warnock explained today that his vote in favor of Republicans\u2019 bill to continue paychecks for some federal employees working through the shutdown was because he didn\u2019t want to see workers punished.\n\n\u201cI think that the Republicans are tragically holding the American people who need health care hostage. They\u2019re holding federal workers hostage, and just because they\u2019ve decided to shut down the government doesn\u2019t mean that these workers ought to be punished,\u201d the Georgia Democrat said. \u201cAnd so some of these folks that they\u2019re holding hostage had a path to get some relief, I\u2019m happy to offer that to them. Meanwhile, I\u2019m fighting for health care.\u201d\n\nWarnock was one of three Democrats who voted in favor of GOP Senator Ron Johnson\u2019s bill, which would not cover furloughed employees. The other two were Sens. Jon Ossoff and John Fetterman. Johnson\u2019s bill failed to advance Thursday.\n\nAtlanta Journal-Constitution: Crossing the aisle\n\nU.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock joined Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. John Fetterman as the only Democrats to vote with Republicans on a bill that would have paid federal employees still working during the shutdown. The bill failed because it did not have enough votes to overcome a filibuster.\n\n\u201cEssential workers shouldn\u2019t be punished because Washington Republicans chose to shut down the government,\u201d Warnock said.\n\nThe Hill: Ossoff, Warnock break with Democrats on bill to pay essential workers during shutdown\n\nOssoff\u2019s and Warnock\u2019s votes are notable because they have voted 12 times against a House-passed bill to reopen the government and fund it through Nov. 21. They have, however, voted repeatedly for a Democratic alternative to fund the government through Oct. 31, permanently extend enhanced health insurance premiums and restore nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts.\n\nWarnock said Republicans are \u201ctragically holding the American people who need health care hostage\u201d and \u201cholding federal workers hostage.\u201d He argued that federal workers who are required to work without pay throughout the shutdown should not be \u201cpunished.\u201d\n\n\u201cJust because they decided to shut down the government doesn\u2019t mean these workers ought to be punished,\u201d he said, referring to Republicans.\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.warnock.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/icymiwarnock-votes-to-pay-federal-workers-amid-shutdown/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 12.09613773971796, "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"}