{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-on-day-7-of-republicans-shutdown-democrats-are-fighting-to-lower-costs-for-every-single-american-where-are-their-republican-senators", "Warren on Day 7 of Republicans\u2019 Shutdown: \u201cDemocrats Are Fighting to Lower Costs for Every Single American. Where Are Their Republican Senators?\u201d", "2025-10-07", "2025", "2025-10", "Democrat", "Senate", "MA", "Elizabeth Warren", "W000817", "www.warren.senate.gov", "warren", "https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "Warren on Day 7 of Republicans\u2019 Shutdown: \u201cDemocrats Are Fighting to Lower Costs for Every Single American. Where Are Their Republican Senators?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhile Senate Republicans keep taking orders from their wannabe-king and drag out their government shutdown, Senate Democrats will not stop fighting to save health care and to lower costs for families.\u201d\n\nVideo of Floor Speech (YouTube)\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2014 Today, one full week into Republicans\u2019 government shutdown, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) spoke on the Senate floor about Congressional Republicans\u2019 ongoing refusal to negotiate an end to the shutdown and made clear that Democrats are fighting to undo dangerous cuts to health care.\n\n\u201cDemocrats are fighting to prevent insurance premiums from doubling. We are fighting to help American families hang onto their health insurance \u2014 because no one should go bankrupt because they got sick and needed to see a doctor,\u201d said Senator Warren.\n\nOne week into the government shutdown, Republicans have refused to reverse the health care cuts they approved in their Big, Beautiful Bill. Senator Warren sounded the alarm that the expiration of Affordable Care Act tax credits will hike the price of health care for nearly 22 million people. By one estimate, a 60-year-old couple making $85,000/year will have to pay over $22,000 more every year to keep their coverage.\n\n\u201cOur health care system was already broken with high premiums, insurance denials, and huge co-pays \u2014 and that was before Donald Trump and the Republicans in Congress decided to make the health care crisis so much worse\u2026An overwhelming majority of Americans want us to extend these tax credits so that insurance premiums don\u2019t go through the roof,\u201d Senator Warren warned.\n\nSenator Warren also read aloud the number of people in 27 states, represented by Republican senators, who would see their insurance premiums skyrocket.\n\n\u201cDemocrats are fighting to lower costs for every single one of those Americans. Where are their own Senators?\u201d asked Senator Warren.\n\nSenator Warren also called out President Trump\u2019s attempts to use the shutdown to retaliate against federal workers while exempting DOGE staffers.\n\n\u201cIn total, the Trump administration is furloughing over half a million workers who work every day to keep our country running \u2014 but at least Elon Musk\u2019s pals at DOGE are safe. And that tells you everything you need to know about the Republican plans,\u201d said Senator Warren.\n\n\u201cThis is not a partisan issue. This is not a partisan fight. Democrats are in this fight for all Americans. And we urge Senate Republicans to join us to protect health care coverage for millions of Americans and end this painful government shutdown,\u201d Senator Warren concluded.\n\nTranscript: Senator Warren\u2019s Senate Floor Speech on Day Seven of Republicans\u2019 Federal Government Shutdown\n\nU.S. Senate Floor\n\nOctober 7, 2025\n\nSenator Elizabeth Warren: Madam President, it has now been one whole week since Republicans shut down the government. So, why did they close the government? Because Republicans decided they would rather shut down the entire government than lower costs and save health care for millions of Americans.\n\nDonald Trump and Republicans in Congress are knocking 15 million people off their health insurance, driving up the cost of health care for everyone else, closing rural hospitals, shutting down community health care centers, and much much more \u2014 all so they can fund giant tax cuts for billionaires. Those are Republican priorities.\n\nDemocrats are fighting to prevent insurance premiums from doubling. We are fighting to help American families hang onto their health insurance \u2014 because no one should go bankrupt because they got sick and needed to see a doctor.\n\nIn the next few days, Americans will begin getting letters in the mail telling them their insurance premiums are going up \u2014 way way up. For some families, those premiums are doubling. Others will get priced out of their plans completely, leaving them with no coverage at all.\n\nAnd here\u2019s what that means: Thanks to Republicans in Congress, a 60-year-old couple making $85,000 a year will have to pay more than $22,000 EVERY YEAR to keep their coverage. $22,000. For families already hanging on by their fingernails, that could be a matter of keeping health care coverage or just giving up. And that could be a matter of life and death.\n\nI know what that\u2019s like. Growing up, there was never a time when my family didn\u2019t worry about money. My daddy ended up as a janitor. When I was 12, my daddy had a heart attack. He lost his job. The family station wagon was repossessed, and we were about to lose our home. My mother had never worked outside the home, but that is when she put on her best dress, got herself a minimum wage job answering phones at Sears, and saved our home and saved our family.\n\nOur health care system was already broken with high premiums, insurance denials, and huge co-pays \u2014 and that was before Donald Trump and the Republicans in Congress decided to make the health care crisis so much worse. Democrats are fighting to reverse Republicans\u2019 giant health care cuts and lower costs for Americans. Right now, it is only the Republicans in Congress that stand in the way.\n\nAffordable Care Act tax credits help people afford their health care. And they are set to expire at the end of the year, and insurance companies are re-setting their rates right now. Right now. We are barreling toward a tipping point for American families. If Congress does not act, nearly 22 million Americans will see their health insurance premiums more than DOUBLE on average. Democrats want to lower those costs right now. Republicans are shutting down the entire government instead of coming to the table to help American families.\n\nAn overwhelming majority of Americans want us to extend these tax credits so that insurance premiums don\u2019t go through the roof. Even most Trump supporters agree with us on this. Donald Trump himself just said he wants to make it better. And it is only Senate Republicans who are standing in the way.\n\nSenate Republicans have refused even to sit down and negotiate over healthcare cuts \u2014 even though thousands of their constituents will see their costs go way up.\n\nFor example, in Alabama, about 447,000 Americans will see their insurance premiums skyrocket.\n\nIn Alaska, about 24,000 Americans will see their insurance premiums skyrocket.\n\nIn Arkansas, it\u2019s about 144,000 Americans.\n\nIn Florida, it\u2019s 4.4 MILLION Americans.\n\nIn Idaho, it\u2019s 101,000 Americans.\n\nIn Indiana, it\u2019s 290,000 Americans.\n\nIn Iowa, it\u2019s 118,000 Americans.\n\nIn Kansas, it\u2019s 182,000 Americans.\n\nIn Kentucky, it\u2019s 77,000 Americans.\n\nIn Louisiana, it\u2019s 276,000 Americans.\n\nIn Maine, it\u2019s 54,000 Americans.\n\nIn Mississippi, it\u2019s 320,000 Americans.\n\nIn Missouri, it\u2019s 383,000 Americans.\n\nIn Montana, it\u2019s 67,000 Americans.\n\nIn North Carolina, it\u2019s 888,000 Americans.\n\nIn North Dakota, it\u2019s 38,000 Americans.\n\nIn Ohio, it\u2019s 514,000 Americans.\n\nIn Oklahoma, it\u2019s 290,000 Americans.\n\nIn Pennsylvania, it\u2019s 422,000 Americans.\n\nIn South Carolina, it\u2019s 588,000 Americans.\n\nIn South Dakota, it\u2019s 50,000 Americans.\n\nIn Tennessee, it\u2019s 593,000 Americans.\n\nIn Texas, it is 3.7 million Americans. Nearly four MILLION people who will see their insurance premiums skyrocket.\n\nIn Utah, it\u2019s 395,000 Americans.\n\nIn West Virginia, it\u2019s 63,000 Americans.\n\nIn Wisconsin, it\u2019s 272,000 Americans.\n\nIn Wyoming, it is 43,000 Americans.\n\nLook, Democrats are fighting to lower costs for every single one of those Americans. Where are their Republican senators?\n\nThose were the insurance premiums, which will cause about 5 million people to lose their coverage because they can\u2019t afford those higher costs. But Republicans are also cutting health care for another 10 MILLION Americans \u2014 that\u2019s seniors in nursing homes, mamas with newborn babies and it\u2019s your neighbor who needs a wheelchair or home health aide to live independently.\n\nDemocrats have said time and time again: If Congress is going to pass a budget for the U.S. government, then saving health care for those millions of Americans has to be part of the deal. We will not stop fighting for Americans\u2019 access to their doctors and to their hospitals.\n\nAnd what has been the response of Donald Trump? He doesn\u2019t want to talk about healthcare. Nope. Instead, his plan is to inflict maximum pain on Americans during this Republican shutdown. His right-hand man, Russ Vought, is shutting down important infrastructure projects as political punishment. They\u2019re threatening to fire many more federal workers. And get this: the White House is furloughing hundreds of staffers because of the Republican shutdown, but they are keeping every single DOGE staffer on. In total, the Trump administration is furloughing over half a million workers who work every day to keep our country running \u2014 but at least Elon Musk\u2019s pals at DOGE are safe. And that tells you everything you need to know about the Republican plans.\n\nThis may feel like a surprise to millions of Americans, but the Republican attack on Americans\u2019 health care has been long in the making. It\u2019s exactly the shutdown playbook Donald Trump and his lackeys laid out in their Project 2025.\n\nSince Day One, Trump has tried again and again and again to shut down the parts of government he just doesn\u2019t like. He has tried to illegally wipe away millions of dollars for programs that Congress had already agreed to fund. He has illegally fired tens of thousands of federal workers. He has illegally sent our troops to invade American cities. And the response of Republicans in the Senate has been to bow down and let Donald Trump do all of that and more. And now, during a government shutdown, the President of the United States is saying \u201ca lot of good\u201d can come from a shutdown, and \u201cwe can get rid of a lot of things we didn\u2019t want.\u201d\n\nAnd while all of that is going on, why would Democrats sign off on a Republican budget without ironclad guarantees to make sure that Trump won\u2019t just turn around and go back on the deal and not lower costs for families? The answer is we won\u2019t.\n\nWhile Senate Republicans keep taking orders from their wannabe-king and drag out their government shutdown, Senate Democrats will not stop fighting to save health care and to lower costs for families. We want rollbacks of the Republican cuts that will take away healthcare coverage from 15 million people and drive up insurance premiums for everyone else. This is not a partisan issue. This is not a partisan fight. Democrats are in this fight for all Americans. And we urge Senate Republicans to join us to protect health care coverage for millions of Americans and end this painful government shutdown.\n\nMadam President, I yield the floor.\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.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-on-day-7-of-republicans-shutdown-democrats-are-fighting-to-lower-costs-for-every-single-american-where-are-their-republican-senators"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9606019593775272, "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"}