{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-on-republicans-government-shutdown-democrats-want-to-save-health-care-only-republicans-stand-in-the-way", "Warren On Republicans\u2019 Government Shutdown: Democrats Want to Save Health Care, Only Republicans Stand in the Way", "2025-10-01", "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 Republicans\u2019 Government Shutdown: Democrats Want to Save Health Care, Only Republicans Stand in the Way\n\n\u201cDemocrats want to keep the government open AND we want rollbacks of the Republican cuts that will cost 15 million Americans their health care coverage and drive up insurance costs for everyone else.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis isn\u2019t partisan. This is a righteous fight on behalf of everyone who needs health care\u2026We\u2019re in this fight for Americans and for American health care. And it is only the Senate Republicans\u2014led by Donald Trump\u2014who stand in the way.\u201d\n\nVideo of Floor Speech (YouTube)\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2014 On the first day of Republicans\u2019 government shutdown, Senator Warren took to the Senate floor to set the record straight.\n\n\u201cRepublicans control the House, Republicans control the Senate, Republicans control the White House. They are in power. It is their job to keep the government running for the American people \u2014 and they have failed,\u201d she said.\n\nWhile Senate Democrats want to reverse cuts Republicans made to Americans\u2019 health care in their Big, Beautiful Bill, Senate Republicans refuse to even come to the table.\n\n\u201cWe have been asking for months to negotiate this. And the Republicans have said 'no.' What are they doing right now? Are they making counter-offers? Are they saying we can go this far but not this far?\u201d asked Senator Warren.\n\n\u201c[N]ow, when a family is forced to the brink of bankruptcy from one bad medical diagnosis, Trump and Republicans own it. Republicans insist that those health care cuts go through,\u201d Senator Warren continued.\n\nShe also called out Republicans\u2019 refusal to check President Trump\u2019s illegal power grabs.\n\n\u201cTrump is playing king time and time again, and Republicans in Congress are bowing down and letting him do it,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cThis isn\u2019t partisan. This is a righteous fight on behalf of everyone who needs health care\u2026We\u2019re in this fight for Americans and for American health care. And it is only the Senate Republicans\u2014led by Donald Trump\u2014who stand in the way,\u201d Senator Warren concluded.\n\nTranscript: Senator Warren\u2019s Floor Speech on the Government Shutdown\n\nU.S. Senate Floor\n\nOctober 1, 2025\n\nSenator Elizabeth Warren: Mr. President, in July, when Republicans voted on the first spending bill for 2026 \u2014 with cuts that would knock 15 million people off health care \u2014 I stood right here and asked my Republican colleagues in the Senate to grow a spine and stand up for Americans. We are here today because the Republicans refused. Instead, Republicans bowed down to Trump \u2014 and now people all across this country will suffer.\n\nLet\u2019s be clear: Republicans shut down the government because they\u2019d rather make health care more expensive than keep the government running. That is literally where we are right now.\n\nRepublicans control the House, Republicans control the Senate, Republicans control the White House. They are in power. It is their job to keep the government running for the American people \u2014 and they have failed.\n\nDonald Trump and Republicans own this shutdown.\n\nAnd don\u2019t take it from me. Listen to Donald J. Trump. In 2013, Trump himself said, about a potential government shutdown: \u201cif there is a shutdown, I think it would be a tremendously negative mark on the president of the United States. He\u2019s the one that has to get people together.\u201d\n\nAt the same time, Trump said \u201cThe president has to lead,\u201d \u201cyou have to get people in a room and you have to just make deals for the good of the country.\u201d\n\nDonald Trump today should listen to Donald Trump from yesterday. Instead, Trump\u2014Mr. Art of the Deal\u2014hasn\u2019t been able to cut a deal for the most basic government functions. Wow. As Trump said, that\u2019s \u201ca tremendously negative mark on the president of the United States.\u201d\n\nLet me say it again: Democrats are fighting to roll back the Republican cuts that will take away health care from millions of people and raise health insurance premiums for millions more. That\u2019s it. That\u2019s what we\u2019re asking for. We have been asking for months to negotiate this. And the Republicans have said \u201cno.\u201d What are they doing right now? Are they making counter-offers? Are they saying we can go this far but not this far?\n\nNope. They are simply saying \u201cno.\u201d\n\nSo now, when a family is forced to the brink of bankruptcy from one bad medical diagnosis, Trump and Republicans own it. Republicans insist that those health care cuts go through.\n\nWhen community hospitals have to shut down, Trump and Republicans own it.\n\nWhen kids with cancer can\u2019t get treatment because potentially life-saving research grants come to a screeching halt, Trump and Republicans own it.\n\nWhen insurance premiums skyrocket, Trump and Republicans own it.\n\nHealth care in America was already broken. But Trump and Republicans are making it much, much worse. They ripped away money that covers mamas giving birth and neighbors who need wheelchairs and home health aides and they handed it right over to giant corporations and billionaire CEOs.\n\nDemocrats believe that no one should go bankrupt because they got sick and needed to see a doctor.\n\nSo Democrats are here to say we are willing to fight for families who need health care. If Congress is going to pass a budget for the United States government, then Democrats want saving health care for millions of Americans just to be part of that deal. Democrats made that clear, and Republicans have refused even to talk about it.\n\nTrump is already doing his best to shut down government\u2014or at least to shut down the parts of government he doesn\u2019t like. Since Day One, Trump has been trying to illegally wipe away millions of dollars for programs that Congress already agreed to fund. Trump and his buddy Elon Musk have fired tens of thousands of federal workers. Trump is declaring American cities as \u201cwar zones\u201d and sending troops to invade communities. Trump is playing king time and time again, and Republicans in Congress are bowing down and letting him do it.\n\nWhile all that is going on, Republicans in Congress want Democrats to sign a blank check over to Trump and let him continue to shut down whatever he doesn\u2019t like and to destroy our democracy. They want us to agree to a budget, knowing full well that Trump will then turn around tomorrow and delete this part or that part or whatever he doesn\u2019t like \u2014 just like he has already done.\n\nWhy would we play along with that farce? Why would we throw our support behind a deal that any time, any day, Trump could just decide he doesn\u2019t feel like honoring \u2014 and why would we do that without getting anything in return to help American families who are struggling with high costs, particularly the health care costs that Republicans are driving up. To do that would be a betrayal of the American people.\n\nSenate Democrats are holding the line for families. Senate Republicans decided they\u2019d rather take orders from a wannabe-king and shut down the entire government instead of helping out families who are getting squeezed on health care costs. It really is that simple.\n\nMake no mistake: this Trump shutdown will hurt people.\n\nBecause of Republicans, children across this country could lose access to childcare through Head Start.\n\nBecause of Republicans, the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center will now stop enrolling patients in clinical trials that could be their only shot at treatment.\n\nBecause of Republicans, air traffic controller hiring will stop \u2014 at a time when we\u2019re already dealing with a dangerous shortage.\n\nBecause of Republicans, park rangers \u2014 and thousands of other civil servants \u2014 won\u2019t get paid.\n\nBecause of Republicans, Donald Trump\u2019s corruption and chaos will continue.\n\nSo what\u2019s next? Democrats want to keep the government open AND we want rollbacks of the Republican cuts that will cost 15 million Americans their health care coverage and drive up insurance costs for everyone else.\n\nThis isn\u2019t partisan. This is a righteous fight on behalf of everyone who needs health care, everyone who might need to go to the hospital, everyone who counts on a community clinic or a home health aide\u2014whether they are a Democrat, a Republican, an Independent or a None-of-the-Above. We\u2019re in this fight for Americans and for American health care. And it is only the Senate Republicans\u2014led by Donald Trump\u2014who stand in the way.\n\nThank you, Mr. 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-republicans-government-shutdown-democrats-want-to-save-health-care-only-republicans-stand-in-the-way"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8931681513786316, "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"}