{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.welch.senate.gov/welch-calls-on-republicans-to-help-democrats-rescue-american-families-and-extend-aca-tax-credits-there-is-absolutely-no-excuse-for-us-to-delay-this-is-the-urgency-of-now/", "Welch Calls on Republicans to Help Democrats Rescue American Families and Extend ACA Tax Credits: \u201cThere is absolutely no excuse for us to delay\u2014this is the urgency of now.\u201d", "2025-10-16", "2025", "2025-10", "Democrat", "Senate", "VT", "Peter Welch", "W000800", "www.welch.senate.gov", "welch", "https://www.welch.senate.gov/category/press-release/page/", "scraper", "Typical family of four in Vermont making $130,000 will face a $22,000 spike in annual health care premiums if Republicans refuse to extend ACA subsidies\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 On the Senate floor, U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, called on Republicans to come to the table and negotiate in good faith with Democrats to reopen the government and rescue hardworking Americans who rely on Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits to afford their health care. In his remarks, Senator Welch emphasized the urgency of extending the ACA subsidies, which help nearly 27,000 low- and moderate-income Vermonters access health coverage through the ACA marketplace.\n\n\u201cThe question I have is: why don\u2019t we, all of us\u2014Republicans and Democrats\u2014who care deeply about the people we represent really come to their rescue by acting, and acting now? There is absolutely no excuse for us to delay. This is the urgency of now. And I stand before you, Mr. President, knowing that right now, in my state of Vermont\u2014from Bennington to Derby Line, from Brattleboro to Swanton\u2014people are going to their mailbox and fainting as they get the news of these rate shocks,\u201d said Senator Welch.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not right. But, most importantly for us, it\u2019s not necessary, because we\u2014the United States Senate\u2014have the power to act and to be fair to the folks who are working hard in all of our states, and are entitled to have some confidence that the health care that they have this year they\u2019ll continue to be able to afford next year.\u201d\n\nWatch Senator Welch\u2019s speech below:\n\nIf Republicans refuse to work with Democrats and extend these discounted premiums, the tax credits will expire on December 31, 2025, resulting in rate increases and pushing affordable health care out of reach for millions of Americans.\n\nRead key excerpts from Senator Welch\u2019s remarks:\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re going into day 15 of the shutdown. No one likes shutdowns\u2026I don\u2019t like shutdowns. But some things are worth fighting for. Some things we must fight for, and one of the things that is most essential to the well-being of the people we represent\u2014whether it is a Republican state or Democratic state\u2014is access to affordable health care. And we have a date that is looming: November 1st where people are going to be getting\u2014across this country\u2014notifications about how much of an increase they will have to pay if they are getting tax support; tax credits for them to buy their own insurance in the private marketplace. That is the urgency of the moment and why we must resolve this now. We must resolve this now.\u201d\n\n\u2022\u2022\u2022\n\n\u201cAll of us who have the authority of being in the United States Senate, and representing the people who sent us here, should not allow that rate premium shock to crush that family. By the way, this is not just this family in Vermont. This is families all across our country. You know, if these tax premiums, these tax credits expire\u2014and that\u2019s what they do\u2014then we are going to see nearly 5 million people across this country, in your state and mine, lose their coverage. 24 million Americans will face higher costs.\n\n\u201cThat includes about 17 million people in states that voted for President Trump\u2014families in red states are going to see significant premium increases. But, you know, this is not about red state, blue state for me. This is about American families, American small businesses, and whether they can have access to affordable health care.\u201d\n\nThis Congress, Senator Welch has led the introduction of several bills to make health care more accessible and affordable for Vermonters, including the Strengthening Medicare and Reducing Taxpayer (SMART) Prices Act, Fair Prescription Drug Prices for Americans Act, End Price Gouging for Medications Act, Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act, Protecting Pharmacies in Medicaid Act, Fair Funding for Rural Hospitals Act, and the Rural Hospital Support Act.\n\nLearn more about his work by visiting his website or by following him on social media.\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.welch.senate.gov/welch-calls-on-republicans-to-help-democrats-rescue-american-families-and-extend-aca-tax-credits-there-is-absolutely-no-excuse-for-us-to-delay-this-is-the-urgency-of-now/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8871208410710096, "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"}