{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.welch.senate.gov/welch-joins-27-senate-democrats-on-anti-cash-grab-act-to-repeal-500000-republican-kickback/", "Welch Joins 27 Senate Democrats on Anti-Cash Grab Act to Repeal $500,000 Republican Kickback", "2025-11-18", "2025", "2025-11", "Democrat", "Senate", "VT", "Peter Welch", "W000800", "www.welch.senate.gov", "welch", "https://www.welch.senate.gov/category/press-release/page/", "scraper", "Bill repeals last-minute \u2018Arctic Frost\u2019 provision allowing Republican Senators to collect $500,000 per lawfully subpoenaed phone record\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the Senate Rules Committee, today joined U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch, U.S. Senator Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), and 25 Senate Democrats in introducing the Anti-Cash Grab Act, legislation that will repeal a provision\u2014quietly added into the Senate government funding bill at the last minute\u2014that allows Senators to collect $500,000 for every phone record lawfully obtained.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no excuse for this Republican kickback\u2014it\u2019s a gross abuse of the policymaking process and should be immediately blocked before the American taxpayers are forced to pay millions of dollars. This bill is just common sense,\u201d said Senator Welch.\n\n\u201cWhile Democrats were fighting to make health care more affordable and help working families put food on the table, Senate Republicans were focused on taxpayer-funded windfalls for themselves. Let\u2019s be crystal clear: negotiating a $500,000 windfall for yourself while refusing to help everyday Americans is wrong and deserves to be called out,\u201d said Senator Heinrich. \u201cOur bill is about accountability, transparency, and fighting for working families. The Senate must take this bill up and pass it now.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhile we were fighting to lower health care costs and keep food on the table for hardworking Americans, Senate Republicans were slipping a taxpayer-funded payout for themselves into the government funding bill,\u201d said Senator Kelly. \u201cIt\u2019s a political cash grab \u2014 plain and simple, and our bill puts an end to it. Republicans and Democrats should be able to agree that ripping off American taxpayers is bad policy.\u201d\n\nIn addition to Senators Welch, Heinrich, and Kelly, the legislation is cosponsored by Sens. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Angus King (I-Maine), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n (D-N.M.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).\n\nLearn more about the Anti-Cash Grab Act.\n\nRead and download the full text of the bill.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"]], "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-joins-27-senate-democrats-on-anti-cash-grab-act-to-repeal-500000-republican-kickback/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6963871419429779, "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"}