{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://foster.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/foster-votes-for-bipartisan-budget-agreement", "Foster Votes For Bipartisan Budget Agreement", "2013-12-12", "2013", "2013-12", "Democrat", "House", "IL", "Bill Foster", "F000454", "foster.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, Congressman Bill Foster (IL-11) voted in favor of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 to fund the government for the next two years.\u00a0\n\u201cI am pleased that Congress was finally able to do its job and pass a bipartisan budget agreement.\u00a0 While this bill isn\u2019t perfect, it reduces the deficit and provides relief from the drastic sequestration cuts that have hurt vital programs in the 11th District of Illinois.\u00a0 The agreement protects Medicare and Social Security benefits, despite efforts by Republicans to drastically reduce these essential programs that millions of seniors in Illinois rely on,\u201d said Foster.\u00a0 \u201cMost importantly, it allows Congress to stop governing from crisis to crisis and focus on the work the people sent us here to do, like tackling the debt, creating jobs, growing our economy, and getting a comprehensive immigration bill signed into law.\u201d\n\u201cWhile I am pleased this agreement passed with strong bipartisan support, I am disappointed that Congress is going home for the year without taking action on many important issues.\u00a0 Congress has failed to pass an extension of unemployment insurance, pulling a critical safety net out from under 1.3 million people on December 28.\u00a0 They failed to pass comprehensive immigration reform, leaving 11 million immigrants in limbo.\u00a0 They failed to pass commonsense legislation to prevent gun violence.\u00a0 And they failed to pass meaningful legislation to support jobs and economic growth,\u201d added Foster.\u00a0 \u201cNow that we have passed a budget, I hope that we can work together to take action on these important issues.\u201d\nThe Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 provides a framework for funding the government for two years.\u00a0 Spending for the current fiscal year is set at $1.012 trillion -- $520.5 billion for defense discretionary spending and $491.8 billion for non-defense discretionary spending.\u00a0\u00a0 The legislation provides $63 billion in sequester relief over the next two years and will reduce the deficit by $23 billion over 10 years.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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": ["http://foster.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/foster-votes-for-bipartisan-budget-agreement"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4281128533184528, "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"}