diff --git a/scripts/workers/fcc_rmd_removed_scraper.py b/scripts/workers/fcc_rmd_removed_scraper.py
index 24daf64..f5e855f 100644
--- a/scripts/workers/fcc_rmd_removed_scraper.py
+++ b/scripts/workers/fcc_rmd_removed_scraper.py
@@ -113,15 +113,18 @@ def run_email_research(conn: psycopg2.extensions.connection) -> int:
     2. Try FCC CORES lookup by FRN
     3. Try guessing the company website and scraping contact emails
     """
-    cur = conn.cursor(cursor_factory=psycopg2.extras.RealDictCursor)
-    cur.execute("""
-        SELECT r.id, r.rmd_number, r.frn, r.business_name, r.business_address
-        FROM fcc_rmd_removed r
-        WHERE r.contact_email IS NULL
-          AND r.business_name NOT LIKE '[%'
-        ORDER BY r.id
-    """)
-    rows = cur.fetchall()
+    # Fetch all IDs upfront then close cursor — don't hold a transaction
+    # open while doing slow HTTP requests (CORES, website scraping)
+    with conn.cursor(cursor_factory=psycopg2.extras.RealDictCursor) as cur:
+        cur.execute("""
+            SELECT r.id, r.rmd_number, r.frn, r.business_name, r.business_address
+            FROM fcc_rmd_removed r
+            WHERE r.contact_email IS NULL
+              AND r.business_name NOT LIKE '[%'
+            ORDER BY r.id
+        """)
+        rows = cur.fetchall()
+    conn.commit()  # close the read transaction immediately
     LOG.info("Researching emails for %d removed carriers …", len(rows))
 
     found = 0
diff --git a/scripts/workers/fcc_rmd_scraper.py b/scripts/workers/fcc_rmd_scraper.py
index 8433e35..9b49ceb 100644
--- a/scripts/workers/fcc_rmd_scraper.py
+++ b/scripts/workers/fcc_rmd_scraper.py
@@ -304,18 +304,21 @@ def run_email_scrape(
 
     Returns the number of emails successfully fetched.
     """
-    cur = conn.cursor(cursor_factory=psycopg2.extras.RealDictCursor)
-    query = """
-        SELECT id, rmd_number, servicenow_sys_id
-        FROM fcc_rmd
-        WHERE contact_email IS NULL
-          AND servicenow_sys_id IS NOT NULL
-        ORDER BY rmd_number
-    """
-    if limit:
-        query += f" LIMIT {int(limit)}"
-    cur.execute(query)
-    rows = cur.fetchall()
+    # Fetch all IDs upfront then close the cursor — don't hold a transaction
+    # open while doing slow HTTP requests to ServiceNow
+    with conn.cursor(cursor_factory=psycopg2.extras.RealDictCursor) as cur:
+        query = """
+            SELECT id, rmd_number, servicenow_sys_id
+            FROM fcc_rmd
+            WHERE contact_email IS NULL
+              AND servicenow_sys_id IS NOT NULL
+            ORDER BY rmd_number
+        """
+        if limit:
+            query += f" LIMIT {int(limit)}"
+        cur.execute(query)
+        rows = cur.fetchall()
+    conn.commit()  # close the read transaction immediately
 
     LOG.info("Fetching email for %d records via SP API …", len(rows))
     scraped = 0
@@ -340,16 +343,17 @@ def run_email_scrape(
             email_val = _fetch_email_via_sp_api(sys_id, session)
 
             if email_val:
-                cur.execute(
-                    """
-                    UPDATE fcc_rmd
-                    SET contact_email = %s,
-                        contact_email_scraped_at = now(),
-                        updated_at = now()
-                    WHERE id = %s
-                    """,
-                    (email_val, row["id"]),
-                )
+                with conn.cursor() as ucur:
+                    ucur.execute(
+                        """
+                        UPDATE fcc_rmd
+                        SET contact_email = %s,
+                            contact_email_scraped_at = now(),
+                            updated_at = now()
+                        WHERE id = %s
+                        """,
+                        (email_val, row["id"]),
+                    )
                 conn.commit()
                 scraped += 1
                 if i <= 10 or i % 500 == 0: