ICYMI: Senator Murray Remarks at Senate Budget Resolution Markup: Blasts Roadmap to Devastating Cuts, Calls for Budget Hearing with Musk – MORE HERE
Washington, D.C. — Today, at the Senate Budget Committee’s mark up of Senate Republicans’ budget resolution, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a senior member and former Chair of the Senate Budget Committee, put forward six amendments to steer Republicans toward a bipartisan approach to spending, affirm Congress’ power of the purse, reverse massive arbitrary cuts to NIH, deliver transparency into the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and more. Republicans unanimously opposed every amendment Murray and other Democrats offered.
MURRAY AMENDMENT 01: Senator Murray first proposed an amendment to address defense and nondefense needs equally—tackling national security concerns and challenges at the border alongside priorities like supporting our veterans, biomedical research, child care, agriculture, and more—noting that such investments should be a part of ongoing bipartisan topline negotiations between appropriators. Rather than the $342 billion Republicans are proposing in mandatory funding through the partisan reconciliation process, Murray’s amendment would have provided $171 billion in discretionary funding for defense and $171 in discretionary funding for non-defense needs. Unlike the partisan approach taken by Republicans, the funding under the Murray amendment would be available to address a range of critical needs, including but not limited to national security and the border.
“Democrats share many of your concerns about investing in our national security, providing more resources to address the challenges at the border, and making sure we counter China,” said Senator Murray of her amendment to equally divide the proposed spending toward defense and non-defense priorities. “While also wanting to make sure we address critical areas like supporting veterans, agriculture, wildfires, disaster response, biomedical research, child care, and much more. So, the approach in my amendment is to say we should work together on a bipartisan basis – and really this should be part of the topline conversations we are having now as we hurtle toward the March 14th funding deadline. I want to make clear Democrats remain at the table on the FY 2025 topline – but it is getting pretty lonely for us when we see Republicans assume a trillion dollars for this year alone in unilateral DOGE cuts, remain quiet as Russ Vought and the administration continues to unlawfully impound funds, and now propose to jam through $342 billion in funding for your priorities on a partisan basis—while I am trying to negotiate in good faith a bipartisan, four-corner topline deal for fiscal year 2025. I would urge my Republican colleagues to get serious and keep your eye on the ball regarding the funding lapse on March 14th, not to mention the sequester cuts at the end of April.”
MURRAY AMENDMENT 06: Senator Murray pressed her colleagues to pass an amendment to stand up to the Trump Administration and affirm Congress’ power of the purse which Republicans all unanimously opposed.
“This is not a partisan issue—it is about upholding our laws and Congress’s constitutional authority over federal spending,” said Senator Murray of her amendment to affirm Congressional spending authority. “The Constitution grants Congress—not the President—the power of the purse. This has been affirmed time and again—by: The Supreme Court, Congress, The Government Accountability Office, and others. And yet, Trump, Elon Musk, and Russ Vought have been holding up huge chunks of funding that Congress passed—often on a bipartisan basis. When Presidents ignore our spending laws and the power of the purse our Constitution gives Congress—not the president—it doesn’t just block funding for the American people, it erodes the trust necessary for bipartisan negotiations in Congress. As I have emphasized, Members of Congress—on both sides—must know a deal is a deal. This amendment is about protecting the integrity of our democratic process—our most fundamental checks and balances. Every Senator—Republican or Democrat—should support this amendment to preserve Congress’s authority and maintain the trust necessary for effective governance.”
MURRAY AMENDMENT 17: Senator Murray also offered an amendment to reverse the Trump Administration’s indiscriminate cut to biomedical research and the lifesaving work supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) at research institutions across the country—which no Republican spoke in opposition to during debate, but every Republican voted in opposition.
“On Friday night the Trump Administration announced it was implementing a policy to arbitrarily cut National Institutes of Health funding that supports biomedical research at institutions across the country,” said Senator Murray of her amendment to reverse Trump’s proposed policy on indirect costs. “In capping indirect cost rates at 15 percent for NIH-funded grants, this policy would cut funding that is essential to conducting research – such as operating and maintaining labs and research facilities. That is in clear violation of our annual appropriations bills, which have included an explicit prohibition on NIH implementing a policy exactly like this since fiscal year 2018. Fortunately, a court has temporarily paused the policy, but let’s be clear, if the Trump administration were to be successful in gutting NIH funding in this way, it would be absolutely catastrophic for lifesaving research patients and families are counting on, including lifesaving cancer research at Fred Hutch in my home state of Washington, and at so many other institutions in Red and Blue states nationwide.”
“Research would come to a halt, sick kids would not get the treatment they need, and clinical trials would shut down abruptly,” Murray continued. “Our commitment to supporting basic research infrastructure—which this policy does—is what helped make the American research enterprise the best in the world. This is funding that helps produce medical breakthroughs and change patients’ lives and ensure that the U.S. continues to be the global leader in biomedical research. NIH is an important economic driver in just about every single one of our states—creating jobs and spurring innovation.”
MURRAY AMENDMENT 05: Senator Murray pushed for passage of an amendment to have the Senate request the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review, audit and report back within 90 days on DOGE, including the appropriateness of the authorities and finances under which it is operating; internal controls and compliance with appropriations, data privacy, and other laws; the hiring, vetting, and security clearance of its employees, special government employees, and volunteers; appropriateness of actions taken to cancel contracts, reassign or otherwise change the status of federal employees; and any other areas deemed appropriate by the Comptroller General. Every Republican voted no.
“My amendment requests the Government Accountability Office to review, audit and report back within 90 days on the so called Department of Government Efficiency so that we can understand its role, authorities, and impacts,” said Senator Murray of her amendment to provide some level of transparency into DOGE. “Mr. Chairman, your Mark assumes $1 trillion in savings over the remaining seven to eight months in 2025. That is an astronomical amount of savings to achieve in a very short amount of time and with absolutely no detail provided to us. Those savings would appear largely to come from DOGE, which is operating throughout the government without any authorization from Congress, without any normal disclosure of people, processes, or conflicts, and really with no accountability whatsoever. Whether you support some actions of DOGE or not, you should support transparency and accountability to Congress and the American public. Elon Musk and DOGE have already tried to shut down USAID, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and we are told it is now targeting the Department of Education, with the President saying he wants Musk over at the Pentagon next. None of this is normal – not DOGE, the involvement of an unelected billionaire, the vast influence it has, or the actions they have taken to date with little or no input from Congress.”
“Let’s be clear—no one voted to let an unelected billionaire decide what bills the federal government would or wouldn’t pay or whether our elementary schools and hospitals get funding, but President Trump is giving Elon the keys to the Treasury,” continued Senator Murray. “And, again, the lack of transparency into its people, processes, and potential conflicts should concern every one of us. So, my hope is with this amendment we can agree to some oversight of DOGE and ask Congress’s independent, nonpartisan watchdog, the GAO, to review DOGE and report back to us within 90 days. And if you are not supportive of this—I have to ask, what are you scared of finding out?”
MURRAY AMENDMENT 15: Murray also put forward an amendment to prevent federal disaster assistance from being included in the highly partisan budget reconciliation process and ensure that federal disaster relief funds go to the communities that need them when they need them.
MURRAY AMENDMENT 14: Murray also pressed to pass an amendment, modeled off her Veteran Families Health Services Act, to provide additional funding for improving the reproductive assistance provided by the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs to members of the Armed Forces, veterans, and their spouses or partners—particularly for IVF. Every Republican also opposed these amendments, notwithstanding their intention to significantly increase the size of our military through their reconciliation plan, which will result in even more servicemembers and veterans needing reproductive assistance.
Prior to consideration of amendments, Senator Murray underscored in her opening comments that the resolution Senate Republicans have put forth is a roadmap to devastating cuts to programs families count on every day—from Medicaid to SNAP to veterans benefits—so that Republicans can later pass more tax breaks for the ultra-rich. Senator Murray emphasized that right now Congress’ focus should be on addressing the fast-approaching March 14 funding deadline and addressing President Trump and Elon Musk’s sweeping, illegal funding freeze—not a partisan measure to gut investments in working people. She also called for Elon Musk to come before the Committee to discuss his already in-motion efforts to decimate programs people count on.
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