***WATCH: Senator Murray’s Remarks***
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, delivered the following remarks at this afternoon’s Senate Democratic leadership press conference. Senator Murray discussed what needs to happen so that Congress can pass a supplemental funding package to meet urgent national security priorities and pass full-year appropriations bills ahead of the fast-approaching funding deadlines.
Senator Murray’s remarks, as delivered, are below:
“Let’s cut to the chase here: we can pass our national security supplemental. And we can do it quickly.
“But Senators need to decide if they are serious about delivering on aid to Ukraine and other critical national security priorities or if they want to go home for the holidays and abandon our allies and deliver a massive gift to Putin.
“Democrats remain serious and ready to negotiate around bipartisan border policy—but we will not entertain any kind of partisan wish list of permanent, far-right overhauls to immigration policy.
“Now is the time to work together. It sends a dangerous message when one-half of the Senate is focused on pitting allies and crises against each other as political bargaining chips.
“We’ve talked about this at length: we simply cannot afford further delays that tell our adversaries they can just wait us out.
“We cannot afford half steps that tell our allies we will only stand by some of them, some of the time—so I hope Senate Republicans will choose to work with us here.
“And now, for those not keeping count—we are just 38 days from the first government funding deadline that the Speaker set.
“I don’t think the American people want to see food safety inspectors or air traffic controllers furloughed.
“But if we want to make progress on full-year funding bills, then we need Speaker Johnson to get back to the full topline spending deal that House Republicans negotiated themselves.
“Consider what kind of precedent it sets, if now—months after a spending agreement was negotiated and passed into law; three months into the current fiscal year—House Republicans want to pull the rug out from the rest of us, and go back on their word and the deal that they cut.
“Remember, House Republicans negotiated that very deal directly with the White House in the first place—not Democrats and not Senate Republicans.
“A shutdown is not an acceptable outcome. A date-change, full-year CR, as the Speaker has proposed, is not an acceptable outcome.
“We need to pass full-year spending bills—that’s it. So, I hope the Speaker hears me loud and clear: get back to the full deal that you cut, that you voted for, and let’s do our jobs.”
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