Mulvaney to Murray on POTUS Budget: “I probably would have found enough shortcomings in this to vote against it”
Murray: So you would say this is a no as a member of Congress? Mulvaney: Yeah
White House then scrambles to backtrack, claims Mulvaney meant a different budget than the one he was there to testify about, was asked about by Murray, and was clearly talking about
WATCH VIDEO OF EXCHANGE HERE
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) released the following statement after Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney admitted to her in a Budget Committee hearing on the President’s Budget that he wouldn’t vote for the budget he was proposing and asking them to support. The Office of Management and Budget then sent a note to reporters trying to backtrack and claim that he wasn’t actually saying that.
“I was surprised to hear Director Mulvaney being so honest with me about the fact that he was asking us to support a budget he’d never vote for as a Congressman—and then I was disappointed that the White House refused to let this honesty stand and Director Mulvaney was forced to backtrack on his very clear statement to me.”
Transcript of exchange (Watch VIDEO here):
Murray: Director Mulvaney, for years I’ve heard you rail against deficit spending. You called yourself a deficit hawk. You claimed to take our debt very seriously. You called for balanced budget amendments. You said our debt—is “so large as to defy description.” Well, the debt has only grown since. The deficit has increased under this Administration—approaching a trillion dollars this year and next. And it can’t “defy description”—because you describe it in the pages of this budget proposal and don’t even try to hold yourself to the standard you held President Obama to.
So I was prepared to call you out on your hypocrisy here today, but then I heard you say on Sunday that if you were in Congress, you would have voted against the Budget legislation that President Trump just signed. So I wanted to give you a chance here today to step back from the hypocrisy.
If you were in Congress—would you have voted for this budget—that you are presenting?
Mulvaney: As a member of congress representing the 5th district of South Carolina, I probably would have found enough shortcomings in this to vote against it as did many members of this committee. But I’m the director of the Office and Management and Budget, my job is to try and fund the president’s priorities, which is exactly what we did….
Murray: So you would say this is a no as a member of Congress?
Mulvaney: Yeah, I think I’ve said that before, I don’t think that reflects on my opinion of it as a member of the Administration.
Murray: Let me ask you one more question…
Mulvaney: I am just trying to give an honest answer to an honest question
Selected coverage
NBC: “Mulvaney tells Congress he would vote against his own budget”
AP: “President Donald Trump’s own budget director says if he were still a member of Congress he probably wouldn’t vote for the very budget plan he hawked Tuesday before the Senate Budget Committee. Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney told the panel that he “probably would have found enough shortcomings in this to vote against it.”
Washington Times: “Mick Mulvaney: Rep. Mulvaney ‘probably’ would not support president’s budget”
The Hill: “OMB says director would back Trump budget after Mulvaney sounds as if he would not”
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