Senator Murray Floor Remarks on House Republicans’ CR
ICYMI: Senator Murray Statement on Republicans’ Yearlong Continuing Resolution
ICYMI: Analysis of Speaker Johnson’s Yearlong CR
ICYMI: Murray, DeLauro Introduce Short-Term Continuing Resolution, Call on Congress to Pass Bipartisan Funding Bills
WATCH: Senator Murray’s remarks
Washington, D.C. — Today, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair, spoke on the Senate floor about House Republicans’ partisan, yearlong continuing resolution (CR) and the need for Congress to instead pass the short-term CR she introduced yesterday to prevent a government shutdown come Saturday and allow Congress to get back to negotiating full-year funding bills for FY25 that invest in America’s families and future—and ensure the American people have a say in how federal funding is allocated.
Senator Murray’s remarks, as delivered, are below:
“If House Republicans don’t think they need us when writing a bill, why should they expect us to support the bill?
“Especially when it comes to taking funding away from our families who depend on it and hurt our communities and give away Congress’ power over key funding decisions.
“Instead of working with Democrats to invest in working people all across the country, and make sure our constituents have their voices heard in government funding, Speaker Johnson abandoned talks and rolled out a bill that includes major cuts. It cuts nondefense discretionary funding by $15 billion in total in fiscal year 2025—and hands a blank check to Trump and Elon Musk to pick winners and losers and steal from our constituents.
“Make no mistake: the entire bill the House is voting on today is House Republicans’ own doing—and it is a dumpster fire.
“So, I am here to sound the alarm about that fire before it spreads.
“But first, I need everyone to understand: the choice absolutely is not dumpster fire or shut down. I should know: I introduced another option yesterday. It’s a short-term CR that would give us time to finish doing our job and negotiate bipartisan, full year bills.
“There is no reason we cannot do that, and there is every reason that every single one of us should prefer actual bills that we write to help people over this bill that just empowers the two billionaires who are running our government into ground and our economy into a recession.
“I really want to make sure all of my colleagues understand how bad this bill is. So if anyone thinks this bill from House Republicans is going to avoid chaos or avoid pain for our country, listen up. Because it is only going to add to the chaos.
“This is not a ‘clean’ CR as some Republicans claim—it cuts programs our communities rely on.
“That includes a major 44% cut to Army Corps projects that help mitigate against floods, hurricanes, and much else.
“It cuts medical research into diseases and conditions affecting servicemembers and their families by more than $1 billion—that is over 40 percent.
“It leaves a massive $280 million shortfall in NIH’s budget, and that is a big cut to research that saves lives.
“It leaves a shortfall for housing programs—we’re talking about 32,000 fewer vouchers.
“And that is just scratching the surface.
“It also lacks the basic guardrails we include in all of our funding bills—on a bipartisan basis each and every year—to make sure our states and communities are taken care of and not subject to the whims of the Trump administration to pick winners and losers.
“House Republicans are not trying to responsibly fund the government. They are trying to turn it into a slush fund for Trump and Musk to wield as they see fit so they can shift their focus entirely to tax cuts for billionaires.
“Right now, we—Congress—have the power of the purse. We have that power to fight for our states—to fight for our families—to bring federal dollars back home and build bridges, feed families, care for veterans, fight fentanyl—whatever our communities tell us they need. We should not cede that power with this bill. That is really worth sitting with for a minute. We all chose to be here. We chose to take on this role to advocate for causes and communities that we care about, and work in a bipartisan manner to reach compromise—to make sure our causes and our communities get the support they need.
“House Republicans’ full-year CR would instead pass the buck to Elon Musk and unelected political appointees to decide who gets funded and who doesn’t. Is that not why each and every one of us was elected? To fight for our states and our communities as the people who know them best? I know that is true for me.
“I have worked for years with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to make sure that people back home—who trusted us when we said we would fight for them—always know that Congress has their back. So, really think about that before you vote to make your voice mean less for the rest of the fiscal year. Because it is terrifying to think of what unelected, political appointees will do.
“We have already gotten an alarming preview of how Trump will threaten to cut off states and cities that might disagree with him, and Elon will totally warp the government to benefit his companies and hurt his competitors.
“I have to say: our bipartisan appropriations process is not always easy, but it is a heckuva lot better than handing over our decision making to this—or to any—administration.
“Voting against this bill is about standing for communities and families who actually rely on this funding and for our ability to be a voice for our constituents here in Congress.
“Because, what is going to happen when medical research funding gets sucked away from cancer and Alzheimer’s all because a scientist doing this work once said vaccines are safe?
“What happens when you can’t get a bridge replaced because the political appointees at DOT don’t like the policies your mayor is advocating for?
“What happens when they reduce staffing at national parks in your backyard because your Governor won’t deny climate change?
“The bipartisan directives we—Congress—provide each year with our funding bills that help guard against that kind of thing for any administration and all of that is missing from this disastrous slush fund CR.
“Through bipartisan compromise, we make sure our communities have a voice at the table—our taxpayer dollars have a return. We should reject this bill, we should pass a short-term CR to avoid a shutdown, and then, we should do our job and work on full year spending bills like we were sent here to do.”
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