Senator Murray on Trump and Musk’s Funding Freeze, RFK Nomination at Democrats Weekly Press Conference
Washington, D.C. — Today, at Senate Democrats’ weekly press conference, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, spoke about President Trump and Elon Musk’s illegal funding freeze, government funding ahead of the March 14 deadline, and the pending nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
Senator Murray’s remarks, as delivered, are below:
“We have a funding deadline fast approaching and we need a topline soon to be able to write and pass our bills.
“I remain at the table with my Democratic counterpart in the House to get a result so we can move forward. But it is extremely difficult to land an agreement on toplines—much less our annual bills—when you have a President and an unelected billionaire ignoring the very agreements we pass each year in our spending bills.
“What we are seeing now—the absolute lawlessness, the illegal funding freeze that is risking jobs and hurting working people—that simply cannot continue.
“The President is illegally blocking hundreds of billions in approved funding for our roads and bridges, for clean energy jobs, for foreign assistance, and a lot more.
“What’s more, the problem right now is that it’s not even March 14th yet, and Trump and Elon Musk are effectively shutting down the government—whichever parts they don’t like—all on their own, without any regard for the law or the Constitution or Congress.
“No one voted for the President to illegally block funding from Head Start classrooms or our rural health centers—but that is what Trump did his second week in office.
“No one voted to let an unelected billionaire decide what bills the federal government would or would not pay—but Trump is giving Elon the keys to the Treasury.
“In case Elon needs a reminder: the power of the purse sits with Congress—that means when people vote for us, we are their voice in how their tax dollars get spent.
“The constitution doesn’t say Elon gets to decide if our elementary schools and hospitals get funding. Congress negotiates how we invest in our communities.
“So, this has got to change, and we need our Republican colleagues to work with us to make sure it does—and I hope we can resolve things in time to pass the full year funding bills that I actually wanted to finish back last December.
“Now, as we consider nominations on the floor this week: I want to remind you all it was only 2019 when I co-led a bipartisan Senate Health Committee Hearing with Senator Alexander to educate people on vaccines. With nearly every Republican Senator on that dais making very clear that vaccines are safe, effective, and lifesaving.
“But now, Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Republican Party is on the verge of confirming, as our nation’s highest health official, RFK, Jr.— a man who has spent years crusading against vaccines.
“Republicans are choosing to pretend like it is in any way believable that RFK, Jr. won’t use his new power to do exactly the thing he has been trying to do for decades: undermine vaccines.
“People are alarmed. My phone lines are ringing off the hook with constituents who understand the stakes here and want us to stand up for science and for their health and safety. Because the Health Secretary has real power over whether Americans can get the basic information and care they need.
“I think most of my colleagues know what is really at stake here. They know what sort of agenda RFK Jr. will pursue, and they know what sort of damage he could do if confirmed.
“There are political realities, we all get that—but there is also right and wrong. There is also fact and fiction. There is also people staying healthy, and people dying pointlessly—kids dying pointlessly—from diseases that we can prevent.
“So, I urge all my colleagues to show some courage, show some conscience, and say: no, a vaccine denier should not be our highest-ranking health official.”
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