Senator Murray Remarks on Senate Republicans’ Budget Resolution at Senate Democrats’ Weekly Press Conference
Murray: “It’s no mystery why billionaires like Donald Trump and Elon Musk love this plan: they are getting all the benefits, but they aren’t the ones footing the bill.”
ICYMI: Senator Murray speaks at Budget Committee markup of resolution, offers common sense amendments rejected by Republicans
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 Senate Republicans’ budget resolution that will be considered on the Senate floor this week, which makes middle-class Americans pay for tax cuts for billionaires like President Trump and Elon Musk.
Senator Murray’s remarks, as delivered, are below:
“While Trump is tossing our bipartisan funding laws into the shredder and Elon is decimating agencies with really zero concept of what our federal workers actually do—whether that’s managing the nuclear weapons stockpile or responding to bird flu—Senate Republicans are positively sprinting to make trillions in cuts that will hurt red and blue states so they can shower more tax cuts on the richest people in the world.
“It is no mystery why billionaires like Donald Trump and Elon Musk love this plan: they are getting all the benefits, but they aren’t the ones footing the bill.
“Middle-class Americans will pay for Republicans’ billionaire tax cuts, and the cost will be measured in shuttered family farms, families and kids kicked off Medicaid—losing their health care—and veterans losing out on hard-earned benefits.
“That is so backwards. We should not be taking food off of the family table to put more fuel in private jets.
“I grew up in a family that knew what it was like to fall on hard times. My dad—a WWII veteran. He got too sick to work—he got MS. My mom kept us afloat with Dad’s VA benefits, food stamps, and the new job she got thanks to a federal workforce program.
“It still wasn’t easy. But our government was there for them when the hard times came.
“I know families are struggling now, just like my family struggled then. I hear from them every day. They are working so hard. They play by the rules. And they deserve—at the very least—the same opportunity my parents had when I was growing up.
“And I am not going to stand by silently while Republicans try to sell that opportunity away to pay for even more tax breaks for billionaires.
“Senate Democrats are going to make sure that the American people know this is the most flat-out pro-billionaire, anti-middle class budget we have ever seen.
“There is zero chance we are going to let Republicans pass this pro-billionaire budget the easy way, without a fight. We’re going to put them on the record for everything Trump and Elon are doing to create real fraud, waste, and abuse.
“We are going to make sure the people back home know that Elon Musk is firing VA doctors and food safety inspectors—for no cause whatsoever—and illegally defunding the programs that Americans care about.
“Republicans will have to answer: are they for protecting Medicaid or for letting kids and seniors lose their health care?
“Are they for supporting veterans or for cutting their benefits?
“Because those are real choices they will have to make with the budget they have laid out. They should get ready for a late night and an early morning.”
###
Previous Article