(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., suddenly discovered his love for government shutdowns last week—but this was not always the case. It turns out that shutdowns are only permissible when Republicans are in power.
Murphy appeared for an interview on NBC News’s Meet the Press, where host Kristen Welker—credit to her—forced him to eat his own words after he fiercely opposed government shutdowns in past years.
“You have spoken forcefully in the past actually against shutting down the government. I want to play a little bit of that sound for you. Take a look,” Welker said, before cuing Murphy’s past remarks.
During a 2013 speech on the Senate floor, Murphy declared: “This is no time to be playing around with people’s lives.”
In 2019, he also said, “We need to start acting like adults. We need to start doing the job that we were sent here to do because our nation’s security is at stake.”
In a video posted on X, Murphy added, “It’s hard to explain the ramifications of a shutdown, but they’re enormous. Head Start programs won’t open. Soldiers won’t get paid for defending this country. The consequences are absolutely devastating.”
Yet, last week, Murphy was among the Democrats opposing a stopgap bill that would have funded the Trump administration through September. The bill passed on Friday, averting a shutdown for which Democrats would have been responsible.
Asked what changed this time around, Murphy said: “Listen, I don’t think Americans would have understood, but they would have understood why we got there.”
He continued, “If you are the majority party, you have an obligation to negotiate with the minority. Republicans refuse to do that. Again, never before has a spending bill been written by only one party, and at this moment, when the president is acting so unconstitutionally, it seems like the absolute wrong time to give him these new powers.”
The Connecticut Democrat claimed he understood a “no” would have risked a government shutdown. “But I think the American public right now want us to stand up—Democrats—to stand up and take some risks,” he claimed.
Abandonding his decades-long opposition to government shutdowns, Murphy said this time was unique.
“Every single day, the president is engaging in exceptional tactics and risk-tolerant behavior, and I don’t think you save the republic and save our democracy by playing it straight and maintaining norms when the president is shattering them every single day,” he added.
