Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement on her vote against proceeding to consideration of the bipartisan continuing resolution (CR) and three-bill appropriations package that was released on Sunday.

"I voted no on cloture on the motion to proceed because, as long as there is still any time left to reverse the MAGA health care hike, I believe we must do everything we can to force Republicans to the negotiating table-the fight for health care does not end tonight. While I am frustrated by the outcome of this vote, I have no intention of letting Republicans off the hook: Republicans moved heaven and earth to pass new tax breaks for billionaires and the largest health care cuts in history, but refused to either reform or extend the ACA tax credits on their own terms. They could have; they simply didn't care. As open enrollment is well underway, it was Republicans who pushed millions of Americans off the health care cliff. We are already over a week in and countless Americans have already decided to go uninsured in the face of exploding health care costs.

"The MAGA health care hike is already here. But instead of working with Democrats to do the bare minimum-passing a clean, one-year extension of the ACA tax credits-Republicans flat-out rejected that last-ditch proposal, and are now talking instead about ending the Affordable Care Act. More than 40 days into this shutdown, Republicans have done nothing to save health care for their own constituents, choosing to only pay lip service to the American people.

"I am adamantly opposed to ceding more of Congress' power of the purse to the president. We should not let Donald Trump or Russ Vought decide how taxpayer dollars get spent, and that's why passing full-year spending bills that provide detailed congressional directives instead of another slush-fund year-long CR is so important. The three-bill package released today is an important step forward in doing just that. Throughout negotiations on these bills, Democrats fought to protect key programs like WIC and SNAP that help families and communities across America get by. Importantly, Democrats managed to reject destructive cuts and extreme policies championed by President Trump and House Republicans-and to secure legislative language that ensures furloughed workers get backpay, reverses President Trump's punitive shutdown mass firings and that prevents new mass firings for the foreseeable future.

"I will continue to hold Republicans accountable for their catastrophic health care cuts and never-ending attacks on the Affordable Care Act-and I will do everything I can to ensure Trump and Vought do not decide how taxpayer dollars are spent."

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