Murphy On CNN SOTU: Republicans Need To Come To The Negotiating Table

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Sunday appeared on CNN's State of the Union with Jake Tapper. As the federal government shutdown enters its fifth week, Murphy discussed how President Trump and Congressional Republicans are prolonging the shutdown and subjecting millions of Americans to crippling healthcare premium increases. Murphy also reacted to Trump's arbitrary tariff increase on Canadian goods, arguing the retaliatory measure is just another example of Trump abusing his power to suppress criticism in any form.

Murphy emphasized Republicans' refusal to negotiate is the only reason no progress has been made on reopening the government: "Let's be clear, we're shut down right now because Republicans are refusing to even talk to Democrats about a bipartisan budget bill. As you know, the reason that we didn't shut down for four years when Joe Biden was president was because Democrats negotiated with Republicans, and every single one of those short term or long term funding bills included both Democratic and Republican priorities. So the government is shut down because Republicans have done something unprecedented. They have refused to talk to Democrats about a bipartisan budget. Yes, we have priorities, just like they do. One of our priorities is pretty simple, making sure that premiums don't go up by 75% on 22 million families this fall. Now the reality is, if they sat down to try to negotiate, we could probably come up with something pretty quickly."

Murphy stressed that Trump has prioritized his political allies over the American people: "The President just announced $20 billion going to bail out the Argentinian economy. For $20 billion we could open the government back up. That's enough money to relieve a lot of pressure of these premium increases so we could get this deal done in a day. If the President was in DC, rather than being overseas, we could open up the government on Tuesday or Wednesday and there wouldn't be any crisis in the food stamp program."

Discussing President Trump's illegal, potentially corrupt solicitation of private funds to pay the military, Murphy said: "I think one of the reasons that President Trump is refusing to negotiate is because he likes the fact that the government is closed because he thinks he can exercise king-like powers. He can open up the parts of the government that he wants. He can pay the employees who are loyal to him. I mean, this is a leader who is trying to transition our government from a democracy to something much closer to a totalitarian state. And so, this is part of what happens in totalitarian states. The leader, the regime only decides what things get funded and what don't, often in coordination with their oligarch friends. So I just don't want to live in a world in which Donald Trump and a handful of billionaires decide which part of government works and which don't. Which is why I would rather have him at the negotiating table tomorrow, so that we can reopen the government and it can be a democratically elected Congress that decides what things get funded, not a handful of super rich dudes."

Murphy reacted to Trump imposing an additional 10 percent tariff on Canada because of a television ad: "I think it's just further confirmation that these tariffs have nothing to do with us. Prices are going up on everything in this country. Manufacturing jobs are leaving. We've lost already this year about 30,000 manufacturing jobs. These tariffs really are just a political tool that the President uses to help himself, sometimes to enrich himself. You've seen companies openly admit that they're making investments in his crypto currency in an attempt to win favor for him, to try to get better treatment on the tariffs. You saw Apple make a million dollar contribution to his inauguration and then magically get an exemption from the tariffs. And then sometimes to try to suppress free speech. Whether he likes it or not, even the government of Canada or the government Ontario has the right to criticize him, but he's now going to use the tariffs to try to punish people overseas from speaking out against him, just like he's using the Department of Justice or the FCC to try to punish and control people that are speaking out against him here in America. So these tariffs aren't about rebuilding our economy. They aren't about helping regular consumers. There's just about giving Trump additional powers to try to benefit himself politically and financially."

Murphy rebuffed Majority Leader Thune's offer of a vote on ACA subsidies in exchange for reopening the government, highlighting the devastating financial impact on Americans when the vote likely fails: "Yeah, but [a vote] doesn't help anybody in my state because all these Republicans are going to vote against it. I mean, this is like real life, right? This isn't a game. In Connecticut, if you're 60 years old and making somewhere around $60,000 you could be seeing a $25,000 increase in your premiums - not 25% - $25,000. So we don't need a commitment for a vote that fails. We need Republicans to come to the table and say we're going to fix this problem."

The full transcript of Murphy's interview is available below.

Jake Tapper: Joining us now, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy. Senator Murphy, what's your response to this new Trump tariff on Canada?

Murphy: I think it's just further confirmation that these tariffs have nothing to do with us. Prices are going up on everything in this country. Manufacturing jobs are leaving. We've lost already this year about 30,000 manufacturing jobs. These tariffs really are just a political tool that the President uses to help himself, sometimes to enrich himself. You've seen companies openly admit that they're making investments in his crypto currency in an attempt to win favor for him, to try to get better treatment on the tariffs. You saw Apple make a million dollar contribution to his inauguration and then magically get an exemption from the tariffs. And then sometimes to try to suppress free speech. Whether he likes it or not, even the government of Canada or the government Ontario has the right to criticize him, but he's now going to use the tariffs to try to punish people overseas from speaking out against him, just like he's using the Department of Justice or the FCC to try to punish and control people that are speaking out against him here in America. So these tariffs aren't about rebuilding our economy. They aren't about helping regular consumers. There's just about giving Trump additional powers to try to benefit himself politically and financially.

Jake Tapper: Let's turn to the government shutdown. Funding for food stamps is expected to run out at the end of this week. This is happening because Democrats have not agreed to vote to fund the government without the Republicans making concessions to seriously change health care policy. So is this a trade off you're willing to make, and continue to make, letting some Americans go hungry until these Obamacare subsidies get extended.

Murphy: Well, let's be clear, we're shut down right now because Republicans are refusing to even talk to Democrats about a bipartisan budget bill. As you know, the reason that we didn't shut down for four years when Joe Biden was president was because Democrats negotiated with Republicans. And every single one of those short term or long term funding bills included both Democratic and Republican priorities. So, the government is shut down because Republicans have done something unprecedented. They have refused to talk to Democrats about a bipartisan budget. Yes, we have priorities, just like they do. One of our priorities is pretty simple: making sure that premiums don't go up by 75% on 22 million families this fall. Now the reality is, if they sat down to try to negotiate, we could probably come up with something pretty quickly. The President just announced $20 billion going to bail out the Argentinian economy. For $20 billion we could open the government back up. That's enough money to relieve a lot of pressure of these premium increases. So, we could get this deal done in a day. If the President was in DC, rather than being overseas, we could open up the government on Tuesday or Wednesday, and there wouldn't be any crisis in the Food Stamp Program.

Jake Tapper: The New York Times reported that the private donor who gave President Trump $130 million to pay US troops during the shutdown, that he is billionaire Timothy Mellon, and the donation appears to violate federal law. But what do you say to Americans who look at that and think it's President Trump, not Democrats, making sure that troops get paid?

Murphy: Well, I think one of the reasons that President Trump is refusing to negotiate is because he likes the fact that the government is closed because he thinks he can exercise king-like powers. He can open up the parts of the government that he wants. He can pay the employees who are loyal to him. I mean, this is a leader who is trying to transition our government from a democracy to something much closer to a totalitarian state. And so this is part of what happens in totalitarian states. The leader, the regime only decides what things get funded and what don't, often in coordination with their oligarch friends. So I just don't want to live in a world in which Donald Trump and a handful of billionaires decide which part of government works and which don't. Which is why I would rather have him at the negotiating table tomorrow, so that we can reopen the government and it can be a democratically elected Congress that decides what things get funded, not a handful of super rich dudes.

Jake Tapper: The leader of the Senate, John Thune, has said that he offered to Democrats a commitment to vote on extending the Obamacare subsidies at a date certain, but Democrats won't take yes for an answer.

Murphy: Yeah, but that doesn't help anybody in my state because all these Republicans are going to vote against it. I mean, this is like real life, right? This isn't a game. In Connecticut, if you're 60 years old and making somewhere around $60,000 you could be seeing a $25,000 increase in your premiums - not 25% - $25,000. So, we don't need a commitment for a vote that fails. We need Republicans to come to the table and say we're going to fix this problem. We're not asking for much here. We're not asking to fix the entirety of the health care system. We're just saying, let's take a piece of the damage that you did with the Big, Beautiful Bill, just a piece of the damage, and let's fix it so that this fall, as prices on beef and school supplies and car repairs are going through the roof, families don't also have to pay these enormous increases in health care premiums. I don't think we're asking too much. I don't think we're being unreasonable. I don't think we're being any more unreasonable than Republicans were when they asked to have some of their priorities funded in budgets written when Democrats were in control.

Jake Tapper: We're running out of time, but I do want to ask you about the Maine Senate race, because early earlier this month, you called Maine Senate candidate Graham Plattner impressive. But since then, obviously, a lot about him has come out, including the fact that he had a Totenkopf, which is a skull head, it's the Nazi emblem for the SS. He had one of those tattooed on his chest. He's denied that he knew what the tattoo meant until recently, but CNN did find several times he discussed the Totenkopf emblem in recent years and months. Do you still think Plattner is impressive?

Murphy: Yeah, I saw that reporting. I think I'm meeting with him this upcoming week, so I'm certainly interested to hear from him about it. Any time you see something like that, you scratch your head. But I've also listened to him talk about, I mean the difficult time that he went through in his life. And frankly, it's not unfamiliar to a lot of soldiers who came back from service and had a very difficult time readjusting. So, he sounds like a human being to me - a human being who made mistakes, recognizes them, and is very open about it. But yes, certainly I'm looking forward to sitting down and talking to him about it. He's obviously, you know, right now, performing very well in the polls in Maine. He's talking a language that speaks to a lot of middle-class voters, a lot of Trump voters that, frankly, are looking for Democrats that understand working class concerns, and I'm looking forward to hearing from him.