Democrat Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy quickly backtracked on his support for a government shutdown Sunday after being confronted by NBC host Kristen Welker about his past opposition on the subject.
Before a handful of Senate Democrats helped push the GOP-backed spending bill through, several Democrats advocated for lawmakers to block the bill, which would have resulted in a government shutdown by early Saturday morning. While discussing his disapproval of the bill with Welker on “Meet the Press,” Murphy argued that Americans “would have understood” the need for Democrats to push for a shutdown.
However, moments later, Welker played multiple clips of Murphy opposing government shutdowns in 2019 and 2023, during which the senator claimed “it’s hard to explain the ramifications of a shutdown, but they’re enormous,” prompting her to ask, “What changed?”
“Listen, I don’t think Americans would have understood, but they would have understood why we got there,” Murphy said. “If you are the majority party, you have an obligation to negotiate with the minority. Republicans refuse to do that.”
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“Again, never before has a spending bill been written by only one party,” Murphy added. “At this moment, when the president is acting so unconstitutionally, it just seems like the absolute wrong time to give him these new powers.”
Democrats have appeared to flip-flop on their stances, such as opposing the filibuster and a government shutdown, when pushing back on the recent spending bill that passed the Senate on a 62-38 vote. Avoiding a filibuster, ten Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, joined Republicans to push the bill through on Friday, prompting calls within the party for new Senate leadership.
“Listen, I understand that a no vote was a risk, right? But I think the American public right now want us to stand up, Democrats, to stand up and take some risks,” Murphy continued.
“Every single day, the president is engaging in exceptional tactics in risk tolerant behavior,” Murphy said. “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.”
As Democrats have continued to struggle since President Donald Trump’s election win to unify behind a single message, a recent CNN poll shows the party has hit a new low in approval ratings. According to the CNN/SSRS poll, Democrats now have a 29% favorability rating, a drop of 20 points since January 2021.
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