Senate Democrats are acknowledging the harm their own constituents could face during a prolonged shutdown, but are increasingly dug in against reopening the government until their $1.5 trillion in spending demands are met.
Democratic Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy told reporters that shutdowns are a “nightmare” and are impacting his constituents, but sought to pin the blame on Republicans as the shutdown entered its seven-day mark on Tuesday. Murphy and the majority of Senate Democrats have repeatedly tanked a bipartisan spending bill to fund the government — and are showing little indication they will reverse course.
“Having been through shutdowns before, they’re a nightmare,” Murphy said. “I’m concerned about all the impacts of a shutdown.”
“There’s impacts on the military. There’s impacts on families who send their kids to Head Start [programs]. There’s impacts on air traffic in this country,” Murphy continued. “But I mean, how on earth does [Speaker] Mike Johnson say anything with a straight face right now when he won’t even bring his members here to vote on anything?”
Republicans, conversely, have nearly unanimously voted to avert a funding lapse since the shutdown began on Oct. 1.
Johnson repeatedly defended his move to adjourn the House during the shutdown, arguing that his chamber did its job when it passed a clean funding bill in September to avert a funding lapse. Murphy has voted against that measure five times in the Senate, in sharp contrast to three members of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s caucus, who have routinely crossed party lines to fund the government.
A long-term shutdown is expected to inflict far-reaching consequences for Americans who receive a federal paycheck or depend on some federal-run programs.
The White House moved to shore up a food aid program on Tuesday in danger of running out of funding during the shutdown. Some federal health care services that Medicare beneficiaries rely on and a federal flood insurance program have expired. Millions of Americans, including active-duty service members, are reporting to work despite no expectation they will be paid on time.
Murphy said he understood some Americans’ anxiety around the shutdown, but argued that Democrats were not to blame. Active-duty service members would not receive a paycheck if the government is still shut down by the military’s next pay date on Oct. 15.
“I care about the military’s paychecks, but there’s a lot of other people, who if they miss a paycheck or two, will have their lives deeply impacted,” Murphy continued. “Again — this is just to me — I don’t understand why one party is boycotting Washington right now.”
A spokesperson for Murphy did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
Top GOP leaders hammered Democrats for keeping the government closed when speaking with reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday.
“Every day that the Democrats keep the government shut down is creating more, and worse, consequences for the American people,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said. “The White House estimates that it’s costing our economy about $15 billion a week to continue to have the government shut down.”
Murphy also signaled on Tuesday that he may never get to a place where he’s comfortable voting for a bill that funds the government for the upcoming fiscal year.
Many Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have centered their demands on extending Covid-era Obamacare subsidies slated to expire at the year’s end. Murphy told reporters that he will need concessions from Republicans to limit Trump’s ability to rescind funding to reopen the government, which is likely to be a nonstarter for Republicans.
The Democrats’ $1.5 trillion counterproposal to temporarily fund the government would also eliminate a $50 million rural hospital fund and undo cuts to public broadcasting and foreign aid.
“This is a unique moment where we can demand that we’re only going to vote for a budget that helps our people and stops the lawlessness,” Murphy told reporters. “I want the ACA subsidies restored, but I also would be a sucker to vote for a budget that allows Trump to continue to get away with this level of corruption and allows him to just cancel the spending in the bill for states like Connecticut.”
“We’re not asking for anything unreasonable here,” Murphy continued. “We just want the President to obey the law, and we want people’s premiums to not go up by 100%.”
Caden Olson contributed to this report.
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