ICYMI: Murray on Trump’s Budget Request: “Imagine how many families we could help if, instead of giving the Pentagon more money than they can even figure out what to do with, we cut people’s heating bills in half and made child care affordable for every family in America… Donald Trump might be happy to spend more money on bombs in the Middle East than on families here in America—but I am not.”
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement the day after a ceasefire deal was announced between the United States and Iran:
“The President of the United States cannot threaten genocide. That kind of brinksmanship is catastrophically dangerous and goes against everything we stand for as Americans.
“I am relieved that American servicemembers were not asked to commit war crimes in this President’s name, but none of us should forgive the unacceptable escalation and erratic behavior of this President—or the lasting damage he has already done to America’s standing across the globe. Nor should we assume he has fully abandoned his pattern of reckless escalation that puts our servicemembers—and millions of innocent civilians’—lives at risk. We have to put him in check, before he ever pushes us so close to the brink again.
“This President made the unilateral decision—without Congress or the American people—to plunge this country into a costly foreign war of choice. Trump’s actions have already cost us tens of billions in taxpayer dollars, left our international credibility in shreds, and left thirteen servicemembers dead with hundreds more wounded. America is poorer, weaker, and less respected thanks to Trump’s recklessness. Congress needs to immediately vote to put a permanent end to this war and rein in this president—and I will keep pushing to ensure that happens.
“Where Congress should be a natural check on Trump’s every abuse of power—this Republican Congress is shamefully absent, even when he threatens to wipe out an entire country. Americans will vote in the fall, and our democracy is desperately counting on a new Congress that will hold this President accountable. Every American should recognize—your voice and your vote matter and that’s exactly why this administration wants you to believe you are powerless.
“As a voice for Washington state in the United States Senate, I intend to use my vote to oppose this President’s warmongering and destructive agenda every step of the way.”
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