Category: Americas

US Senate News:

Source: United States Senator for Washington State Patty Murray
In floor speech, Murray slams yearlong CR proposal, calls for transparency from DOGE so Congress can do its job, and reiterates call for Musk to come before Congress
Murray: “No one wants a shutdown—well, no one except Elon Musk, who recently said that ‘sounds great.’”
Murray: “Elon Musk is, apparently, in charge of his own conflicts of interest—we’re just supposed to trust him. Has he recused himself from a single decision? We haven’t heard a single update about that.”
***WATCH: Senator Murray’s floor speech***
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations, took to the Senate floor and delivered the following remarks on government funding talks, House Republican leadership’s yearlong CR plan, DOGE’s utter lack of transparency, and Elon Musk’s glaring conflicts of interest that are going completely unaddressed by the Trump administration:
[ON GOVERNMENT FUNDING TALKS]
“No one wants a shutdown. Well, actually, no one except Elon Musk, who recently said that ‘sounds great,’ or Donald Trump or Russ Vought.
“That’s why I have been at the table this entire time, ready to pass bills that protect key investments and ensure Congress—not Donald Trump or Elon Musk—decides whether or not our public schools or lifesaving cancer research get funded.
“Unfortunately, Republican leadership told their members last week to walk away from the negotiating table—which raises the risk of a shutdown—in an attempt to pass a clean yearlong continuing resolution that would actually give Trump and Musk exactly what they want: fewer restraints, and more power over federal spending so they can pick winners and losers as they see fit, which would hurt all of our constituents.
“Nonetheless, I am urging Republican leadership to come back to the table, if they are willing to do that, and work with us on full-year funding bills—the type of work we do together every year—and prevent a shutdown while we do that.
[ON REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP’S FULL-YEAR CR]
“We cannot stand by and accept a yearlong power grab CR that would help Elon take a chainsaw to programs that families rely on and agencies that keep our communities safe.
“We actually have a job to do—Republicans and Democrats—to be a voice for our constituents, to advocate for the funding they need, and to get support back to our communities.
“I have heard my House Republican colleagues say they will not restrict a Republican President’s powers. I want to be clear: what I am asking for is to work together to make sure that as we write and negotiate these full-year spending bills, our laws get followed. I welcome, and I want everyone to know, I am open to any and all ideas on how we can work together to do that.
“I am confident we can get this done. I am ready to pass a short-term CR immediately to take down the risk of a shutdown so that we can finish our negotiations and write full-year spending bills.
[ON UTTER LACK OF TRANSPARENCY FROM TRUMP ADMIN, DOGE]
“Now, on a topic I believe appropriators on both sides would agree with: we need far more information and transparency and accountability from the Trump administration to write these bills.
“Because, here’s one big problem—among many: how are we supposed to fund the government when many agencies are not responding to any of our questions, and when we have no clear picture of who is actually in charge of many of our agencies?
“It’s clear as day there have been a lot of dramatic changes made across the government.
“Agencies are being illegally shuttered. Workers are being fired by the thousands—again, often in direct violation of laws we have passed. And hundreds of billions of dollars in federal programs and grants have been frozen, unfrozen, and frozen again. We’ve had contracts that have recklessly cancelled, some accidentally and then restarted—not to mention the workers who have fired and rehired.
“It is incredibly chaotic—and it makes it much harder to write legislation that actually responds to the latest developments, when programs are switching on and off again like a two-year-old is playing with a light switch—and when the number of people and programs illegally terminated remains unclear.
“It is much more difficult to write funding bills for Department programs when we have no idea what the Department is actually doing, or what the actual plan is for the next year, or if it’s actually them or perhaps DOGE making the plans in the first place.
“When we are seeing decisions made and reversed, or made and ignored, or made by people who have no authority making them—and yet seemingly being implemented. And it’s not just the whirlwind of decisions that are causing chaos. It is the complete lack of transparency and accountability surrounding these decisions from Trump and Musk that makes it all but impossible to get a straight answer.
“When we have questions that urgently need answers—like why has this energy program been frozen, or when will the NIH grants start up again, or which VA contracts have actually been scrapped or how many workers are being pushed out—then it helps if we know who is actually in charge.
“When our constituents have problems that require solutions quickly or they will have to close a business, or lay people off, or lose the family farm—then it matters that we can get the right person on the phone to get things resolved.
“And yet, when there is information we urgently need so we can write funding bills and avoid a shutdown like agency priorities or unexpected challenges or just the basic nuts and bolts stuff—to say nothing of the information we need to address the very extraordinary circumstances and decisions of the past few weeks—it is totally unclear who we should actually be talking to if we want answers that actually reflect the reality of what is happening.
“It is totally unclear who is actually making decisions—and who is actually in charge.
“Appropriators have now sent over thirty letters to agencies since January 20th asking to just understand agency actions—and that’s to say nothing of the efforts from me and my staff to get answers to our emails and our calls. But the answers have been few and very far between.
“And what’s more, just because we hear something from someone who should know, just because we hear from someone who should be in charge—we have found that does not mean it’s actually true.
“There is more than one time in the past few weeks, where we’ve been told one thing, only to see the reality is entirely different.
“Like, for example, when the OMB funding freeze was implemented and we were told it won’t affect Head Start—except that it did affect Head Start. Providers in my state were locked out of the payment system for days—even after the funding freeze itself was rescinded.
“It seems like the only thing that has been consistent about the last few weeks is that every time there has been chaos, every time I’ve seen actions that fly in the face of laws we have passed—not to mention common sense—or contradict what I’ve heard from agency leaders, DOGE has been at the center of it.
“We have seen DOGE absolutely trample the authority of Congress, and other federal agencies—including officials Congress confirmed.
“For example, while Secretary Rubio instituted a recklessly broad and illegal freeze of all foreign assistance funding, he publicly announced exceptions for a limited set of programs—including lifesaving aid—the basic idea being that we probably shouldn’t let HIV spread rampant and we probably shouldn’t let food grown right here in America rot in ports while children starve.
“Causing mass death through pointless negligence is not really a good strategy for bolstering our global reputation. It is cruel and self-defeating. So, as Secretary of State he made the exception. But DOGE had other plans. Because on the rare occasion that what was left of USAID staff who hadn’t been sidelined, was able to clear these payments through the agency’s interim leadership—surprise! DOGE staffers would veto the payments anyways.
“Keep in mind: we don’t know about this because DOGE disclosed it or State disclosed it—we know only because of reporting.
“That should not be how this works. Congress—and the American people—should not be out of the loop.
“Especially given the serious stakes here—and the serious questions that remain, like: on what authority did they veto these payments? Whose orders did they overrule the Secretary? I would very much like to know.
“Because while the Secretary is guilty of plenty of the attacks on his workforce and programs, it certainly seems like the Secretary of State got steamrolled on numerous occasions, without even knowing it.
“And if that’s the case: who are we supposed to talk to with questions about State’s funding needs? The Secretary, or the two DOGE minions who actually have their hands directly on the levers of power here?
“And let’s not forget about what happened at Treasury. DOGE wanted access to our most secure systems. Agency officials told them no. And then the agency officials were told ‘you’re fired.’
“That sent a chilling message to our federal workers: you stand up to DOGE at your own peril.
“And it’s not just Treasury—DOGE has been worming its way into Department after Department, making a beeline for the most sensitive systems, including ones storing my constituents’ sensitive financial data, and bulldozing over anyone who stands in their way, for any reason.
“We don’t even know who all of these people are or whether they even have security clearances.
“They even had people fired for denying them access to classified material beyond their security levels. That is how completely unchecked their power has become. And we have incredibly little insight into what they are actually doing with those sensitive systems.
“We’ve seen DOGE claim they only can view some data—that’s already deeply concerning—but there are also plenty of indications they have been given more power at times.
“And they are interested in tinkering around with some of these systems too or unaccountably blocking payments like we saw at USAID
“And let’s talk about the Defense Department, because first Secretary Hegseth was saying he wanted to revive the quote, ‘warrior spirit’ at the Department, but now he’s telling employees to reply to DOGE’s weekly emails. He is firing thousands of defense personnel, and he’s asking every corner of DOD to propose major cuts.
“So, as an appropriator, trying to write full-year bills that fund our military, which is it? Major increases? Or major cuts?
“And who do I ask about the Department’s needs? Is this up to the Secretary? Or up to DOGE? And who at DOGE is even steering this ship? 
“We need to know this kind of thing—and we really needed to know yesterday. Because we have a deadline coming up for funding the military, and we have some serious questions for whoever is in charge about how the administration is approaching things.
“And when I say whoever is in charge, I don’t mean who is in charge on paper—because it seems like there is a big disconnect.
“I mean who is actually making the decisions and driving actions at our agencies—and at DOGE for that matter.
“Because, look: first Elon was running DOGE with Vivek, then it was just Elon, then it supposedly wasn’t Elon at all.
“But then, Elon kept right on posting about hiring decisions like someone in charge and rehiring an individual who resigned after their blatant racism came to light.
“And he kept right on doing press availabilities with the President—in the Oval Office—to discuss his work at DOGE, like someone in charge. So it sure looks like Elon is still the head of DOGE.
“And even after we were all finally told, with great supposed certainty, that DOGE is actually being run by another person no one had even mentioned, we then promptly learned: oh, she’s on vacation. And the very next day we saw Elon briefing the Cabinet on what he is doing at DOGE.
“If that seems at all confusing, or contradictory, I don’t think it’s an accident, so much as a smokescreen—one that seems designed to hide the obvious fact that Elon Musk is the one calling the shots at DOGE.
[ON ELON MUSK’S GLARING CONFLICTS OF INTEREST]
“All of us here in Congress really need to know that—because this is the richest man in the world with billions in government contracts on the line.
“Elon Musk is, apparently, in charge of his own conflicts of interest. We’re just supposed to trust him. Has he recused himself from a single decision? We haven’t heard a single update about that.
“As a steward of taxpayer dollars who wants to make sure the bills we write are implemented to help my constituents—not Elon Musk’s bottom line—I would like to know:
Did the owner of Space X recuse himself from decisions gutting NASA?
Did the owner of Tesla interfere at all in funding freezes that will hurt his competition in the electric vehicle market?Does the guy who posted criticizing Verizon’s work for FAA and pitching his own company Starlink as an alternative have anything to do with reports the government may reverse course now on the Verizon contract?
Did the guy selling satellite internet have any role in halting funds that were helping connect my constituents to broadband?
Or what about all the watchdogs that have been fired? People reviewing Neuralink devices at FDA? People at the agency that reviews the safety of Tesla’s self-driving cars? Or the Inspector General looking into Elon’s connections to foreign governments?
“Despite what Musk likes to pretend, it is not in the slightest bit transparent for him alone to be deciding what he hides, and what he shares about his role in government.
“Nor is it transparent when DOGE is posting updates that are often completely inaccurate from getting basic math wrong, to getting wrong basic timelines of what Trump did versus Biden did, to not understanding how contracts work—and counting the same ‘cuts’ over and over and over again.
“They aren’t being transparent—they are muddying up the waters with falsehoods and disinformation and making it that much harder for us to write meaningful funding bills in the next few days.
“I mean—if DOGE doesn’t even know what programs they’ve cut and how much they’ve cut—how are we supposed to understand how these decisions could hurt our constituents? How are we supposed to write legislation that rejects the cuts we find harmful or even aligns if there are areas of agreement?
[ON MUSK NEEDING TO COME BEFORE CONGRESS]
“We need real answers from DOGE—and we need them as soon as possible. And so, I am once again requesting that Elon Musk come before Congress for a hearing and be held accountable to the American people.
“Tell us: what exactly are you doing? Why are you firing federal employees whose salaries are covered by fees, not taxpayer dollars? Why are you firing veterans—by the thousands—who are doing work to support our communities? Why are you planning to fire the people who make sure seniors get their Social Security checks? Who are the people who work for you? How were they vetted? What are your long-term plans for the agencies? And based on what authority are you overruling Secretaries, directing federal workers, and ignoring the laws we pass in Congress?
“America is waiting—but we are losing valuable time. Congress—and the American people—deserve answers. And we need them to do our jobs.”

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