Trump ‘likely to be emboldened’ by 8 Democrats voting to end shutdown, Sen. Murphy says

Amna Nawaz:

On the other side of the debate, Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut is one of the Democrats who voted against the deal. I spoke to him earlier today.

Senator Murphy, welcome back to the "News Hour." Thanks for joining us.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT):

Thanks for having me.

Amna Nawaz:

So, as you just heard there Senator Kaine laid out his reasons for supporting the deal. He says it ends the pain that Americans are feeling, it gets a path to a health care vote. And he says previously there was no evidence Republicans would even talk about a health care vote without the government back open. Is he wrong?

Sen. Chris Murphy:

Well, Tim and I just have a disagreement about this. I think we actually lose leverage in our fight for Americans now that we have capitulated Donald Trump without any real protections for people's health care or our democracy in the short-term funding bill.

The fact the matter is, these premium increases were just being noticed to Americans. The pressure was going to mount on Donald Trump and Republicans over the next few days and weeks to do something about this oncoming catastrophe, premiums going up by 75 percent, 100 percent, 200 percent on many Americans.

I think the problem here is that the old rules don't apply. President Trump is likely to be emboldened by winning the acquiescence of eight Democrats. His illegality is likely to grow.

We were split on this vote last night, as we will be again later today or later this week when we vote, but we're going to have to find a way to come together, because we're going to have even tougher, more important fights ahead of us on health care, on the president's unconstitutionality, on his illegal war-making overseas.

And I'm sure Senator Kaine and I will be back on the same page fairly soon.

Amna Nawaz:

The deal does extend SNAP funding, WIC funding. It prohibits the mass firings of federal workers over the next few months. Is it fair to say the Democrats did get some of what you wanted in this?

Sen. Chris Murphy:

Well, I mean, SNAP funding just starts when the government reopens, so that's not a special provision in this budget.

I mean, listen, what did we say when this fight began? We said that we were only going to vote for a budget that stopped these health care premium increases from going into effect. Eight Democrats decided to change their position, and now these premium increases are likely going to go into effect.

I'm rooting for my eight colleagues. They believe that Republicans are going to now come to the table and engage in a good-faith negotiation to try to prevent these premium increases from going into effect. Anything that I can do to try to help make that a reality, I will. We just had a disagreement.

I just don't really believe Republicans when they say that they're going to sit down at the table. I think that they were just using any excuse to try to get a handful of Democrats to vote to reopen the government. But, again, I'm rooting for this to be true, and I will do whatever I can to get that agreement.

Amna Nawaz:

But it sounds like you don't trust Senate Majority Leader John Thune to hold up his side of the bargain. What do you do then? Are Democrats prepared to shut the government down again?

Sen. Chris Murphy:

That's a question for my colleagues who are voting now to reopen the government.

Listen, I just don't believe that our party has an obligation to vote for an immoral, corrupt budget. This budget, in my view, especially if it becomes a long-term budget — remember, we just voted to reopen for two months. If this budget becomes permanent and there's no relief for health care consumers, and it funds Donald Trump's illegality, it literally funds the Department of Justice's work to try to lock up Democratic United States senators, that would be an abdication of our constitutional responsibility.

So I know that there was a lot of pressure on some of my colleagues to temporarily reopen the government, but I hope that we are united to say we are not going to vote for a full-year budget that doesn't have real, serious checks on Donald Trump's corruption of his power.

Amna Nawaz:

Democrats did draw the line at the health care subsidies being extended. Why wasn't Leader Schumer able to hold Democrats together on this?

Sen. Chris Murphy:

Well, listen, I think we have a lot of work to do. This is not an acceptable way for our caucus to operate, just a handful of eight or nine or 10 Democrats crossing over regularly with Republicans.

We have got to show some solidarity if we are going to save this republic. When we are divided like this, it accrues to the benefit of someone like Donald Trump, who is trying to destroy our democracy. So I know that Senator Schumer has a hard job, but this can't happen again.

We have got to find a way to stay united. We aren't this week, and that doesn't help anybody except for President Trump.

Amna Nawaz:

Are you worried it could happen again? Do you have confidence in Leader Schumer?

Sen. Chris Murphy:

Well, I certainly do worry that it is going to happen again. And I think we have to have a hard conversation inside the entire caucus to come to some conclusion on how to make sure we stay united.

People came out last Tuesday and said loud and clear, we want Democrats to stand and fight. We know the shutdown is hard, but we don't want you to sign on to a budget that doesn't protect our health care.

So I think, especially when we get these mandates from the public, we have got to listen and we have got to try to stay together inside the caucus.

Amna Nawaz:

To be clear, is that a conversation among Democrats that could include a change in leadership?

Sen. Chris Murphy:

Well, I think, right now, that conversation just has to happen behind closed doors amongst the 47 of us. I think we can come to a conclusion. My hope is that we can come to a conclusion that keeps us together the next time we hit a really important moment like this.

Amna Nawaz:

That is Democratic Senator Chris Murphy joining us tonight.

Senator Murphy, thank you. It's always good to see you. Appreciate your time.

Sen. Chris Murphy:

Thank you.