Murray: Can’t Have Shutdown Threats for Border Money, Defunding IRS Expansion ‘That Are Not Priorities of the American People’

On Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Hallie Jackson Reports,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) reacted to the prospect of Republicans using funding bills to get concessions on things like money for the border or defunding the expansion of the IRS under the Inflation Reduction Act by stating that while numbers and “some of our priorities” can be negotiated, it’s crucial that “we don’t use threats of a government shutdown to get priorities that are not priorities of the American people.”

Host Hallie Jackson asked, “House Republicans will likely use some of these funding bills to try to extract concessions on stuff like border money, on things like defunding the IRS with these 87,000 new employees, you will likely be the Senate Appropriations Chair. Do you think there is room to negotiate with House Republicans on some of these conservative asks, or do you think that this is the time for Democrats to draw a hard line here?”

Murray responded, “I think it is really important that we stand up and fight for the priorities of this country and make sure we have those investments and we don’t use threats of a government shutdown to get priorities that are not priorities of the American people. I’ve seen this far too often. It never works out for Republicans when they try to demand that we repeal ACA or some other thing like women’s reproductive health, or they’ll shut down government. It never works out for them. I would advise them to work with us. We always can negotiate numbers within the appropriations bills and some of our priorities. But do not use government funding as a place where you threaten everybody’s way of life across this country. It won’t work out for you.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett