Sen. Chris Murphy really doesn’t have any sympathy for Republicans who are outraged by the number of legislative wins Democrats have had this Summer. According to the Connecticut senator, they only have themselves to blame.
Appearing on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on Monday night, Murphy was asked for his thoughts on Mitch McConnell’s anger over the Inflation Reduction Act, which Democrats fell in lockstep on – including Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, much to the surprise of, well, everyone. It passed on Sunday.
In asking his question, Colbert wondered if perhaps Democrats were merely taking a page out of McConnell’s own playbook. And to that, Murphy noted that any game playing has always been on the Republican side of the aisle.
“What Republicans said was that they were going to hold bills hostage that they support – like the veterans bill – if we enacted climate change legislation,” Murphy explained. “That was their decision, that was their bottom line, that was their trick. So we were under no obligation to play their game.”
The Connecticut Democrat added that his party has been vocal about what legislation they wanted to pass since they took the majority in 2020, so at this point, Republicans only have themselves to blame for not being able to get their way.
“We told them right from the beginning: We wanna do the veterans bill, we want to restart the microchip industry with the CHIPS act, and we want to pass climate change legislation and legislation to lower drug costs,” he continued. “It’s their fault that they couldn’t stop any of that.”
Indeed, on Tuesday morning, Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 into law, which is set to provide more than $52 billion in subsidies for U.S. semiconductor manufacturers and roughly $24 billion in tax credits for new manufacturing facilities. The moment marks just the latest win for Democrats and the Biden administration, and Murphy is nothing but pleased.
“We ultimately got it all done, and I’m glad that we didn’t let Mitch McConnell decide what was gonna happen and what wasn’t gonna happen,” Murphy said.
You can watch Murphy’s full interview with Colbert in the video above.
