What Patty Murray said, and what was done

“Mr. President, I was never going to come out here and support Todd Blanche for a long list of reasons. I do believe he is one of the most corrupt Justice Department officials in our country's history, for one.”

“So let's be crystal clear about what this vote is. A vote to confirm Todd Blanche is a vote to endorse his fight to ban abortion in all 50 States.”

“Mr. President, I rise today with a very heavy heart because, right now, huge swaths of my State are being confronted by some of the worst fires that we have ever seen.”

“Madam President, we have our work cut out for us as we work to fund the government for the coming fiscal year. As costs for our families go up and up and up, the President wants a $1\1/2\ trillion war budget, and he wants to cut programs working people depend on to pay for it.”

“Mr. President, while President Trump's top priorities are $1.5 trillion in war spending and a golden ballroom, those are not the priorities that American families are focused on.”

“I think what this might be really about is telling Trump that, Mr. President, look how much we agree with you. This is a waste of everybody's time.”

“Mr. President, let me just say to my friend, and he is a friend, and I do hear his quiet, calm tone. I appreciate it. It is not something we all often hear here.”

“Madam President, I wanted to talk today about not just how Republicans are making healthcare more expensive but also how they are making it just plain worse for seniors.”

“Mr. President, today I come to the floor to honor a true American legend, Jim Whittaker. Jim passed away at his home in Port Townsend on April 7, 2026, at the age of 97.”

“Mr. President, 26 years ago, almost to the day, I came here to the Senate floor to speak about a mom in Washington State and a member of my staff.”

“Mr. President, today, it is my honor to recognize the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, or ACOG, as it celebrates the 75th anniversary of its founding. Since 1951, ACOG has played a central role in advancing the field of obstetrics and gynecology and improving the health and well-being of patients across the United States.”

“Mr. President, right now, Trump is waging a war in Iran. He is threatening war crimes. He is threatening an end to an entire civilization and mentally deteriorating in front of our eyes.”

“Mr. President, we are nearly done with our fiscal year 2026 spending bills. It has been a long road--no question--and we still have some serious disagreements around reforms and funding for ICE and Border Patrol, which I will speak to in a minute, but despite the major challenges, we accomplished something important in passing 11 and, hopefully soon, 12 of our funding bills.”

“And then there is the massive infrastructure cliff we are about to barrel over because the bipartisan infrastructure law that we passed about 5 years ago included tens of billions of dollars each year for key nondefense programs.”

“Mr. President, you know, when it comes to broken promises, it seems like Trump and Republicans have raised every price that they ever said they would lower--costs on groceries with Trump's sweeping tariffs, the largest tax increase on working families in American history.”

“Mr. President, right now, TSA agents are going without pay because Republicans and the White House have decided they would rather shut down all of DHS than pass some very basic reforms to rein in ICE and Border Patrol.”

“To the majority leader, thank you for asking that question because I think it is really clear what has happened here. As the Senator knows, during the negotiations over the Christmas break, when everybody else was out doing what they do, we did negotiate the Senate DHS bill with our House counterparts, repeatedly asked for some things and were rebuffed every single time, overridden by the White House.”

“Mr. President, with all due respect to the Republican leader--and I respect his sincerity in representing his side. I respect his sincerity in wanting to find a resolution here.”

“Mr. President, reserving the right to object, as I have made clear to all of my colleagues on both sides, Democrats are happy to pass funding for DHS Agencies--TSA, FEMA, CISA, and more--while we work on accountability for ICE and Border Patrol.”

“TSA agents should not go without pay because Republicans refuse to agree to commonsense reforms instead of cutting another blank check for Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller to terrorize Americans.”

“Mr. President, unfortunately, what has become very clear is that Republicans would rather keep the entire DHS shut down than work with Democrats to prevent more Americans from being killed by masked agents.”

“Mr. President, in reserving the right to object, look, I, too, am frustrated this body has not been able to reach an agreement on the DHS funding bill.”

“Mr. President, President Trump promised to deliver Americans lower prices and no new wars. When it comes to broken promises, it does not get more blatant than that.”

“ICE and CPB do not want to be called secret police, then they should not be wearing masks and should be carrying identification 24/7. If they do not want to be accused of kidnapping people, then they should not be dragging people out of cars and houses without warrants.”

“The alleged withdrawal from Minneapolis is long overdue, but it is not nearly enough to end the chaos and the violence we are seeing nationwide. We need real reform.”

“Mr. President, before I get started, I just have to say: How about those Seahawks? Congratulations to the Seattle Seahawks on a very well-earned win in last night's Super Bowl.”

“Mr. President, earlier tonight, we voted to pass five crucial funding bills while splitting off the DHS bill so that Congress is forced to reckon with the horrific killings we have all witnessed.”

“Trump's request for hundreds of millions of dollars to support his dangerous efforts to deploy our military against our citizens. This bill also includes a much-needed pay boost for our servicemembers and vets.”

“Mr. President, all week, Democrats have made clear that there is a simple, commonsense path forward. First, pass these five critical funding bills that we all overwhelmingly agree on and prevent a serious shutdown.”

“Mr. President, Democrats have been very clear. We have five bills in this package we would be happy to pass today on their own. We are all in agreement on funding for childcare, cancer research, air traffic controllers, our troops, and more.”

“Mr. President, there are two simple truths here: One, there is absolutely no reason for a shutdown. Five of the bills before us, covering 95 percent of the remaining budget, everyone agrees we can pass.”

“Mr. President, I want to thank Chairs Collins and Cole, Ranking Member DeLauro, as well as our fantastic subcommittee leaders and all of our staffs for working so hard to put this package together.”

“Madam President, the spending bills that we write are not just numbers on a page; they affect the daily lives of Americans across the country in very real ways, like whether or not they can afford their electric bill or whether families have clean drinking water at home, whether communities have infrastructure to prevent flooding and respond to devastating weather events like the ones we saw in my home State of Washington last month, and whether they have the resources they need to keep people safe.”

“Mr. President, I am beyond outraged that President Trump would commit such a brazen act of war as he has done in Venezuela with absolutely no notice, except to the oil companies and newspapers they leaked it to.”

“Mr. President, you know, over the past week, my home State of Washington has experienced catastrophic and recordbreaking flooding due to an ongoing atmospheric and winter weather event.”

“Just this morning, we saw a levee breach on the White River, and ``Go now'' evacuations have been issued for the city of Pacific, in South King County--not when it comes to landslides, which remain a huge risk at this moment, and, certainly, not when it comes to recovery.”

“Mr. President, right now, families are trying to get health coverage for next year--a few weeks away--and they are coming face to face with the MAGA healthcare hike.”

“Mr. President, I rise to acknowledge the service of an extraordinary public servant who is retiring later this month, U.S. Comptroller General Gene L. Dodaro of the Government Accountability Office.”

“Mr. President, I rise today to celebrate MAJ Brian Dulzo for his exemplary dedication to duty and service to the Nation and Washington State. Major Dulzo served as an Army congressional fellow in my office, and he currently serves with distinction in the Army Congressional Budget Liaison Office, assisting my office and many others in serving our constituents.”

“Mr. President, like so many people in this country, I am so outraged that Republicans have refused to lift a finger to save so many families from the skyrocketing healthcare premiums all year long.”

“Mr. President, I join all of my Democratic colleagues here today to offer this proposal on the healthcare issue that has been holding all of us here and all of the American public for weeks now because after Republicans refused to work with us to save the premium tax credits all this past year, what we hear Republican leaders saying now is they maybe, possibly, will talk about healthcare.”

“We are so far past that. Open enrollment is happening right now. Republicans have already pushed millions of Americans off that tax credit cliff. If we truly want to help these people, Republicans need to work with us as fast as possible to pass this clean, 1-year extension.”

“Mr. President, in reserving the right to object, let me just say this: We should make sure that every Federal worker gets the paycheck that they are owed, and the right way to do that is for Republicans to finally join us and get serious about passing a bipartisan CR so we do reopen the government and prevent healthcare costs from exploding.”

“Mr. President, I want to thank the Senator from New Mexico for coming out here and making it very clear who we are fighting for. And it really is Americans across this country, who are seeing their costs skyrocket across the board.”

“When you are asking us for votes--when you are asking for Democratic votes--you can't just demand whatever you want and say: If you don't do it, then we are going to sit here--which is what the Republicans have done.”

“Mr. President, you know, President Trump has singlehandedly raised taxes more than any President in my lifetime. He has, without any consultation or approval from Congress, imposed billions of dollars in new tariffs.”

“I thank the Senator from Oregon. First, let me just commend you for what you are doing here throughout the night, throughout today, calling attention to a really critical issue in this country.”

“Mr. President, we are now on week four of Republicans insisting that they would rather keep the government shut down than talk about how we can stop healthcare premiums from skyrocketing.”

“Mr. President, let me be clear: Shutdowns do not require Presidents to fire people en masse. They actually do not require Presidents to cancel projects and raise energy prices; nor do they give Presidents new magical powers to destroy programs they don't like or to target political opposition.”

“Mr. President, we are just over a week into Republicans' shutdown and just over 3 weeks from open enrollment, when massive premium hikes become a stone-cold reality for our families.”

“Mr. President, let me just start by giving our lawless President and OMB Director a little primer on the letter of the law because this morning, we learned they are plotting to try to rob furloughed Federal workers of backpay at the end of this shutdown.”

“So there you have it, the 10 States facing the biggest healthcare increases if Republicans refuse to act, all red States. And you know what--I can still go on--premiums are going to more than double for families relying on the tax credits for States like Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, nearly every other red State.”

“Mr. President, we are 3 days into a government shutdown, and we are in the middle of a healthcare crisis entirely of Republicans' making. A new poll shows that nearly 80 percent of Americans--that is 4 in 5--want Republicans to work with us to stop their premiums from doubling.”

“Mr. President, Democrats do not want a shutdown. Democrats also do not want millions of American families to go bankrupt next year because their healthcare premiums more than doubled.”

“Mr. President, in just a short bit, we are going to vote on a bill that Democrats introduced earlier this week that does a couple of critical things.”

“Mr. President, the Appropriations Committee takes very seriously the oversight and accountability of every CDS request. The project and certifications for each item are posted on both the committee website and Members' official website.”

“Mr. President, I am so glad that we are moving on our first appropriations package of fiscal year 2026. It is a package of bipartisan funding bills that invest in our communities and reject damaging cuts from Trump and House Republicans.”

“Mr. President, the National Counterterrorism Center plays a crucial role keeping our country safe. The Agency is responsible for collecting and analyzing intelligence to help protect our Nation from terrorist threats.”

“Mr. President, reserving the right to object, and I appreciate the Senator from Utah being here tonight to offer this package, but I believe there needs to be a more bipartisan and thoughtful way to consider how we protect the future of our public lands.”

“Mr. President, today, I will be voting to move ahead with the first spending bill for fiscal year 2026. Now, there is no doubt that the path forward on appropriations this year has been made extremely challenging by President Trump's flagrant lack of regard for Congress and our laws, and it has not been made any easier by the unprecedented partisan rescissions package that Republicans passed last week.”

“House Republicans, and I would like to see them considered by the full Senate. Now, for that to happen, I hope Republicans will work with us to ensure, once again, that there is an opportunity to debate and amend all three bills.”

“Mr. President, 2 weeks ago, Republicans were jamming through the most expensive bill in the history of the country. And now, they say they are worried about the debt.”

“So make no mistake, if Republicans choose to do Trump's bidding, if they push through this package to rip away funding for emergency alerts and global health programs, it is not because they take the debt seriously.”

“Mr. President, 2 weeks ago, Republicans passed the most expensive bill in the history of the Senate. Why? To cut taxes for billionaires and, at the same time, to cut Medicaid and SNAP for needy families.”

“Mr. President, last week, Republicans made the wrong kind of history. That is because last week, they passed what may well be the single most expensive piece of legislation in the history of our country--all to help the rich and hurt the poor.”

“Mr. President, I, too, want to stand and join with our colleagues from Idaho with our deep sorrow for everyone in those impacted communities. It is close to the border of Washington.”

“Mr. President, my amendment is about a really important issue that has not gotten near enough attention for how devastating it will be for women in our country.”

“Mr. President, pursuant to section 904 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, I move to waive section 302(f) of that act for the purposes of the pending amendment, and I ask for the yeas and nays.”

“U.S. Senate, things have never, never worked this way where one party so egregiously ignores precedent, process, and the Parliamentarian, and does that all in order to wipe away trillions of dollars of costs for a bill that could just be the most expensive legislation this body ever passes.”

“Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Oregon and our other Budget chairs and ranking members from previous years because this is really important. There are some things you can't change with legislation despite what my colleagues on the other side of the aisle seem to believe.”

“To my friend from Oregon, I never would have contemplated it, and I never would have put it forward. I happen to know that if I would have suggested that, my Republican colleagues would have been all over me, telling me that breaks the rules.”

“I thank the Senator for his question because it is just stunning to me that the vast majority of debate--in fact, all the debate--that came from Republicans at the time I was chair of the Budget Committee and trying to put forward a smart budget for the United States of America--the only thing they talked about--was debt and deficit.”

“I can't find it. Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Right? I am looking under my desk for the debt clock here because the Republicans seem to have hidden it away forever.”

“If the Senator would yield for a question--and I know we need to move on here--I just want to add one thing. It is not just that it is going to be debt.”

“Mr. President, I really want to thank my colleagues. The Senator just said they used to call themselves deficit hawks. We need to call them deficit robins. They are robbing from you to pay for the billionaires.”

“Mr. President, I think it is a really important discussion that we had right now about the deficit and the debt, but I want to talk a little bit more about this bill, in general.”

“Well, maybe that is a better name for the bill--at least it is more honest--because when you take healthcare away from people, when you make it harder to get, when you make it harder to afford, when you close the only hospital for miles, yes, you are right, people will die.”

“Mr. President, I know people from all over Washington State have been celebrating Pride this month, and many are going to be heading to Seattle this weekend, and a lot of those celebrations will actually be taking place at Cal Anderson Park in Capitol Hill.”

“Mr. President, I come to the floor this afternoon to the U.S. Senate, a place where people are elected by their constituents to come here to be their voice--every one of us, Republicans and Democrats, elected by the people whom we represent to come here and be their voice and to do the job.”

“Mr. President, along with my fellow Senator from Washington, Ms. Cantwell, I would like to talk about Dr. Kirk Schulz, a dedicated educator and champion for innovation and leader in Washington State and the Nation.”

“Mr. President, over the past month, we have seen a wave of righteous outrage across the country in response to President Trump's completely lawless move to disappear hundreds of people to a notorious megaprison in El Salvador, without even the barest semblance of due process.”

“Who all is being imprisoned? How long is El Salvador holding these people with Trump's orders? How many people is El Salvador going to imprison under this agreement?”

“Mr. President, I rise today to recognize and commend the distinguished public service of King County executive Dow Constantine, who concludes 16 years of exemplary leadership at the helm of King County government.”

“Mr. President, Mayor Royce Pollard, a dedicated public servant and champion for Vancouver, WA, passed away on February 24, 2025. Before his time in local government, Mayor Pollard led a distinguished career in the U.S.”

“Today we call that PTSD, but at the time, we didn't know it. I was looking at these men and women who volunteered to go over or sometimes their number came up at the time and came home, and it really impacted the rest of their lives.”

“The Senator is right. And so many veterans are afraid right now, and I had a veteran tell me that he was one of those people who got the letter, ``you haven't performed well.'' He worked for the National Park Service, actually.”

“Mr. President, I have been unequivocal in saying: In this country, we use our voices and our votes--not violence--to advocate for change. I have said it many times.”

“Mr. President, the Senator's amendment would indiscriminately cut $16 billion from State and USAID, including lifesaving assistance Secretary Rubio said he wants to maintain for the purchase of food from American farmers, programs to counter the PRC influence, and efforts to ensure American businesses are more competitive overseas.”

“Madam President, I have made no secret of my opposition to this bill. For weeks, I have been warning about the real dangers of a yearlong CR like the one that has come before us from the House Republicans.”

“Mr. President, let me be perfectly clear for my colleagues: Democrats want to immediately pass a clean 4-week CR. No one wants a shutdown. We should get this done immediately.”

“Mr. President, today, with my colleague Senator Cantwell, we commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, or PNNL. As one of the Department of Energy's premier national laboratories over the past 60 years, PNNL has tackled some of our Nation's most complex and urgent challenges using its strengths in chemistry, Earth sciences, biology, and data science.”

“Mr. President, if House Republicans don't think they need us when writing a bill, why should they expect us to support that bill, especially when it comes to taking funding away from our families who depend on it and hurting our communities and giving away Congress's power over key funding decisions?”

“Madam President, I got my start in politics as a mom in tennis shoes fighting to protect a preschool program, and I still wear that label proudly. I am a former preschool teacher.”

“Mr. President, I come to the floor today to make a simple point: The law cannot be in the eye of the beholder. The law is the law.”

“Mr. President, we need to be focused on solving problems. I think most of us here get that. No matter who the President is, our constituents expect us to work for them.”

“Trump and Musk have even fired over 1,000 VA workers, including people who are doing lifesaving research for our veterans: research to prevent veteran suicide; to build life-changing prosthetics; and to address opioid addiction and more.”

“Madam President, my amendment does two things. First of all, it strikes the reconciliation instructions. Secondly, it creates a reserve fund to implement a bipartisan, multiyear agreement to provide $171 billion in discretionary funding for both defense and nondefense.”

“Mr. President, the Trump administration is working to destroy medical research as we know it with an illegal, unrealistic cap on the NIH reimbursement rate for indirect costs.”

“Mr. President, thank you to my colleague from Oregon, who has very clearly stated why this nominee is not someone who should be holding the title of Secretary of Health and Human Services, and I appreciate all of his work on this, and his wife's work.”

“Mr. President, I rise today to join my colleagues in urging all of our colleagues to vote against Russ Vought's nomination to lead the Office of Management and Budget.”

“Chaos alone presents a huge risk of derailing crucial studies. Scientists at the University of Washington and Washington State University told my office they were deeply alarmed. A freeze like Trump ordered would have meant research projects collapsing and staff being furloughed or laid off.”

“There is also a project underway to upgrade the technology at our border with Canada, replacing and improving the outdated wait-time system to improve accuracy and help our inspection and our transportation Agencies.”

“Anyone with an ounce of humanity can see this freeze will get devastating fast. It is important to note that it will get devastating in ways you cannot just make up with more money later once that damage is done.”

“Mr. President, over the last few days, the American people have felt the painful consequences of Trump's disastrous funding freeze. Seniors who count on Meals on Wheels have wondered whether they would have dinner this week.”

“Mr. President, I am deeply frustrated that is the response we got today. We cannot agree on something as simple as standing by the officers who keep this building safe, officers every one of us walks by every day?”

“Mr. President, we have several other colleagues who are going to come later to speak about this as well. I wanted to thank everyone who is here today.”

“Mr. President, I realize that some Republicans were hoping we would cut this process short, but I have no problem coming to the floor and having a lengthy discussion about Mr.”

“Mr. President, earlier this week, we lost a friend and a champion for reproductive rights: Cecile Richards. She helped countless women and changed the conversation around women's health and abortion.”

“Now, Republicans have a bill today to take that issue nationwide. That is what we are voting on. That is their top priority now that Trump is in office.”

“Mr. President, families are looking to us to solve problems. They are looking at us to lower prices. They are looking for help getting food on the table or getting childcare or getting their prescriptions filled.”

“Mr. President, if you believe we should be able to detain and deport undocumented immigrants who have committed serious crimes and you took Republicans at their word that the Laken Riley Act was necessary for us to do that, you need to know that is already Federal law.”

“So while I hope to work with my colleagues to improve this bill, as I try to improve every bill that I can, I have to say, we have a long road ahead to address my deep concerns with the way this bill threatens due process and the potential for it to be abused.”