'Refused To Share Basic Information': Patty Murray Rips Trump Administration Over Transparency Issues

Forbes Breaking News

During a Senate Appropriations Committee business meeting on Thursday, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) spoke about President Donald Trump.

Transcript

00:00The clerk will call the roll.

00:03Senator McConnell.

00:05No.

00:06Senator Murkowski.

00:08Senator Graham.

00:10The floor recommends that we release this.

00:11Senator Moran.

00:12No.

00:14Senator Hoban.

00:16Senator Bozeman.

00:18Senator Capito.

00:21Senator Kennedy.

00:23Senator Hyde-Smith.

00:30Senator Haney.

00:31I apologize.

00:34I was distracted.

00:35I want to have Senator Murkowski recorded as a no by proxy and Senator Graham as a no by proxy.

00:47And where did you leave off?

00:50Senator Hovec.

00:51No by proxy.

00:53Senator Bozeman.

00:54No by proxy.

00:55Senator Capito.

00:56No by proxy.

00:58Senator Kennedy.

00:59No by proxy.

01:00Senator Hyde-Smith.

01:01No by proxy.

01:02Senator Hagerty.

01:03No by proxy.

01:04Senator Britt.

01:06No.

01:07Senator Mullin.

01:08No.

01:09Senator Fisher.

01:10No by proxy.

01:12Senator Rounds.

01:13No by proxy.

01:14Senator Murray.

01:15Aye.

01:17Senator Durbin.

01:18Aye.

01:19Senator Reid.

01:21Aye.

01:22Senator Shaheen.

01:23Aye.

01:24Senator Merkley.

01:26Aye.

01:27Senator Kuhn.

01:30Aye.

01:30Senator Schatz.

01:32Aye.

01:32Senator Baldwin.

01:34Aye.

01:36Senator Murphy.

01:37Aye by proxy.

01:39Senator Van Hollen.

01:40Aye.

01:42Senator Heinrich.

01:44Aye.

01:45Senator Peters.

01:46Aye.

01:48Senator Gillibrand.

01:49Aye by proxy.

01:51Senator Asa.

01:52Aye.

01:53Chair Collins.

01:55No.

02:09On this vote, there are 14 ayes and 15 nays, and the amendment is not agreed to.

02:17There is a vote on the floor.

02:21We are going to do a last amendment, and then I hope we could recess to go vote, and then

02:30come back and conclude our work.

02:35Senator Murray.

02:36Thank you, Chair, and I just encourage everybody to come back as soon as the second vote is recorded

02:40on the floor.

02:41So we have several amendments here and two more bills to go.

02:44But before we do that, Chair Collins, I just want to talk about one really important issue

02:48for all of us in this committee.

02:50In order to do our jobs here on this committee, we rely on information from the executive branch

02:56so all of us can understand how they are spending the taxpayer dollars we appropriated.

03:01This administration has, more than any other in my time in office, refused to share basic

03:07information with this committee, often in defiance of our bipartisan spending laws.

03:12You all know this.

03:13In virtually every budget hearing we've had, we have talked about missing or utterly inadequate

03:19spend plans, failures to answer basic questions, and missing notifications to consultation

03:24of this committee.

03:26And, of course, this administration violated our bipartisan requirement to make apportionment

03:31data, which shows how they are spending taxpayer dollars available to the public.

03:36We also need to make sure each agency is communicating with us and clarify our expectations about the

03:43information that they're expected to provide.

03:46The Chair, I understand you have a commitment to work with us and continue to make progress on

03:51this issue as we continue on the appropriations process.

03:54I will not offer an amendment at this time, and I know we intend to work together on that.

03:59Senator Murray, I do commit publicly, as I have privately, to working with you on this

04:06issue.

04:07And in the hopes of reaching a decision, I do believe our access to information on apportionments,

04:16on spend plans is critical.

04:19I would say, in response to Senator Merkley's earlier comments, that it's not as if this

04:25committee has not taken steps.

04:27We have put the tables, for example, into the bill for the very first time.

04:34That is a major step forward.

04:36And the reason that our bills were not brought to the floor, despite the very hard work of

04:43Senator Murray when she was Chair, was the decision of the then majority leader.

04:50By contrast, we have a commitment from the new majority leader to bring our bills to the

04:56floor.

04:56And I hope the committee members will cooperate to make that possible.

05:02So, it isn't as if things haven't changed.

05:06I compliment the Chair for those efforts.

05:10We will now take a recess for 15 minutes so that we can go vote.

Category

Transcript

Recommended