Murphy Supports Passage of Funding Bill for Domestic Priorities, Opposes President's War Funding Request

Press Release

Tonight, the House of Representatives approved two amendments regarding the war in Iraq; one to provide funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a second to fund certain key domestic priorities. Congressman Chris Murphy (CT-5) opposed the amendment to fund the war. He supported the second amendment, which included his Blackwater legislation, an updated GI Bill, emergency assistance to Americans struggling in an economy on the brink of recession, urgently-needed disaster relief in the response to the floods and tornadoes in the Midwest, and a measure to block damaging Medicaid regulations.

On his war funding vote, Murphy said: "I simply cannot support the President's no strings attached approach to funding his war."

Murphy supported the second amendment, which included his bipartisan Blackwater bill, H.R. 3928, the Government Funding Transparency Act of 2008. The bill requires firms like Blackwater - those that make more than 80% of their revenue from taxpayer dollars and who have contracts worth more than $25 million in any fiscal year - to disclose executive compensation, just like any publicly traded company.

"Taxpayers deserve to know how much excess profit private contractors are making off of this war. In the past, Congress has always stood up to war profiteering and this legislation continues that tradition," said Murphy.

The second amendment, supported by Murphy, also included:

- a new federal GI Bill to restore the promise of a full, four-year college education, to the
veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, including National Guardsmen and women and Reservists;

- an extension of up to 13 weeks of unemployment benefits in every state to workers
exhausting the 26 weeks of regular unemployment benefits;

- $2.65 billion in urgently-needed disaster relief in the aftermath of the floods and tornadoes in
the Midwest;

- And a moratorium until April 1, 2009 on six Administration-imposed Medicaid regulations,
which would slash federal funding for vital programs and services.

Source