Murphy Votes Against "Train Wreck" Republican Budget

Press Release

After nearly a week of debate on a bill to fund the government through the end of September, during which House Republicans took a "train wreck" of a bill and made it even worse, Congressman Chris Murphy (CT-5) voted against it. Murphy fought against efforts to slash funding for home heating assistance, education investments, Amtrak support, land and water conservation grants, preventative health programs for women, and many more priorities for Connecticut.

"This is a train wreck of a bill. The most remarkable aspect of it was not just how bad it was for Connecticut, but how much worse it got as the week's debate went on. From home heating assistance, to education, to police funding, Washington Republicans simply want the federal government to disappear from our lives. And that has real, harmful consequences here in Connecticut," said Murphy.

According to a new analysis by the nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute, this bill will cost more than 800,000 private and public jobs right when the country is slowly recovering from the recession. In Connecticut, this budget could:

* Slash the maximum Pell Grant by $845 -- from the current maximum of $5,550 to $4,705;

* Cut Head Start by $1 billion across the country, which could result in 1,200 fewer young children in the state in early education programs;

* Leave the state of Connecticut $5.35 million short for education dollars to communities;

* Take back more than $160 million in Connecticut's high speed rail funds;

* Shortchange ConnDOT more than $200 million for road repairs;

* And yank funding from the 18 Planned Parenthood clinics in the state that serve nearly 60,000 clients with critical preventative health care.

While Murphy does support cutting the federal budget by at least 1%, he would include cuts in the Department of Defense's budget, an account the initial draft of the Republican budget didn't touch.

"There is no question that we need to cut some fat from the federal budget, but we can't do it on the backs of the middle class, low income families and seniors, and kids. I hope the Senate and the President can stop these heartless cuts from becoming a reality, and root out the real excess in the budget to cut instead," said Murphy.

The Senate must pass this measure before it goes to the President. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has publicly stated his opposition to this House budget, and the President has said that he strongly opposes the legislation.

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