From October 26, 2022 post
Today, at a Seattle event with Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. Senator Patty Murray outlined the stakes of the Senate election in Washington and discussed her priorities for Washington state families: lowering costs, building a stronger clean energy economy, making sure every woman can make her own health care decisions, protecting our democracy, and more.Below are Senator Murray’s remarks as prepared:Thank you to my friend Senator Cantwell for that introduction—we are so lucky to have her fighting for us.I want to thank our speakers you heard earlier, Marilyn, and Suzan, and Tina — they have been great out there on the stump, thank you for them. We have a pretty great congressional delegation — and we can keep it that way by making sure we send Congresswoman Schrier back to DC. And I really want to see Marie Perez in Congress next year, too!I am so grateful to see so many friends, new faces, older faces… this election could not be more important, and there simply could not be more on the line right now for working families, worker’s rights — the very future of our democracy is on the line.We recognize it, I get it. I am someone who knows what it means to get by on a tight budget. I grew up in a big middle-class family. My dad was a WWII Veteran and he ran a small store on the Main Street in Bothell. So we never had a lot, but we always got by — and a lot of times, that was because our country was at our back.
So, lowering everyday costs for the basics and building a stronger economy for working people — that’s what my focus has been in the United States Senate — and that’s what it always will be.
Once Democrats got the majority, as you heard from Senator Cantwell — 50-50, not easy as we all know now — we got right to work to pass the American Rescue Plan. Not one Republican voted for that — not one. And we have now recovered all the jobs we lost since the pandemic.
After four years of listening to Trump have these “infrastructure weeks”, we got to work and we passed an infrastructure decade — Democrats did that.
And as Maria said, it was Democrats who negotiated and passed the CHIPS Bill to strengthen our supply chain of semiconductors — which we all know, chips are now in everything we use, right? We passed that bill and sent a clear message that making things in America again, and here in Washington state, was going to happen, and we’ll be building our own chips here.
And who here believes that Medicare should be able to negotiate lower prescription drug costs for everyone? Democrats made that happen with those 50 votes.
And we delivered the largest-ever investment in climate action, because we understand the severity of the climate crisis, and because we recognize the opportunities we have now in building a clean energy economy to create good-paying jobs and lower energy costs. Democrats did that for our country.
Now, a couple things: I know some of you may have watched me at Gonzaga, debating my opponent — yes, that was Tiffany Smiley I was debating against, not Tucker Carlson, but I know it’s hard to tell the difference. And maybe if you watched that, you noticed that my opponent couldn’t mention one thing she would do to lower costs for families — not one.
Now I am working on lowering the cost of health care, prescription drugs, energy costs, child care, housing — and she could not come up with one thing! Not one thing! She says to tackle inflation we need to rein in spending. Okay. But she never — not once! — explained what she was going to cut. Not once.
But if you listened closely to her Sunday, here’s what she did say about Social Security and Medicare — and it’s pretty important to know this. She said she wouldn’t come after your benefits if you’re already receiving them or NEAR to receiving them. What about everybody else?! Ask her — what about everybody else?
Well, I’ll lay it out for you, because my opponent said she supports Rick Scott’s policy agenda, which actually sunsets every federal program every five years. And that means, if she were to go to DC, she wants Mitch McConnell and Rick Scott to decide what happens to your Social Security and Medicare every five years. Make no mistake: Social Security and Medicare are on the chopping block if Tiffany Smiley ever gets elected.
And now, here’s the other piece — my opponent is running to represent the Evergreen state.
But on Sunday night, she flat out refused — and she got asked twice — to admit that humans are contributing to climate change. Now, do you all believe that climate change is real?
Does anybody here think we should send a climate denier to the United States Senate? You shouldn’t be representing the State of Washington in the United States Senate if you can’t admit that climate change is real!
And there’s more. If you watched CNN about a month ago, she couldn’t even admit that Joe Biden was fairly elected. Now that to me is just not acceptable, because our democracy is on the line in this election. And we need leaders who stand up to election deniers — not who take money from them.
I’ve talked to you a lot about what Democrats have gotten done with just 50 votes. I want to tell you what we can do with 52.
With Republicans all around the country embracing dangerous lies about election fraud — it is so important that we pass federal voting rights protections.
Do you think every American should have the right to vote by mail like we do?Do you want to end partisan gerrymandering? Well, we can do that with 52 votes!
We use our voices and our votes to decide the future of our country — and protecting every American’s access to the ballot box is how we make sure that democracy stays a democracy.
And here is what else is on the line in this election: a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions — that’s on the ballot.
You should know that my opponent supported a national abortion ban and defunding Planned Parenthood before she launched her name on the ballot, her campaign for Senate. She actually was even campaigning with Senator Joni Ernst from Iowa this week— last night, she was here.
Well on the Senate floor this summer, that very same Senator Joni Ernst blocked my bill to protect every American’s fundamental right to use birth control — you heard that right: birth control. Joni Ernst blocked that bill in the Senate!
And she’s one of the leading supporters in the Senate of a national abortion ban.This is the Republican party that we’re dealing with today: they are forcing women to stay pregnant even when they do not want to be, and no matter their circumstances.
They are threatening doctors with prison time, and they want to stop women from crossing state lines to get the medical care that they want to get, reproductive health care. Imagine that, and then let me ask you a question.
Are you ready to fight for women’s reproductive rights? I am, and I promise you that with 52 votes in the Senate and a pro-choice majority in the House, we will pass my bill to codify Roe into law on day one.
You know exactly where I stand on this issue, because it’s where I have always stood. I didn’t change my position when I got on the ballot. This is important.
Look, I said during that debate that I felt like I was on the Senate floor listening to Mitch McConnell — I wasn’t joking. That’s what I hear everyday! Washington state doesn’t need a Fox News personality to go to DC to be a rubber stamp for Mitch McConnell. That is my opponent.
You all know me — and you know I will always be a strong voice for our state and our values. The choice could not be more clear and there is too much on the line to sit this election out.
I know it—and you know it. But now, we have 13 days left to make sure everyone in Washington state knows it as well.
Ballots are out and every single day is Election Day, for the next 13 days! Everything you do from now through Election Day makes a difference. Because everyone from Donald Trump’s Super PAC, to Mitch McConnell, to the people who helped fund the insurrection, are pouring millions of dollars into our state — and you’ve seen this — because they want to win this seat. And I have to say, you all should know this, she raised six million dollars in the last few months.
So, I need your help — everyone here and everyone you know — to keep this Senate seat blue in 2022.
Every contribution you can make in these final days will help us get our message out — and that really matters. Do not get distracted by polls and pundits. It’s voters who will decide on the outcome of this election and the future of our democracy.
So, not only do I need you to make sure you vote, preferably today, but I need everyone here to make sure everyone you know votes — and that means your parents, your friends, your kids if they’re old enough, everybody you know! Your neighbors, the people you see out shopping – make sure they all vote.
Knock on any door you can — your neighbors, your friends, help us out. Every call you make, every text you send, will be the difference on Election Day.
Now look, I know I am asking a lot of you all — so I do want to just say how grateful I am, from the bottom of my heart, to each and every one of you for standing with me during this campaign. Thank you.
It really matters who our leaders are. It matters. And that is why I am so excited to introduce the woman we are all gathered here to see today.
She is an amazing friend of mine, she is someone who was immediately a force in the Senate. Her election in 2016 was such a bright spot in a really dark year; and I know it meant a lot to our daughters and our granddaughters to see her sworn in.
She is someone we all got to know very quickly for her fierce questioning in Senate Committees — remember that? She faced down Supreme Court nominees and Cabinet Secretaries.
And from very early on, she is someone who I saw was in this fight for the right reasons — you get a sense for these things. And it was plain to see that she was in office to be a voice for her constituents and what is right.
She is a trailblazer, an inspiration to so many young girls, she is a friend, she is a former colleague. And now, please welcome the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris!
Original source can be found here.
