WA Sen. Patty Murray wants Trump out now and punishment for his senate enablers
Five days after Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and other members of Congress fled and hid from an angry mob of armed domestic terrorists at the U.S. Capitol, she’s still not sure what to call it.
“You’re asking a question that everyone is struggling with,” Murray said Monday afternoon in an interview with The News Tribune. “I think that it clearly, to me, was an insurgency. That was an attempt to use force to take over the control of our government.”
Murray provided updates on what she thinks should become of Donald Trump in the waning days of his presidency, the politicians who egged on the pro-Trump insurrection, her leadership plans in the Democrat-controlled Senate and what she calls her No. 1 priority: increasing the pace of COVID-19 vaccinations and providing relief for the economic and social damage the pandemic is leaving in its wake.
Insurrection
Murray wants Trump removed from office as soon possible, but only by using the laws of the United States.
“What we saw last Wednesday was a time in our country’s history where people tried to take over, using force rather than their words, and that cannot be tolerated. Ever. That is exactly the opposite of how a democracy works,” Murray said.
Murray and her Senate colleagues are waiting to see what happens in the House after that body on Monday introduced both a measure calling for Vice President Mike Pence to use the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office as well as holding impeachment proceedings.
“Until they take those actions, the Senate can’t take it up,” Murray said.
Murray also wants her colleagues who promoted the insurrection to be punished. That includes Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). The two men led the objection to certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.
“That is not something I take lightly, ever,” Murray said of punishing the pair. “But Senators Hawley and Cruz led the efforts within the United States Senate to overturn an election, that officials from both sides of the aisle confirmed was free and fair. And they incited and encouraged that violent mob that attacked the Capitol, and what was clearly an act of domestic terrorism. And we cannot take that lightly. We have to stand up and speak out against that.”
COVID-19 vaccines and relief
Murray said the best way to gain the upper hand against the coronavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19, is through vaccinations.
She issued a national plan on vaccine distribution in July. So far, distribution isn’t going well. On Monday, a little over half a million doses had been distributed to Washington State but less than half of those had been administered, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The economic disaster, the health disaster, everything we’re doing is impacted by COVID,” Murray said. “We have to get control of this virus. And the best way to do it is through vaccines. And the only way to make it happen is to make sure that everyone gets one and that they are free, and they’re distributed equitably.”
She has confidence in the Biden administration’s plan to administer 100 million doses in its first 100 days.
“And as their No. 1 focus every single day, it’s going to be a welcome change in my mind,” Murray said of Biden’s COVID-19 plans. “But, I would also say we have a lot of work ahead of us in not just the distribution, sending it to a location, but making sure that we have personnel that are trained to be able to put those vaccines in arms.”
Murray said she doesn’t want any communities passed over in vaccination efforts, whether it’s people of color or rural residents.
Democrats in control of Congress
Following Democrat wins in Georgia’s special elections for its U.S. Senate seats, both parties have an even number of seats. Incoming Vice President Kamala Harris will preside over tie-breakers as the president of the Senate, giving Democrats control.
Murray will become chair of the Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee. The committee oversees policies on health care, education and higher education, among other subjects.
“The actual issues that are being most impacted in people’s lives by the coronavirus,” Murray said.
There’s a lot work to be done in healing the nation’s pandemic-injured education system, she said.
“We’ve got kids come coming back to school, don’t know if they’re going to be back in school, haven’t been in school, and all the the issues we need to work on to make sure our kids get back on track quickly and fairly and equitably,” Murray said. “So, there is a lot under my jurisdiction that I’ll be focused on.”
Murray is taking the long view on the pandemic. She wants the country to be prepared for the next one.
“We need to look at the underlying challenges that left us so vulnerable in a pandemic, things like universal paid leave and child care and our essential workers,” she said.
This story was originally published January 11, 2021 at 2:50 PM.
