U.S. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut says there’s been some bipartisan cooperation in Congress over the past three months.
Murphy, a liberal Democrat, told constituents on a telephone town hall that he’s pleased with how his colleagues in Congress came together on legislation to deal with COVID-19.
“We have passed four different major pieces of relief legislation totaling three to four trillion dollars in scale. Standing up massive new programs to support small businesses, and people who are out of work, and schools and colleges. And we’ve done it across the aisle.”
He says there were only a handful of dissenting votes on any of the bills. But Murphy acknowledges that Senate Republicans are now holding up bills. He says that’s because bipartisan legislation becomes more difficult as November approaches.
“It’s going to get really hard as we get close to an election. The president is obviously not setting the tone for bipartisan cooperation, especially on these issues of civil rights.”
Murphy says that’s why he has low expectations for any immediate federal legislation to deal with the nationwide protests demanding racial equity. In the meantime, he says he’s working on a bill to secure federal money for desegregation of housing and schools.
