The Senate is broken.

My colleagues know I am someone whose focus is always on getting things done for WA state & our country. But outdated, misused procedure is getting in the way of debate & legislation. With all our country faces right now, we’ve absolutely got to fix it.
When a single Senator can block even a debate on legislation a majority of us support or hold up the otherwise uncomplicated, run-of-the-mill confirmation of very non-controversial administration officials—just by hitting send on an email—that’s absurd.
Millions of Americans wonder why bills that pass the House only ever come to the Senate to die. It’s because a single member of this institution can shut down even the opportunity to confirm a nominee or debate legislation that a majority of this chamber supports.
This is all at a time when our country faces more challenges—that are more urgent and consequential—than at almost any time I can remember.

First among these is the coordinated, national attack on the right to vote.
I've made very clear I believe protecting the right to vote will be the most important thing we do this Congress. But right now—every single time this chamber has tried to even debate this legislation, Senate procedure has empowered Republican obstruction over Democratic action.
Because of Republican obstruction to voting rights measures that should be bipartisan, Democrats—who control the White House, House, and Senate—are left with no legislative options to address the dangerous rise of voter suppression laws sweeping the nation at the state level.
It's not just voting rights. It’s also about whether the Senate can debate—and act—on all the issues people send Senators to Washington to address. When we can’t even debate major bills the House passes, we're stifling the voices of people who want to see us tackle key issues.
I’ve thought long & hard about what we do about this. I believe strongly in the right of the minority party to have a voice, & the filibuster has helped me protect issues I care deeply about. Our nation would be better off if we could address major issues in a bipartisan manner.
But today—Senate procedure is making the Senate more partisan, not more functional. The rules are pushing Democrats & Republicans further into their corners rather than towards collaboration, making it unbelievably easy to block legislative action—& nearly impossible to start it.
That's why I've been speaking to my colleagues about two steps we can take this year to fix this:

1) We absolutely have to carve out a path to pass strong federal voting rights protections this Congress

2) We need to restore the Senate
If you oppose a bill that others want to pass—you should have to explain to the American people why. You should have to come to the floor of the United States Senate & make your case so voters can see & decide for themselves who is best representing their interests.
If it's the filibuster or democracy, I'll choose democracy. If it's Senate rules or a Senate that works for the American people, I'll chose a Senate that works. I'm urging my Senate colleagues to make that same choice.

Read more about my position here: senatormurray.medium.com/pass-voting-ri…

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More from @PattyMurray

11 Jan
LIVE: I’m chairing a Senate HELP Committee hearing with our nation’s leading public health experts and COVID-19 response team on the pandemic and our efforts to address new variants like Omicron. twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…
Nearly 2 years into this pandemic, people are exhausted after all we’ve been through. We’re all alarmed by how quickly Omicron has spread—& anxious about what’s next. I’ve heard from people back in WA state who are frustrated & worried about the course of this pandemic.
They’re worried about persistent challenges—like how hard it still is to get a test, the long lines to get tested, and the cost of tests.

People have also found the communications about the new isolation and quarantine guidance confusing and frustrating.
Read 10 tweets
8 Dec 21
I’m speaking on the Senate floor to call for action here in this chamber to end the crisis of gun violence we’ve long seen in our schools, neighborhoods, and across our country.

I will not stay quiet & will keep pushing for change. Watch live: twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…
Last week, we mourned the deaths of 4 high school students following the tragic school shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan.

My heart goes out to their families and friends, and to every student there who is now carrying the trauma of that experience.
And my heart breaks for every student in this country who grows up thinking something like this will eventually happen to them at their school—and for every parent who worries each time they send their kid off to school.
Read 9 tweets
8 Jan 21
I come to the Capitol every day to fight for what I believe in. I often have issues I feel very strongly about—whether it’s a woman’s right to choose, or immigration, or health care, or the issue of the day.
I use my voice to tell people what I believe to be right, and I listen to the other side. We hear each other out, we vote, and whoever has the votes wins. And I accept that.
Do I always like the outcome? No, but I accept it, because that is what our democracy requires. People having a voice, being able to use it, and all of us accepting that no one person or group should get their way all the time.
Read 6 tweets
1 Oct 20
Tonight Senate Republicans forced a vote on a bill they claimed would protect patients with pre-existing conditions.

But the truth is, this bill wasn't about protecting patients, it was about protecting Republicans from their record of undermining health care.
Republicans have tried *repeatedly* to overturn protections for pre-ex conditions—& right now, they're rushing to confirm a SCOTUS justice who could rule in a case that will be argued just days after the election to end those protections & upend health care entirely.
Senate Republicans were hoping the bill they offered tonight would distract people from the facts. But let me be perfectly blunt about what happened: Republicans, who are steering the Titanic toward an iceberg, tried to offer passengers an umbrella to stay dry.
Read 5 tweets
30 Sep 20
A NEW REPORT outlines how the American health care system has failed communities of color due to entrenched bias, discrimination, & racism—and how the Trump Administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened this crisis. help.senate.gov/ranking/newsro…
This report found that: 
➡️Black people are 3.5x more likely to die from COVID-19 than white people.
➡️COVID-19 accounts for 1 in 5 deaths in the Latinx community.
➡️American Indian or Alaska Native patients are being hospitalized at more than 4x the rate of white people.
The impacts of COVID-19 have been particularly severe for people of color who have a disability, are older adults, have pre-ex conditions, are LGBTQIA+, or are workers who earn low incomes.
Read 6 tweets
26 Sep 20
President Trump has told us repeatedly what he wants in a justice: a jurist who above anything else is committed to gutting health care through the courts and ending safe, legal abortion in the United States of America.
Make no mistake, a vote to confirm a Supreme Court nominee who meets President Trump’s tests is a vote to take away people’s health care and vital rights.
I oppose this President's Supreme Court nomination in the strongest terms, just like I've opposed his other nominees who want to overturn Roe v. Wade, dismantle affordable health care & eliminate pre-ex conditions protections, & roll back other hard-fought rights.
Read 6 tweets

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