Democrat Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy quickly backtracked on his support for a government shutdown Sunday after being confronted by NBC host Kristen Welker about his past opposition on the subject.
Before a handful of Senate Democrats helped push the GOP-backed spending bill through, several Democrats advocated for lawmakers to block the bill, which would have resulted in a government shutdown by early Saturday morning. While discussing his disapproval of the bill with Welker on “Meet the Press,” Murphy argued that Americans “would have understood” the need for Democrats to push for a shutdown.
However, moments later, Welker played multiple clips of Murphy opposing government shutdowns in 2019 and 2023, during which the senator claimed “it’s hard to explain the ramifications of a shutdown, but they’re enormous,” prompting her to ask, “What changed?”
