Murphy lays blame on GOP for tough aid talks: ‘Absolutely tragic’

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) rested blame on Republicans for the slow progress on aid negotiations in an interview Sunday, while stressing the precarious situation the world is in without coming to a deal.

“It’s absolutely tragic that Republicans are tying the resolution of maybe the most difficult issue in American politics — immigration — to support for Ukraine and Israel,” Murphy said in an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press.”

“[Russian President] Vladimir Putin is delighting right now in Republicans’ insistence that we get a deal on immigration reform. And if we don’t, then they are going to allow Vladimir Putin to march into Ukraine, and perhaps into Europe,” Murphy said.

“This is one of the most dangerous moments that I’ve ever faced in American politics,” he added. “And I wish Republicans weren’t holding Israel aid and aid to Ukraine hostage to the resolution of immigration reform.”

Murphy, lead Democrat in Senate negotiations over President Biden’s supplemental aid package request, insisted Democrats were still at the table willing to discuss the border.

“That being said, we are still in the room, trying to deal [with] Republican demands. We are not going to put Donald Trump’s immigration policies into statutes. We’re not going to do that. That would be bad for the country. But we do need to do something to try to resolve this crisis at the border,” he said.

“We have too many people crossing, too many people that don’t have valid asylum claims. And if Republicans are serious about trying to control that crisis, while also still allowing into the country people who are legitimately fleeing terror, and torture, and violence, then we can come to a resolution,” he added.

Last week, Senate Republicans blocked a bill introduced by Democrats that would have provided additional aid to Ukraine and Israel but did not include border provisions. Senators voted 49-51, failing to reach the 60-vote threshold that would allow the proposal to come up for consideration.

Asked for a gut check on the likelihood of finding a resolution on the matter, Murphy struck a pessimistic tone, saying, “I mean, right now Republican demands are unreasonable. They don’t actually get Democratic votes.”

“If I were a cynic,” he continued, “I would say that Republicans have decided to tie support for Ukraine to immigration reform because they want Ukraine aid to fail. But I’m not a cynic, and so we are still trying to resolve some pretty big differences that remain.”