{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/murphy-every-day-president-trump-delays-this-transition-leaves-our-country-vulnerable", "Murphy: Every Day President Trump Delays this Transition Leaves our Country VulnerableRead More", "2020-11-16", "2020", "2020-11", "Democrat", "House", "CT", "Christopher Murphy", "M001169", "www.murphy.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "HARTFORDU.S.\r\nSenator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Friday joined U.S. Senator Richard\r\nBlumenthal (D-Conn.) to call on President Trump to accept the free and\r\nfair election results and concede the presidential race to President-elect Joe\r\nBiden. Murphy and Blumenthal talked about how the president's refusal to\r\nconcede and begin the process of a peaceful transfer of power impacts the\r\nability of the incoming Biden administration to address pressing challenges on\r\nnational security and the COVID-19 pandemic. The senators also responded to the\r\nsteam explosion at the West Haven VA, which killed two people Friday morning. On\r\nthe explosion that killed two at the West Haven VA Friday morning, Murphy said: Our\r\nhearts go out to those that have been affected. We know now, confirmed by the\r\nVA, that there have been two deaths and our hearts are very heavy today for\r\nthose lives that have been lost. We're going to be doing everything we can to\r\nwork with the VA to make sure those families are taken care of, to make sure that others that have\r\nbeen injured or affected are cared for, and to make sure that the VA community, which has experienced a loss today, has\r\neverything that they need as well. On\r\nPresident Trump's failure to concede, Murphy said: President-elect Biden won the election. There's\r\nno question about it. And we need to get going with this transition. President\r\nTrump may never concede. He may be interested in creating a grudge culture that\r\npowers his political movement for years. But the Constitution is the Constitution,\r\nand it says that there will be an orderly transition from one administration to\r\nthe next. Murphy\r\nalso highlighted the urgent need to begin the transition so that\r\nPresident-elect Biden will be able to address the raging COVID-19 pandemic:\r\nThis virus is expanding. This virus is on the march at a pace that we have not\r\nyet seen in 2020. And that commands us to make sure that President-elect Biden\r\nis ready, on day one, to chart a new strategy on COVID response. Every day that\r\nPresident-Elect Biden isn't allowed to have his people at HHS, at CDC, at NIH is another day that we\r\nlose in terms of making sure that President-elect Biden is ready to go on day\r\none to beat this virus. A\r\nfull transcript of Murphy's opening remarks can be found below: Good\r\nmorning, everybody. Thanks for being here on a cold, rainy day. Senator\r\nBlumenthal and I want to offer a few remarks, both on the tragedy this morning\r\nin West Haven  but also on the ongoing transition. First,\r\nlet me say that we've been in touch with the VA this morning. I think both\r\nSenator Blumenthal and I have offered our assistance in any way that we can.\r\nOur hearts go out to those that have been affected. We know now, confirmed by\r\nthe VA, that there have been two deaths, and our hearts are very heavy today\r\nfor those lives that have been lost. We're\r\ngoing to be doing everything we can to work with the VA to make sure those\r\nfamilies are taken care of. To make sure that others that have been injured or\r\naffected are cared for, and to make sure that the VA community, which has\r\nexperienced a loss today, has everything that they need as well. We\r\nare here today as well to talk about the ongoing transition. President Biden\r\nwon the election President-elect Biden won the election. There's no\r\nquestion about it. And we need to get going with this transition. President\r\nTrump may never concede. He may be interested in creating a grudge culture that\r\npowers his political movement for years. But the constitution is the\r\nconstitution, and it says that there will be an orderly transition from one\r\nadministration to the next. The\r\nUnited States is unique. We don't have kings or monarchs. We have regular\r\ntransitions from one leader to the next. And so it's important that those\r\ntransitions are as seamless as possible, because it is normally during\r\ntransitions of power that countries can face vulnerabilities. That adversaries\r\ncan attempt to take actions detrimental to the nation undergoing that\r\ntransition. Every\r\nday that President Trump doesn't allow for this transition to happen is a day\r\nthat America is vulnerable from a national security perspective. But this\r\npandemic is raging largely out of control and unchecked in many parts of this\r\ncountry. It took us 96 days to go from zero cases to a million cases. It took\r\nus 14 days to go from 8 million cases to 9 million cases. It took us 10 days to\r\ngo from 9 million cases to 10 million cases in this country. This\r\nvirus is expanding. This virus is on the march at a pace that we have not yet\r\nseen in 2020. And that commands us to make sure that President-elect Biden is\r\nready, on day one, to chart a new strategy on COVID response. Every day that\r\nPresident-elect Biden isn't allowed to have his people at HHS, at CDC, at NIH\r\nis another day that we lose in terms of making sure that President-elect Biden\r\nis ready to go on day one to beat this virus. President\r\nTrump has given up on fighting coronavirus. He's in full denial, even as this\r\ncrisis expands on a daily basis, even as the infection rages inside the White\r\nHouse, even as news breaks today that 130 Secret Service officers have COVID.\r\nAnd so given President Trump's complete disinterest in fighting the pandemic in\r\nNovember and December, the final two months of his term, it's that much more\r\nimportant that he begin to hand over the keys to President-elect Biden. But\r\nit's also important from a broader national security perspective. You know, I\r\nwatch China and Russia very carefully. They are certainly contemplating taking\r\naggressive actions in Ukraine, or Hong Kong, or Taiwan, knowing that President\r\nTrump is distracted right now, knowing that there are brand new hands on deck\r\nat the Department of Defense, and knowing that President-elect Biden might have\r\ntrouble standing up a national security apparatus if he doesn't get the keys to\r\nthe White House until after his swearing-in. So\r\nfrom a national security perspective, it's really important that Vice President\r\nBiden start getting these briefings, start being able to have his people inside\r\nthe Department of Defense and inside the National Security Council so that he's\r\nready to protect America on day one, as well. So we are gonnabe\r\nincreasing our pressure on the GSA and on our Republican colleagues to let this\r\ntransition begin. There's\r\nnothing stopping Congress from passing legislation that could overcome a veto\r\nrequiring GSA to begin the transition. If my Republican colleagues who are\r\nbeginning to talk about the importance of this transition beginning are\r\nserious, then they should put their votes where their words are. We don't have\r\nto stand by and let President Trump assault democracy like this. There's\r\nno path to stay in power for Donald Trump. He didn't win. He lost by a big\r\nmargin. There was no widespread voter fraud. When the electoral college meets,\r\nthey are going to choose Joe Biden as the next president of the United States\r\nand Donald Trump will leave the White House on swearing-in day one way or\r\nanother. But every day that this transition stalls is another day that COVID\r\nwins  and it's another day that our adversaries have opportunity to take\r\nadvantage of this very, very messy transition. So with that, let me turn it\r\nover to Senator Blumenthal. ###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/murphy-every-day-president-trump-delays-this-transition-leaves-our-country-vulnerable"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8516099769622087, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}