Christopher Murphy
Senator for Connecticut · Democratic · United States
“Congress doesn't want to get involved in litigating the details of the arrangement between players and coaches and schools. You guys work that out, just like we require every other industry to do this. I think in the end, this bill, if it passes and becomes law, is actually going to be a long-term threat to college athletics.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“This bill says that a coach can't leave in the middle of the season, but that almost never happens. The reality is this bill only says players can only transfer once without penalty. It doesn't say anything about coaches.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Congress isn't going to come in here and micromanage your relationship with the athletes. If you want to work something out, sit down and talk to the athletes about it. If you want rules that apply across the industry, then do what every other industry does, which is have a dialogue with the workers.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. President, the legislation that we're going to be voting on tonight is predicated on a simple idea, the idea that college sports is in crisis and that it requires a fairly extraordinary act of legislative intervention to address this crisis.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“They could either work out a new set of rules with the athletes. That is generally what has to happen if you want industry-wide rules that limit compensation, that limit that applicability of a free market.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
“Well, the first way we know that is that the bill does really nothing to stop the runaway overall costs of college athletics, in particular, some of the biggest drivers of costs being facilities and the salaries of adults. Let us just take one example. And I see my friend from Louisiana is on the floor, currently.”
Senate28 September 2026Source ↗
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“Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.”
Senate23 July 2026Source ↗
“We need to rally this Nation against this corruption and bring it to an end because if Donald Trump gets what he wants and we just start allowing our government's leaders to openly steal from us during the first 100 days or for the rest of his term, then, I am telling you, American democracy is not going to survive. I yield the floor.”
Senate29 April 2025Source ↗
“Donald Trump wants to numb this country into believing that this is just how government works, that he is owed this, that every President is owed this--that the government has always been corrupt, and he is just doing it out in the open. This is not how government works. This has been the story of his first 100 days, but it is our choice as a nation to allow it to be the story of the rest of his term. We need to expose what he is doing. We need to rally everybody, from the left to the right. Nobody in this country--whether you are a hardened conservative or a hardened progressive--should root for the President of the United States to be enriching himself off of this position.”
Senate29 April 2025Source ↗
“The initiation fee is around a half-million dollars. It is advertised as a place where you can hold secret audiences with the Trump administration, as long as you pay Donald Trump's family and their financial backers over $500,000 in membership fees. It has apparently already sold out. This is not normal. None of this is normal. This is outlandish. This is illegal. This is unconstitutional, brazen corruption, and this is only the first 100 days. I just detailed 40 instances of mind-blowing corruption in just 40 days, capped off by an attempt to just sell access to the White House to people who put money in the pockets of Donald Trump's personal businesses.”
Senate29 April 2025Source ↗
“On March 28, Trump pardons the founder of Nikola autos, one of his campaign megadonors. Again, this is a pardon for one of his major campaign contributors. When asked about the pardon, Trump said: They say the thing they did was wrong, but he was one of the first people who supported me for President. He just tells you what he did. He said: Yes, they said what he did was wrong. He did something that was probably pretty wrong, but he supported me for President. So I am giving him a pardon. I am not saying there hasn't been a lot of really bad stuff that has happened in the pardon program under Democratic and Republican Presidents, but let's just name it what Donald Trump named it. April 8--we are into April. Trump issues an Executive order to expand coal mining, part of his downpayment on the promise he made to those oil executives.”
Senate29 April 2025Source ↗
“And the message, again, is pretty simple here: If you are loyal to me and you pay any kind of price for your loyalty to me, I will use government resources to help get you out of trouble, even including free advertising. On March 19--we are 8 days later--the GEO Group donated $500,000 to Trump's inauguration fund. This is a private prison company. The NLRB drops its investigation into this company. I mean, it is really getting disgusting at this point. I mean, I don't know that there is anybody left that made a major donation to the inauguration fund that has not gotten their favor from Donald Trump. On March 24, the Treasury Department guts something called the Corporate Transparency Act. This is the regulation that requires businesses to reveal their true owners to the government.”
Senate29 April 2025Source ↗
“Elon is like: Wait a second. All of these other big donors to your inauguration are getting out of jail free. I want my get-out-of-jail- free card as well. He gets it from DOJ. We are now into March. On March 1, a report breaks--this is maybe second to Coinbase, the most stunning act of corruption--on March 1, word breaks that Trump is selling meetings at Mar-a-Lago. On at least one occasion, Trump has charged guests $1 million to dine with him at Mar-a-Lago. According to the same report, business leaders can secure a one-on- one meeting with the President of the United States for a $5 million payment to Donald Trump. If you were mayor of a medium-sized town and it was reported that you were selling meetings for like $200, you would be arrested. You would be run out of town. But not Donald Trump.”
Senate29 April 2025Source ↗
“The contract has not been canceled yet. But there are regular reports of the administration still relentlessly attacking Verizon in a clear attempt to try to undermine their contract. On February 27, the next day, Trump drops a lawsuit against Capital One. Why does this matter? Capitol One donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund. It is now just kind of automatic--you donate a big amount of money to Trump's inauguration, and you can ask him for something. We are not done. That same day, the FCC drops a lawsuit against Coinbase. You have the story now. Coinbase donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund. They are now told that it is OK to keep cheating consumers. We are not done. On February 28, a day later, the DOJ announces that it would drop a complaint against SpaceX, Elon Musk's SpaceX, for labor discrimination.”
Senate29 April 2025Source ↗
“attorney for Washington, DC, Ed Martin, starts to use his government power to harass Trump's critics. He launches something called Operation Whirlwind, and he is pretty unapologetic about the fact that this is going to be an enforcement operation against anybody who just seeks to get in the way of DOGE. He doesn't say it is going after people who are acting illegally; he says anybody who tries to stop or protest or harass DOGE's work is now going to be the subject of Operation Whirlwind. He starts trolling critics of DOGE online. The U.S. attorney for DC is now just trolling DOGE critics online, obviously threatening criminal enforcement. See what is happening here? We are 30 days into the administration, and everybody in Trump's world, including the supposedly independent U.S.”
Senate29 April 2025Source ↗
“By February 12, Elon Musk is pretty well embedded in the White House, and, guess what, the State Department is now going to spend $400 million for armored Teslas--its largest expected contract in the upcoming year. On February 12, the same day, Musk infiltrates the Department of Labor and OSHA, giving him exclusive, secret access to labor law violation data against him and his competitors. It is unethical and corrupt, but this stuff is happening every single day. A few days later, on February 15 and 16, Musk now starts really testing the limits of what his boss will let him get away with. He fires a specific set of regulators at the FDA that are reviewing one of his medical products, Neuralink. The message is clear: You got to do right by my applications or you risk getting the ax too. Three days later, on February 19, Trump's new U.S.”
Senate29 April 2025Source ↗
“They just say that Adams is now supporting Donald Trump, and we are now going to drop the charges against him. And everybody gets the message: There is a lot of stuff I can get away with as a corrupt official as long as I am in bed politically with Donald Trump. On the same day, February 10, DOJ pauses enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. This is the law that stops American companies from bribing foreign governments in order to get business. On February 10, Trump suspends enforcement of an antibribery statute, paving the way for his friends in corporate America to start bribing foreign governments again. Two days later, the State Department forecasts that they are going to dramatically upscale the amount of money that they are going to send to Tesla. This is the first time that Elon Musk shows up in this story.”
Senate29 April 2025Source ↗
“As you will see, Trump's justice system will often look the other way if you cheat or steal but you are a friend of Donald Trump's. At the same time, another of Trump's friends, his IRS nominee, Billy Long, gets his donors--almost all of them have direct interest before the IRS--to pay off his six-figure campaign debt. It is a fabulously corrupt thing to do, but it is just all normal now. So when Trump is showing you the way, then the folks who work for him follow suit. All right. We will jump to February now, February 4. We are into, what, week 2 of the Trump White House. Trump hauls the PGA and the Saudi Government into the White House to broker an agreement between the two rival golf leagues so that Trump can make more money hosting golf tournaments. He is in business with one of these entities, the Saudi-owned LIV league.”
Senate29 April 2025Source ↗
“This is just a backdoor way for anybody with business before the Trump administration to send him millions of dollars in total secret. Trump doesn't disclose who buys the coin. He launders his income from the coin through an unregulated Chinese exchange. He promotes the coin on his social media feeds. In the first minute of trading, one buyer--and what we know is, this was likely a Chinese individual--purchases 6 million coins, sending the price through the roof and immediately making a ton of money for Trump, who makes money off of every transaction. Trump knows who this person is, no doubt, but American citizens do not. All right, on January 20, he is now sworn in, and he fulfills a campaign promise to the oil and gas industry.”
Senate29 April 2025Source ↗
“OK, I am going to try to do this: I am going to try to do this as quickly as possible. I am just going to highlight for you maybe the 40 most egregious examples of corruption in the first 100 days, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. So, on January 6--this is before Trump is even sworn in--Amazon, which has a ton of business before the incoming Trump White House, pays $40 million to the Trump family to license a documentary, a series, about Melania Trump--just a cash payment from a company that has huge interests before the incoming White House to the Trump family. On January 17, a few days before Trump is sworn in, maybe the most corrupt act in the history of the White House: This is the creation of the Trump meme coin.”
Senate29 April 2025Source ↗
“These words are really small because, you know, over the course of 100 days, there are 40, 50, 60 different individual acts of precedent-breaking corruption. And that is intentional, because what President Trump is trying to do is engage in so much public corruption that you just become normalized to it, that you stop paying attention to the corruption because is it-- can it be--corruption if it is just playing out in public? He is trying to make you think that this stuff happens all the time behind the scenes, and, now, all that is different is that you are seeing it publicly. But that is not true. This is not, actually, how government works, and I refuse to accept that, just because the corruption is happening in public, in front of the cameras for everybody to see, we should accept it.”
Senate29 April 2025Source ↗
“That story is important because we are watching the theft of taxpayer money by the decision of the Republican Party to look the other way as Donald Trump essentially monetizes, at scale, the White House and the powers given to him by the Constitution and the American people in order to enrich himself and his friends. And if we don't tell this story and if we don't mount a national, bipartisan, apolitical resistance to this thievery, to this corruption, and it becomes normalized as just a part of doing business in America, a normal facet of residence in the White House, then shame on us because our democracy will not survive this level of corruption, grift, and graft. So I am going to try to tell the story really quickly. I have got two charts, and this is hard to read.”
Senate29 April 2025Source ↗
“Mr. President, my colleagues, you are going to hear a lot of stories about the first 100 days of President Trump's second Presidency, and, indeed, there are a lot of stories. There is a story of incompetence. We are dealing with multiple measles outbreaks all across the country. There is a story about abdicating our responsibility to lead around the world. Vladimir Putin is laughing at us as Trump goes about the business of handing Ukraine to a brutal Kremlin dictator. There is a story of transferring wealth from the poor and the middle class, through massive cuts to Medicaid, to the very, very wealthy, who are asking for another massive tax cut. But I would argue that the most important story to tell is a story of corruption--a story of mind-blowing, massive, scalable corruption.”
Senate29 April 2025Source ↗
“It is not a celebration of those iconic teams and athletes. Instead, this resolution is just a tactic, another one, to scare and mislead the public and to bully vulnerable kids. That is the reason that I am on the floor, once again, to object. Therefore, I object.”
Senate4 March 2025Source ↗
“So we are going to tell this story here on the Senate floor, all over the country, while this bill moves its way through the process, either as one bill or two bills, because regardless of the process, the story is still the same: a scam to take money from regular people to make the lives of the rich and powerful even more lavish. I yield the floor.”
Senate19 February 2025Source ↗
“That is why they went on TV, to show the world the corruption as a signal that things are different now, that the law is not the law; the law is what President Trump decides the law is. The law loses all meaning when it becomes simply what the President, what the leader on any given day decides. This is the worst possible moment to put a person like Kash Patel in charge of the FBI. It is heartbreaking to see so many of my Republican colleagues--many of whom I admire--put loyalty to Donald Trump ahead of loyalty to this country and, more specifically, loyalty to that sacred principle, the rule of law. My prediction is that if you vote for Kash Patel, more than any other confirmation vote you make, you will come to regret this one to your grave. I yield the floor.”
Senate19 February 2025Source ↗
“Nomination of Kashyap Patel Mr. President, that brings us to the pending nominee to lead the FBI, Kash Patel. If your plan is to destroy the rule of law and turn the Department of Justice into a political weapon that rewards loyalty and punishes dissent, then Kash Patel is the perfect person to lead the FBI, and that is likely exactly why he was chosen. Listen. Kash Patel is a joke. Many of my Republican colleagues know this. He has spent the last 4 years taking the most extreme positions inside the world of MAGA in order to make money for himself.”
Senate19 February 2025Source ↗
“Mr. President, I am joining my colleagues on the floor today to raise the alarm about the impact on the people that we serve-- in particular, the most vulnerable people we serve: the frail, elderly, children--with the nomination and soon-confirmation of Robert Kennedy, Jr., to be the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. I don't think it is hyperbole to say that there are very few people in this country that are less qualified to run this Agency than Robert Kennedy, Jr.”
Senate12 February 2025Source ↗
“So this is really important, that we raise the alarm as to what is happening in this country. You need to pay attention to the things that matter. You need to understand the story. That story is about the wholesale transfer of power and wealth from average people to the billionaires and the millionaires. That story is about the destruction of democratic norms in a way that may be irreversible if not abated in the next few weeks or months. Russ Vought is the architect of those plans to erode our democracy and to transfer wealth to the very powerful. He does not deserve to be the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and I am very glad and proud of my colleagues for being on the floor all night to raise these concerns. I yield the floor.”
Senate5 February 2025Source ↗
“Trump Executive Orders Mr. President, I came to the floor to continue the discussion that my colleagues have been having over the course of the last 2 days about something fundamentally dangerous that the President is engaged in: an attempt to seize power from Congress. I don't understand why my Republican colleagues aren't outraged by President Trump's announcement 2 days ago that he was suspending all Federal spending.”
Senate30 January 2025Source ↗
“Mr. President, a lot of Americans turned on the TV today hoping that the President of the United States was going to make a nonpolitical, nonpartisan statement grieving the loss of those who died in the awful plane crash last night. Instead, he almost immediately launched into a political tirade, blaming what he called DEI. That accusation was echoed by the new Secretary of Transportation and the new Secretary of Defense. Apparently, the allegation is that by hiring non-White men at the FAA, this plane crash occurred.”
Senate30 January 2025Source ↗
“Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.”
Senate30 January 2025Source ↗
“So, yes, I am fuming mad about how my Republican colleagues talk about law and order and then mostly, with a few exceptions, either remain silent when the most violent January 6 protesters get pardoned or celebrate those pardons. But I also want to be clear that it stands in a context of actions taken during this first week that are undermining our democracy to the point of putting it on the brink of possible extinction as a means for fundamental corruption to take place inside our government. That should be unacceptable. That is unacceptable. I am thankful to Senator Murray and others for bringing this down to the floor to raise this alarm bell. I yield the floor.”
Senate28 January 2025Source ↗
“I know the cake may be baked at this point, but I just want to make one more plea to my Republican colleagues to reconsider their decision to confirm to lead the Department of Defense somebody who seems just hellbent mostly on pursuing a political--not military--agenda that I truly believe is certain to weaken our Armed Forces and threaten our national security. I yield the floor.”
Senate24 January 2025Source ↗
“Yes, a few of my Republican colleagues have criticized the pardons--I am thankful to them--but it is a minority. It is a small handful. Most Senate Republicans are silent. The wholesale endorsement of political violence is a grave national security threat to this Nation. Having a 1-day debate on the nomination of a CIA Director is not. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.”
Senate22 January 2025Source ↗
“I understand that we have differences about the qualifications of this nominee, but it is important for the American public to hear us have a debate here about the qualifications of folks who are going to be leading the most sensitive national security Agencies. If he has the votes, he can be on the job this weekend. For that reason, I would object.”
Senate21 January 2025Source ↗
“So I agree with my friend from Hawaii. We have to be down on the floor talking about this every single day. Folks thought it was an inevitability 8 years ago when Republicans made it a priority to steal health insurance from 20 million Americans. And by the skin of our teeth, we were able to save health insurance for 20 million Americans. And maybe if we raise enough of a fuss about this massive transfer of wealth from the middle class and the poor to the very, very wealthy, we can stop this egregious policy as well. I yield the floor.”
Senate15 January 2025Source ↗