YouSaid · the spoken record

Patty Murray

lines on the record
73
first
2017-09-07
most recent
2017-09-07
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1
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Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

  1. “I mean I've already seen it actually because we had a budget deal that we had to get done in March. And what I saw is Republicans virtually ignore the president's budget and work with Democrats to get a budget and appropriations bills done in a timely way that funded things not the way I love. I mean, obviously, I'd like more investments, but in a way that can move us forward. We're now entering the month of September when a lot has to be done, from Harvey funding to the debt ceiling to the children's insurance program to the budget and appropriations. If we ignore the president's bullying and work together in the Senate and get it done in the best way possible, I actually think that's what the country wants. I don't think families across our country like chaos. They don't like uncertainty. They don't like infighting. What they want is for their country to feel secure to them. And I'm hoping that's what the Senate does.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “He's a quiet leader, and more than anything, he respects the institution of the Senate, which sounds really boring except that is how we get things done in this country, whether it's a budget, whether it's policies like family leave, whether it's health care, whether it's, you have to be able to respect each other within the Senate. It's why the women's senators get together. It's why Mitch McConnell spends time on the floor talking to senators. You have to respect each other to move things forward. When you inject disrespect, then you inject the intolerance for each other and it doesn't get things done.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “Not much You don't you don't get the respect and the ability to work with somebody if you're putting them down In ways that are disrespectful.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “I don't think I've ever worked with the president who loves Congress But I have worked with presidents that respect Congress, and respect gets you a lot further than putting people down or calling them names or again bullying them. Bullying gets you headlines, certainly gets you attention, but it doesn't.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “I'm stunned that the president made those kind of comments right now. The people of South Korea need to be part of the global community. They are the neighbors right there. They are the millions of people who will have the first impact. We need their support. We need their help, and we need them as part of a global community.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “Well, we've seen a huge, steady advance in the past few months of the testing and movement is that because of the bullying or not, I think that the bullying doesn't help that at all.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “With his rhetoric? Okay, I used to teach preschool, and I told my kids, bullies don't win, but they do cause problems, and we have to all speak to that collectively and say bullies can't win. We don't need a leader who is bullying today to solve a problem that is very real. That does frighten me. I think that we need to have a leader who projects strength, but without calling names and without upping the rigor.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “And the one upping these two world leaders are doing to each other that could lead to a fist fight on a playground that will not.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “We are sitting here today in Seattle. We are very conscious of where North Korea is and what their capability could possibly be and what it would mean to our state and our region, much less to our country. They are a real threat. They have a leader who seems bent on showing the world his prowess through nuclear force. We have a leader who needs to learn that two bullies on a playground one upping each other is not a way to solve problems. That's what concerns me. We assination need to have a strong prevention program. We need to work with our global allies. We need to send messages in very strong ways, in multiple ways through the economy, through working with other world leaders, that it is not acceptable what North Korea is doing. But I do worry about the language the president is using.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “Well, it is controversial by those who say they want to use it to get something else like huge pay for us. Look, what the debt ceiling bill is about really is paying what you owe. It's like a family who takes out a mortgage and then says, well, I don't want to pay this, so I'm not going to pay it. You don't do that. You pay your bills. So it's a must-do bill. It's a crazy procedure, but it's a must-do bill. We have our responsibility. We have the keys to that car, and we've got a responsibility, and we need to pass it.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “Words are important. Policy is real. And I'll tell you, right now, let's just back up a minute. He's talking about tax reform, using some kind of obscure budget numbers to reconcile what he's got is not going to be a big cost to our deficit and debt. At the same time, we have North Korea. We have a country that is where people who voted for him want to know they've got the skills for the jobs in their communities, where we have a huge disaster in Texas today that is obviously going to cost billions of dollars. How do you reconcile giving big tax breaks to people with those outstanding costs out there?”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “Look, I'd love to see tax reform that allowed American families to feel like they were going to be able to grow their wages again. That's a hard chore in a time when we have real challenges today. It's even worse when we have a Republican party who says, wait, we're just going to give tax breaks away to wealthy people and it's going to somehow trickle down to you and we're going to use obscure budget.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “So, going back to the repeal of Obamacare, what the Republicans did on the very first days we were in session in January is they passed what's called the budget reconciliation. Bill that uses an obscure process that allows them to pass something in the Senate with only fifty votes so it can't be filibustered. So it doesn't need any Democrats. And they made it very clear we're not going to have hearings. We're not going to have any discussions. We're not going to figure out what's out there. We're not going to listen to people. We're just going to write this in secret 13 men. That didn't work. Now if they do that same thing, use a budget reconciliation process, pass a budget, and go through the same thing without any hearings, discussion, bringing experts in, having everybody understand what this is going to be like at the end of the day. It's not going to be successful.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “Well, you know, I remember my dad saying to me when I was 16, and I learned to drive, he said, with the keys comes the responsibility. Well, that's where the Republican Party is today. They got the keys. They have the White House, they have the majorities in the House and Senate. What is the responsibility they want to take on? Do they want to jam through a partisan bill that gives tax breaks to corporations and multi-billionaires? Or do they really want to reform the tax code? I think that's a huge question right now. I'm worried it's not what I want to see happen, and I think the American people will fight back against it.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “For the wealthiest Americans, and some hope that things are going to trickle down and life will be better for people who are fighting so hard today to take care of their families.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “So let's start with the basic process of this. If the Republicans move forward in the same way that they did to repeal Obamacare, vote for a budget that says we don't want any Democrats at the table, we're going to do this by ourselves and leave half the Senate out of the conversation. They're going to have a hard time getting the votes. And they're going to have a hard time having the public behind them. If they say we want to include Democrats, here are your ideas. You're not going to get everything, but actually listen to what we're talking about, which is not just tax cuts for wealthy, but actual tax reform that means middle class families who've had wages that have been stagnant for decades actually have an opportunity to get ahead. They'll find us willing to work with them and maybe pass something. But the words tax reform should not be a mislabel of a tax cut.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “The rabid base is important because they're fighting for basic policies that they want. You have to include them. You have to listen to them. You have to say what is their goal and fight for a goal, but you can't achieve a hundred percent. And if we all just sit in our corners and fight with each other and say, you know, my way or the highway, we go nowhere as a country. And what we do is leave ourselves behind in a global economy.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “It is not fashionable, but it is needed. It needs to be respected. We are a democracy, we are a country of a lot of different ideas. No one gets their way a hundred percent of the time. But if you keep in mind that the goal is to make things better, not to make it perfect, that's what has sustained us as a democracy for a very long time. And that's my job as a senator, is to sustain that movement forward, fight for what I believe in, but at the end of the day try and make it just a little better.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  19. “I've had the opportunity to work with Lamar Alexander before. He and I took on the challenge of rewriting No Child Left Behind No one else could come up with a solution. And I think we have a respect for each other and an understanding that we have to work together and we have to obviously neither one of us are going to love something at the end of the day, but we have to work through a policy. And then of course we have to work through the votes. Do I know what McConnell will do? Will he say yes to Lamar? I am hoping he will because I think the people of this country not only rejected repeal and replace, they said we want you to work together to solve the problems that are there in healthcare. I think Lamar recognizes that and I'm going into this discussion and challenge with him with respect.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “We're also seeing a number of what were called bear counties where insurance companies were not offering. Again, uncertainty is most often named as the reason for that. What I have told the Marl Alexander, and I think many Republicans and Democrats agree, is that we need to bring some stability to the marketplace so that we can make sure that we are working as hard as we can to lower the costs for people to be able to purchase insurance. Lamar and I have been talking over the last several weeks. We're going to start having hearings next week, assuring that those CSR payments are mandatory. The administration can't just decide not to pay them is certainly part of that.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  21. “Yeah, okay. So it was a campaign promise, not a policy. And without any meaning behind the words. And since he felt so passionate about that, he has used his office and his administration to actually sabotage Obamacare by threatening not to make the payments that are required to be made to insurance companies that help them pay for some of the sicker folks who have healthcare. Therefore, insurance companies are saying we're going to have to raise our rates because we don't know what's going to happen and they can't operate on uncertainty. They can't operate by a president who is threatening not to subsidize or make the CSR payments because they have to look at their bottom line and say we'll go under if he pulls out from paying these. So they are now raising their rates across the country.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  22. “Well, first of all, let me just say that, yes, we defeated the repeal effort in the Senate by three votes, but it was really defeated by the hundreds of thousands of Americans who stood up and fought against an irresponsible bill. So I give them credit But what we have said all along when we passed Obamacare many years ago that this was the first step and we needed to continue to make sure that and accessible and to continue to find ways to do that. President Trump has taken a very different approach. He came into office to repeal Obamacare. Not sure why, other than he liked the words repeal Obamacare.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  23. “I think it would be the right thing for Congress to do, but I am appalled that the president is using this as some kind of wedge issue campaign promise to his voters to get done rather than for the right reasons. He could have said or may say, I think this is the right policy. I told you that my heart says it's the right thing to say and do, but I want Congress to act and I would like them to act and show the country they're behind that. But to bully Congress and to do it, some kind of threat is really just the wrong way to do it.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  24. “I think it's appalling. I think it's stunning to me, truly. I have met so many young people who are contributing so much to our country. But isn't it?”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  25. “Hatch had told the president not to go forward with this policy, I think others. And I know that if they bring it up for a vote, that we will be able to permanently pass the policy. This is going to take leadership. You know what? Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell's problem is not the votes on this. It's the leadership. You have to be willing to say this is what's right for my country rather than I'm worried if I bring this up that I'll get voted out of my leadership position. People want leaders. They want people to speak from their heart. They want them to do the right thing. They don't want them to play politics. And I think we've got the votes if we have two leaders who will bring it up.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  26. “Well, here's what my advice to Paul Ryan is. Follow your heart. He knows what's right to do here. He knows the impact this will have to children and families in our country some eight hundred thousand young people who came here know no other country, know no other language, no other family or home, and to tell them sorry. And I think that if he follows his heart and tells his Republican caucus, those of you who can't vote with this fine, but we're going to bring it to the floor and we're going to vote on it, he will get the votes for it.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  27. “You know, I do not envy him in his current position. He is trying to run a House of Representatives with a group of Republicans whose only vote is no. And when you're in the majority, you actually have to pass things. So you need people to say yes, whether it's a budget or appropriations or policies, whatever it is. And I think it's extremely challenging. I think he has the capability to listen, which is so important, but I think he has a challenging job trying to bring those people together to move things forward. And I wish him the best of luck. I do not agree with Paul Ryan on many policies, whether it's women's right to choose or whether it's Medicare policy and how he wants to restructure it. Numerous things. But I do respect the man, and I do want him to be successful. Why? I want my country to be successful.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  28. “Right away and said, Let's sit down and have breakfast. We did, and we did not talk about budget numbers, policies, or anything. We took the time to learn who the other person was and what was important to them. And that basic respect and trust served us well throughout the entire When no one else could. I think that word respect needs to be returned to politics today.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  29. “Well, let me talk about the budget deal with Paul Ryan because that remember came about because we had been going through chaos in our country over budget shutdowns and agreements that couldn't happen and nobody was talking to anybody. The government had been shut down for several weeks and it was just people were feeling like their country wasn't working. And we agreed to open government again and voted to have the two budget chairs of the House and Senate sit down and see if they could figure this out. That happened to be me and Paul Ryan. And I remember voting for it and thinking, oh boy. Okay. So I called Paul actually the next”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  30. “I think of all of those pensions, it's probably one we should be talking about a whole lot more. But yeah, it's in there.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  31. “I think the leader knew exactly what they wanted. Both Lisa and Susan made it very clear that they would not support a repeal of Obamacare, that took away the funding for planned parenthood and millions of women in this country to get access to care they needed. And I think Mitch thought if he put them in the room that they would not be willing to go down a path that he wanted to go down.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  32. “Played a huge role And I think that they were able to talk with all of the women senators about some of the things they cared about and what was important to them. I know what was important to them because they were telling us what was important to them. Yet they were shut out of the room. The Republican senators put thirteen men in a room and said, go figure out how to replace Obama. Let me ask you about that.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  33. “Hard to say it when it happened otherwise, but I do know we just had a healthcare. Debate in the country two women played at large.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  34. “Well, it's, you know, it's a great way to get to know people, to talk about the issues, to talk about the personal things that are often get lost in these really stressful times, and to really understand and know people about what makes them tick, what's important to them, what's their family like, what are their worries and concerns personally, because then I think you can work with them better to find solutions.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  35. “Republicans and Democrats, and it's such an important part of our lives because when I came in 1992, all six of us, Senator Barbara Mikulski, one of my heroes, Said, you know, there isn't any playbook for how we do this. So I think that it would be helpful for us to get together. And we all agreed, all six of us, that we had a really important role. We needed to show women that they could do this job. And you can't not be supportive of each other because if any one of us failed, then we would all have failed. So we set up monthly dinners that we all came together and we had two rules. You could talk about anything, but you can't tell anybody what you talked about. And it's served us all these years.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  36. “Aren't as enamored with the well, let's have a big debate. Somebody wins, somebody loses, and we all get to go home and do this again next year. We don't have time for that. We got to get home and take care of our kids and our families. And we really come to solve problems. So I think we are better collaborators. I'm talking about today, maybe 50 years from now it could be different. But I think women in politics tend to listen, find solutions, and then work to get that done. And I've seen it many times.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  37. “Legislature as well. Yeah, it was one of the bills that I passed in our state legislature because of that same woman I just told you about. It had a real impact on me and I fought very hard in our state senate and got our first family leave bill passed. So it was stunning to me to come back to the United States Senate and the first bill we worked on with Ted Kennedy running the bill and passed the first National Family Leave Baha.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  38. “I told the story of a friend of mine who lost her job because her son had been diagnosed with leukemia and was given only a few months to live and her boss actually said to her, you're going to have to choose between being with your son or being at work. So I told that personal story of why we need family leave and why it was so important to me. And I remember distinctly walking off the Senate floor and I'd only been there a few months and one of the male senators said to me we don't tell personal stories here. And I just said, wait a minute, how do you pass policies that work if there aren't real stories that are attached to it? And he came to me years later and he said, you know, he really made me change my mind.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  39. “I knew the room. You know, I think there was because there was such a tension on women running that year that we were actually given a real opportunity. I think many of the men in the Senate who'd never had to work with women in the Senate before were a little afraid of us. Like, are we going to be bomb throwers? And I think we proved ourselves. We sat down and we worked just like they did. We fought for our states. We did our homework. We knew the issues. And I think I remember something that I think made a real difference. When I was one of the first debates we had in the Senate when I was elected was on family leave. And Ted Kennedy was running the debate and there was a lot of numbers and the kinds of discussions that most men like to have with charts and graphs. And I came out on the floor of the Senate and I”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  40. “I wasn't dissuaded, I knocked on doors, I called up all those moms and dads I'd met fighting for preschool programs years before and I asked them to hold the coffee for me in their community just to talk to their friends and neighbors and I think we stunned everybody when I won the primary but I think a lot of people felt like I did. They had watched the Clarence Thomas hearings and they really felt like the United States Senate was not a representative of the entire country when it was missing voices like women.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  41. “Happy to have a candidate. No, no, there was a primary, there was several candidates in it, a congressman, a former state senator, a number of people in the primary. But, you know, I ran by working hard, by including people in my campaign. No one gave me a chance. In March of election year, running for the United States Senate, they did a poll and I was at three percent.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  42. “Explain that. Well, after winning the state senate, I loved being involved in the policy decisions and working issues through. Never dreamed that, you know, I'd go on from there, but I came home one weekend and watched the Clarence Thomas hearings on the TV, and I just was stunned that this was my United States Senate. These were the people representing me. And I remember saying to some friends, there's nobody there saying what I would say. And I said that night I'm going to have to run for the Senate because they need somebody to say what I would say. And nobody thought I had a chance, I mean, obviously.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  43. “Who's my voice? Who understands what's happening? And I think they need to hear a different kind of voice here. And now I was running against an incumbent. He'd been there for 15 years, and everybody told me there's no way you're going to beat him. And I ended up beating him because I worked hard.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  44. “I think that's part of it And I loved being part of the process and being involved in the decisions, but I kept running into the state legislature that was making decisions that weren't supportive of schools. So I remember distinctly going down to Olympia one day as a school board member and looking down at the state senate and thinking, oh my God, they're all bald heads. There's nobody. Not that that's a bad thing. No, I won't say. But when the entire state Senate looks like that, then you say, who's speaking for me?”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  45. “Hard adjustment. Heart adjustment, but we worked hard, and then sadly, just a few months before the election, the gentleman that I was running against found out that he had a terminal disease and wasn't going to live long. So I stepped back from running against him, ended up losing by 300 votes. And shortly after the election he passed away and I was appointed to his seat because the school board members felt that I should replace him, which was really great. So that really started my political movement. I lost and I won by losing.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  46. “We ran just school wide, Shoreline School District, the whole district, and I just started knocking on doors and talking to people and learning how to raise money the hard way by asking for it. We actually, the first fundraiser I ever did, you'll appreciate this. I told my husband, I just can't ask people for money to run for office because people don't have money to give. So we held a garage sale and lost money because we ended up giving things away to people who needed it. So I realized that this was not going to work, that you actually had to ask people to invest in you.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  47. “But none of them had kids in school. And I thought, well, who is speaking for me here? Who understands what moms and dads are going through today? They're nice, but who has that real? Who can sit at that board meeting and say, this is what's happening? And so I decided to run for the school board and ran against a really nice gentleman.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  48. “Yeah. Well, I learned a really important lesson from that. You can sit at home and gripe about what happened to you or what happened to people around you, or you can go out and find other people who feel passionate and work with them and change policies you don't agree with. And I found that I liked that path much better than yelling at the television or griping about it because I care about my neighborhood and my community and my state in my country. I want it to be a better place. And I found that you can make it a better place. You have to work hard. You got to bring a lot of people together. And it isn't easy. But that's how you make a difference and that's what's important. And that's really what got me into politics. So when I, after I got involved in that, my kids happened to be starting school at the time and I thought, well, who's making the decisions here? I saw what happened in the state legislature and I went to a school board meeting. All nice people.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  49. “I think that a lot of them come home and feel like their lives have changed so dramatically, their peer group that they left went off and went to college and are working in some high tech company, they went off and served our country and they came home to a world that doesn't understand what they went through. They don't find a place for themselves. We have to work to make sure they have that place. Error that we made in Vietnam should not be repeated now where people come home not spit on this time. We do a much better job of saying thank you. But they still don't feel like we understand what they went through and are really grateful for it, not just grateful like thank you, but really making sure that they have the support they need to reintegrate in a good way.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  50. “Well, I learned that these were not somebody else, these were real people, and they all had personal stories, and many of them felt really alone and couldn't deal with what was going on with them. And we didn't have a lot of research at the time that was really applied to mental health. And years later, when I was in the Senate, I never knew when I was working at the VA, I would ever be in a position to actually do things like this. It was right after the Gulf War that I went into the Senate, and I had noticed how many people were really being left behind. If you have a physical wound of war, you have a much greater chance of someone saying, thank you for your service, what can I do, business saying, what can we do to help you, then the mental health. But it is just as real, just as critical, is curable, and these people have as much right to the kind of care that everyone has.”

    2017-09-07 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 170 - Sen. Patty Murray · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source