The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
State senators take different tacks on Trump and Turkey
WASHINGTON — Most of the time, Connecticut Sens. Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal are in lockstep on all issues great and small. Call them “BluMurph” or “Murphenthal.”
But on the question of how best to counter President Donald Trump’s signal of indifference to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (which prompted Turkey’s attack on the Kurds in Syria), their parallel paths actually diverge.
On Thursday, Murphy went on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” to say, essentially, forget about sanctions.
A sanctions vote in the Senate would hardly stifle a yawn from Trump.
But a bracing cup of black coffee could come in the form of Republican senators telling the president they’re willing to listen to the impeachment case percolating in the House.
That would be a gamechanger for Trump, Murphy suggested.
“It’s important for Republicans to use the massive leverage they have over (Trump) to change his mind,” Murphy said. “Republicans need to use the leverage they have over the president, because of the pending impeachment inquiry, to get him to act more responsibility and do real diplomacy.”
One headscratching questioner on the show wondered how Murphy is squaring impeachment with Trump’s decision on Turkey, relayed in a phone call Oct. 6 to Erdogan.
After all, the questioner said, you could hate Trump’s policy on Turkey and Syria without thinking he should be impeached for it. (The impeachment inquiry, of course, is based on the effort of Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani to pressure Ukraine to investigate Hunter Biden and his father, former vice president and Democratic contender Joe Biden.)
“I’m not making the case the president should be impeached for that policy,” Murphy said. “What I’m suggesting is the Republican Party is engaged in blind partisan loyalty to this president, and not giving the facts surrounding impeachment a fair hearing.”
If they did, Murphy said, “it would also likely have an impact on president’s decisions in Syria.”
Meanwhile, Blumenthal was in a closeddoor hearing on the Syria situation with Defense Secretary Mark Esper and senior U.S. military officers.
“This hearing dramatically deepened my feelings of horror and shame — and growing disappointment in our leaders who have betrayed our vital national security interests and our values,” Blumenthal said.
Blumenthal’s solution? Sanctions.
He promised to introduce a sanctions measure with Sen. Lindsey Graham, RS.C., and other senators.
“We are at a moment of reckoning for the United States Congress,” Blumenthal said. “We see a clear disaster unfolding before us real time, and we have an obligation to act.”
Later in the day, the Trump administration announced a ceasefire that would allow Turkey to keep its territorial gains in neighboring Syria — and last only five days. So the MurphyBlumenthal debate on counterstrategy isn’t over.
DeLauro makes her point
For best performance this week in the role of “What am I? Chopped Liver?” The envelope please! And the winner is ... Rep. Rosa DeLauro!
So travel with us back in time to Tuesday, when House Democrats rolled out their College Affordability Act. No free college tuition, a la Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Rather it was a hodgepodge of tweaks to existing rules about student loans and Pell grants, as well as a torpedo or two aimed at education Secretary Betsy DeVos and her easing of rules governing unscrupulous forprofit colleges and campus sexual assault.
It was a good moment for Reps. Jahana Hayes and Joe Courtney, both of whom are on the House Education & Labor Committee, which packaged up a bunch of disparate educationrelated bills into this single piece of major legislation.
Hayes was a key player in several of its elements. Among them: Grants for talented kids to steer them through grade school and into college, improved recruitment of minority teachers, and expansion of studentdebtrelief options for teachers.
But what about liberalprogressive warhorse DeLauro? After all, she’s chairwoman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the entire federal aidtoeducation budget. Finger firmly planted on the money trigger? Not too shabby.
The subcommittee, DeLauro said in a statement, has “taken significant steps toward increasing Pell Grant funding to keep pace with inflation and investing significant resources in historically black colleges and universities.”
Also the subcommittee “held oversight hearings on improvements to student loan servicing and on forprofit colleges, including forprofit conversions and the 9010 loophole” on education benefits for veterans, she wrote.
And then, this touche: “I am so glad to see that the College Affordability Act takes into account this important work.”
Translation: Bless their hearts but we’ve been there, done that. Next?!