MSNBC "All In With Chris Hayes" - Transcript: Interview with Chris Murphy

Interview

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SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): I would never ever contradict Brian Schatz. And he is indeed Right. I mean, this is an optimistic moment. Right now, we are being bold, right? We recognize the stakes. I would argue that the future of the country in many ways rides on what we do in the next several months because people are hurting out there.

There`s benders massive sort of economic and political power shift in the last 20 years from the middle class to these sort of cabal of billionaire elites and we have to have an answer. Donald Trump had an answer, the Mexicans are to blame, the blacks are to blame, the immigrants are to blame. He enacted that agenda, he started building the wall, he banned Muslims from the country, nothing got better. That`s why he`s not the president.

[20:35:24]

So, we now have an opportunity to provide the right answer, which is to shift power and money from those elites to raise taxes on the billionaires and use that money to fund universal childcare and paid family leave and tax cuts for poor families. And guess what, if we do that, it will work. And it all has to happen in the next couple of months. Because as we know, presidents get the short honeymoons by the time the end of this year, the beginning of next year rolls around our window may be gone.

So, we`re doing it in a slightly complicated manner. We`re passing a bipartisan package, and then we`re using the reconciliation process to pass another bigger bill with 50 votes. But I think today, there`s a good chance that we`re going to get it done. And hopefully, you know, right decades of economic wrongs in this country in one fell swoop.

HAYES: The President`s speech today on voting rights comes at another sort of fraught moment for this. We`re watching what`s playing out in Texas. I know that you`ve been watching this, you know, across the country. I wonder like, some of the rhetoric you hear from Democrats, even from the President, right, is pretty existential. You know, the greatest threat to democracy since the Civil War, which I happen to agree with. But is that -- do people privately feel that way or they just say that? Like, is that actually a felt belief of you, for instance, and your colleagues?

MURPHY: So, I do feel that. And I`ve listened to your interview with Adam, who`s so smart, in the prior segment. I have a little different take on it. You know, it is strange that Republicans have been consistently attacking mail-in voting, because it used to be that mail-in voting advantaged Republicans. And so, it`s not clear, you know, in the end, what the practical impact of all these changes are going to be, it`s probably going to be the less poor people and people of color vote.

I think, really what they are trying to do is just perpetuate this idea that there is fraud endemic in voting so that when Democrats win, an election in Texas for Senate, Governor, or the next Presidential Election, Republicans can invalidate that election. And that, in the end, is the agenda that I worry about is in 2022 or 24, a big election being won by Democrats and Republicans in a place like Georgia or Texas invalidating that election.

If that happens, there`s going to be a conversation in this country as to whether we can still be all in this together if voters really don`t -- their opinions don`t matter in certain parts of the country, and their choices can be invalidated. That is an existential threat to the United States of America. I think that`s in part why I worry about what`s happening in Texas and other places.

HAYES: And do you think that -- I mean, the Voting Rights Act was one of the most -- you know, we said all the time in this program, we`ve showed the statistics of, you know, registered Black voters in Mississippi from one year to the next after the voting rights passed. I mean, one of the most successful pieces of legislation in American history and a signature turning point in making the country like truly democracy, genuinely, I would argue for the first time, in certain sense, that you know, if the stakes are that high, can the caucus get to unanimity on it?

MURPHY: Yes, good question, Chris. You know, right now, we have not been able to convince -- right now, we haven`t been able to convince all of our Democratic colleagues that the stakes are that high. Thus, we shouldn`t give Republicans in the Senate a minority, a minority veto. My hope is that we will be able to deliver a change in rules. We`re talking about making it potentially limited to changes in voting laws. That may be a way to get our caucus together.

But if we don`t, I really fear that we`re going to be sitting here two years from now, four years from now, with a Senate Democrat having won an election in a red state, and Republicans in that state refusing to seat them. And at that point, my colleagues in the Senate will wish that they had used this opportunity to take preventative steps to stop something like that from happening.

HAYES: All right, final question on, I would say an issue near and dear to your heart and an issue near and dear to the heart of the President, and also I`m kind of a train guy myself, I will say. You said this recently. FYI, an infrastructure bill that doesn`t fix the broken northeast rail corridor isn`t worth doing. It shouldn`t take seven hours to get from Boston to D.C. This is our one chance to speed up service along quarter that represents 18 percent of U.S. GDP. Are you optimistic about that aspect of it?

MURPHY: Yes, I mean, this is still to be decided. I do not think it`s worthwhile to spend $4 trillion on infrastructure in this country if we have a rail line in the most highly populated part of the country that is fundamentally broken. We are not going to be able to attract companies and jobs to the United States if it takes seven hours to get from Boston to D.C. There`s not enough money in the bipartisan agreement in order to create high-speed rail in America. And shame on us if we don`t use this opportunity to do that. China will continue to eat our lunch if they have high-speed rail and we don`t.

[20:40:32]

So, one of the projects that is left undone right now is to make sure that between the bipartisan package and the reconciliation bill, we have enough money there to build high-speed rail. By the way, it`s so important for climate as well. The only way that we fulfill our climate obligations is to get people out of their cars, to convince people to get out of planes, and onto rail lines, the most green of all mass transit options.

HAYES: Every time -- the more that I study the like, strategy here, the reconciliation by partisan, I keep thinking like I`m watching a sidewalk three-card Monte person like, am I -- do I know where the ball is or am I being tricked? I keep losing sight of that, but well -- I guess we`ll find out at the end. Senator Chris Murphy, thanks for making time tonight.

MURPHY: Thanks.

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