WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Sunday joined Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace to discuss the overwhelmingly popular American Rescue Plan signed into law by President Biden last week, immigration, and commonsense gun violence prevention legislation.

Excerpts of Murphy’s interview with Chris Wallace are below:

On the popularity of the American Rescue Plan, Murphy said: “75% of Americans support it because they know that this is the moment to go big. 80% of people out there don't have enough money to pay their monthly bills and so that's why you need to put an unprecedented amount of money into the hands of low and middle income Americans. And I love this argument from Republicans that this is some progressive wish list. Almost everything in this bill is simply an extension of the programs that Republicans were wildly enthusiastic about back when they were in charge of the White House and the Senate. In fact, they were cheering some of these programs at the end of last year, like the $1400 stimulus payments.”

On Republican opposition to the cost of the American Rescue Plan, Murphy said: “Republicans didn't think this exact amount of money was too big last March when they supported the CARES Act. And by the way last March, there was 1/3 the number of people dying every day of COVID-19 as are dying today. And as you mentioned to Senator [Bill] Cassidy, Republicans certainly didn’t think $1.9 trillion dollars was too much when they were passing tax cuts for their wealthy friends. Listen, last week as we were passing the American Rescue Plan, Republicans proposed to eliminate the estate tax for the tiny fraction of millionaires or billionaires that still pay it. They have no plans to pay for that. Once again when it comes to supporting the richest, wealthiest Americans, Republicans are very enthusiastic about debt financed tax cuts, but when it comes to supporting poor people's folks in the middle class, all of a sudden it’s too hot for their taste.”

On the Immigration situation at the border, Murphy said: “…This idea that it's Joe Biden's election that has prompted more people to show up is belied by the actual facts. And there have actually also been some pretty significant changes that the Mexican government has made that has made it impossible in some cases to turn these kids around. So, listen, this President inherited a mess from Donald Trump when it comes to immigration. He's trying to fix it in a humane way. And my hope is that Congress will provide the resources to restart some of these programs in Central America that provides less incentive for people to flee and come to the United States.”

On universal background checks legislation, Murphy said: “90% of Americans support them, the House of Representatives passed it with a bipartisan majority … I think the NRA is so much weaker than they used to be. The anti-gun violence movement is stronger than they have been before. And I've gotten a lot of calls from Republican senators over the past two years, folks that voted against background checks in 2013, who are willing to take a fresh look, and I think that's in part because the politics here have changed.”

Murphy continued: “So we're gonna bring this bill up for a vote in the United States Senate–I understand, it'll be tough to get to 60 but man, this is one of those few votes in which you have a chance to save lives. No criminal, no person with serious mental illness should be able to get their hands on a gun. That's something that Republicans and Democrats should be able to agree on very soon.

Click here to view the entirety of Murphy’s interview.

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