Sen. Patty Murray responds to readers' questions

Given only a couple of days, Yahoo! readers posted nearly 700 comments for Sen. Patty Murray (news, bio, voting record). Questions were presented to the Washington Democrat in her Capitol Hill office by Talk to Power host Judy Woodruff.

Many of the questions and comments were related to current news developments, including the nomination of Robert Gates as defense secretary and U.N. Ambassador John Bolton tendering his resignation.  

Other readers asked about

Iraq, immigration,

President Bush and Democrats' control of Congress.  

A breakout of questions followed by Sen. Murray's response to each is below. A complete transcript of the interview can be found at the end of the video responses.  

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A way forward in Iraq

Judy Woodruff started by asking Sen. Murray about the Iraq Study Group's report, which was released on Wednesday. She also asked about the next steps for the U.S. in Iraq.

See Sen. Murray's response here or read the transcript below.

A political will in Iraq 

Ms. Woodruff went on to ask about the U.S. working together with other countries in the region -- such as

Syria and

Iran -- in an effort to secure Iraq.

See Sen. Murray's response.

'Our responsibility to govern'

Ms. Woodruff followed up by asking Sen. Murray if President Bush would have the will to work with those nations.

See Sen. Murray's response.

A hectic schedule

Sen. Murray was asked what the new Congress will focus on first.

See Sen. Murray's response.

A new oversight 

Many readers wrote in pleading that Democrats and Republicans find common ground for the good of the country.

Ms. Woodruff summarized readers' comments saying, "On the one hand we had visitors to the site ... accusing in effect the Democrats of supporting America’s enemies by criticizing the president’s policies and by criticizing what the president has done in the war on terror. On the other hand, we saw comments coming in like this one: 'Will your party shy away from criticizing the wrongs being done by the president in the name of civil liberties, especially when those same liberties are the ones that separate the democracies from the Islamic terrorists?' So we’re hearing from both sides in that argument. How do you respond to these comments?"

See Sen. Murray's response.

On President Bush 

Ms. Woodruff asked Sen. Murray, "Do you agree with those like the House speaker-elect who says that impeachment should be off the table?"

See Sen. Murray's response. 

On the disconnect between politicians and the people

A reader wote, "How do you keep yourself grounded and in touch with the real people of this country? What is the main thing in your opinion, that leads to the disconnect between politicians and the people they represent?"

See Sen. Murray's response.

On Robert Gates and John Bolton 

Regarding John Bolton resigning, one reader wrote, "The Democrats obstructionist behavior was no more evident than the terrible way John Bolton was treated. Can you explain... why this man was not given an opportunity for a vote?"

Another reader brought up the nomination of Robert Gates: "I'm a little concerned that Robert Gates is going to get a free pass to become the new Secretary of Defense."

Echoing that sentiment, a third reader wrote, "How can any Democrat justify voting for [Gates's] confirmation?"

Ms. Woodruff followed up the last question, asking Sen. Murray if she would be comfortable with a vote for Mr. Gates.  

See Sen. Murray's response.

On immigration 

Yahoo! readers' comments on immigration were split.

One reader wrote, "Senator, the immigration issue is extremely important to resolve. I believe we have moral, ethical, practical and economic imperatives to help these 11 million immigrants. With so many people around the world who are not happy with the US, why not permit those who are still willing to risk their lives to come here, stay so that they can continue to work and become productive citizens?"

Another felt differently, asking, "Why is it that the politicians would rather discuss giving these criminals amnesty as opposed to discussing sealing the border and deporting every last one of these foreigners who have disregarded our laws to come to this country?"

See Sen. Murray's response.

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Below is the transcript of the interview with Sen. Murray.

MS. WOODRUFF:  First of all, Senator Murray, thank you very much for participating in this talk to power project, jointly the "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" and the Yahoo! News website.

A Way Forward in Iraq

We want to first ask you about the report of the Iraq Study Group.  Of course they issued their recommendations today, and among other things they described the situation in Iraq as grave and deteriorating.  They don't speak of victory being possible, a lot of pretty serious language in those recommendations.

The readers of Yahoo! were pretty much - they ran the gamut in terms of their comment, all the way from people asking why are we there?, can we win?, all the way to another reader who's actually serving now in Kuwait and has already served in Iraq.  This reader wrote, "Let us proud few Americans that do this - let's do this thing and finish what we started."  So pretty much across the board.  So my question to you is what should the president do now with these recommendations from the Iraq Study Group?  What should happen?

SEN. MURRAY:  Well, I am impressed with the work of the Iraq Study Commission.  I am a member of leadership, and so we were briefed this morning on what's in the Iraq Study Group report, and what impressed me the most was it was a very strong bipartisanship membership of that commision, who sat down and said we need to put aside all the rhetoric and figure a way out of the most difficult challenge our nation has today, and that's what to do in Iraq.

And they were very clear: there was no easy solutions, simple solutions, solutions that were guaranteed to work, but they definitely felt a change of direction needed to occur in bringing together other countries from the region, in having a very clear, defined goal of bringing our troops home and there are other recommendations that they put forward to try and solve this problem.

Their commission study report goes to the president now and it really is up to him.  He is the one who needs to say I accept these recommendations, we are going to change course, we're going to have a defined goal and mission that we will work to accomplish.  And we are all now hopeful that with this tremendous work of this commission that he will accept their recommendations and move towards implementation.

A Political Will in Iraq

MS. WOODRUFF:  Do you think, Senator, there will be a follow-up?  Do you think there will be the political will on the part of the president and his administration, and then expanding that, a willingness on the part of these countries and the region to join in in finding a solution, whether it's Iran or Syria, or another country?

SEN. MURRAY:  We asked the members of the commission whether they thought the countries in the region would be willing to come and help us.  And we're reminded that after September 11^th, a very critical time for our nation, when we came together and said we need to fight the war on terror, many countries, including Iran, came forward to work with us.  And they believed there was that will and that kind of necessity, but it was going to take a tremendous step forward by this president to make that happen and they were encouraging him to do that.  I think you will see Congress encourage him to do that.  It is literally in his hands now.

MS. WOODRUFF:  Do you believe he will?

SEN. MURRAY:  I can't guess what the president is going to say.  I just know from my own perspective, having been to Iraq, talked to our soldiers, watched them come home, know what they have done for us in this tremendously difficult conflict, that we now owe it to them to take a look at this direction that this commission has put forward as a way to try and bring our troops home in a way that we all feel good about.

"Our Responsibility to Govern"

MS. WOODRUFF:  Senator, we had a number of visitors to the website asking about Democrats and Republicans finding common ground.  One reader wrote in, quote, "The Democrats are now in a position where they can't just sit back and criticize.  What is their plan?" 

SEN. MURRAY:  Well, the election brought news to all of us that this country really did want to change, and they wanted a Congress that was Democratically controlled because they felt, I think strongly, that we had not had debates, we'd not been bringing policies forward under the Republican administration and Republican controlled Congress, and they wanted those discussions.

The Democrats in my caucus arrived in the nation's capital after the election deeply understanding it is now our responsibility to govern and to move this country forward, whether it's dealing with Iraq, whether it's dealing with the budget deficit, whether it's dealing with the numerous domestic policies that have simply been abandoned over the last several years, from education to health care, pensions, all kinds of issues that people are very concerned about today, and we know that to pragmatically govern in a 51-49 Senate we need to reach out and work with the Republicans and respect them as we do that, and I believe that Senator Reid, our new majority leader, really intends to try with the Senate in that direction.

A Hectic Schedule

MS. WOODRUFF:  What are the first few things you think the new Congress will do?

SEN. MURRAY:  Well, we are - in the Senate side of Congress we are now looking at what we need to do in the very beginning in the Congress, and certainly there are a number of issues that have been neglected that need to be taken care of from this year.  The Republican majority is not going to finish the work of this session in terms of doing the appropriations bills, which are all the spending bills for the Senate; the budget - all of that work has not been done and we're going to have to come in and clean that up.  And unfortunately that's going to take a short amount of time as we begin.

But next you're going to see the Senate move to some of the issues that have been neglected, whether it's ethics reform, stem cell research, student loans, a number of issues that many of our colleagues campaigned on, talked about, and we need to move forward, but we also deeply understand that we have a number of time consuming issues that are going to come out as outside of our control.  We know that the president is going to hand to us shortly after we come back a new request for paying for Iraq that could be well over $130 billion.  We want to make sure that that's done in a way that hasn't been done in the past, where we look at it very pragmatically and ensure that the money is going to support the troops in a way that we can assure our taxpayers is being done correctly.  So there's an awful lot of work, and we know that.  We know we can't promise the moon, we know it's going to be small steps, but at least we feel like we're back in a place where we can control the agenda and deal with the real issues of the day.

A New Oversight

MS. WOODRUFF:  Senator, in terms of Democrats' oversight of the president's policies, two different, again, lines of thinking on the part of the Yahoo! visitors and readers.  For example, on the one hand we had visitors to the site writing in and saying, accusing in effect the Democrats of supporting America's enemies by criticizing the president's policies and by criticizing what the president has done in the war on terror.  On the other hand, we saw comments coming in like this one: will your party shy away from criticizing the wrongs being done by the president in the name of civil liberties, especially when those same liberties are the ones that separate the democracies from the Islamic terrorists?  So we're hearing from both sides in that argument.  How do you respond to these comments?

SEN. MURRAY:  Well, first of all, I just described to you a very intense agenda, very time consuming and very important that we have to deal with: cleaning up last year's budget and appropriations, dealing with the request from the president to pay for the war in Iraq, beginning our own budget process and our own appropriations bills, a number of items that have been left off the Senate floor, so we understand that in that we can't consume the time of the Senate with numerous investigations that get us nowhere.

But having said that, some of our committees have a very important obligation to understand where we've been so we can go on the right track.  And we will have some of our committees looking at how money has been spent in Iraq so that we can set a policy that moves us in a direction that we feel is more responsible.  So it will be varied, but I do think that it's important that we understand where we've been in order for us to move forward in the future.

Impeach Bush?

MS. WOODRUFF:  Do you agree with those like the House speaker-elect who says that impeachment should be off the table?

SEN. MURRAY:  I don't hear anyone in the Senate talking about impeachment.  I've been through an impeachment here; it's a tremendously time consuming effort on behalf of all of us, and again, we have incredibly important business in front of the nation that we need to be focused on.

MS. WOODRUFF:  That was - I asked because that was another part of the question we received from a visitor.

From Washington to Washington

In connection with all this, we had one reader write in and ask about the disconnect between politicians and the people they serve.  We have one reader wrote in, quote, "How do you keep yourself grounded and in touch with the real people in this country?  What is the main thing in your opinion that leads to the disconnect between politicians and the people they represent?"

SEN. MURRAY:  Well, I can only answer for myself because everybody who's here comes from a different background, a different perspective, a different state, and everyone has to figure out how they can best represent the people they represent.

I come from a state that's 2,500 miles away from the nation's capital.  I go home every weekend.  I'm out in my state, my family is there, the people I represent are there and I do a lot of community meeting, but I also do the things I've always done as just a regular person going to the store and being out in the community with people I know.  And that is the best way for me personally to understand. When we're on the right track back here, I can get through the grocery store fairly quickly, but when people feel disconnected and when they feel we're not paying attention, they take the time to tell me.  So for me personally, how I stay connected is making sure I am at home and talking to the people I represent.

A Tale of Two Nominees

MS. WOODRUFF:  Senator, we had a number of readers write in both about the John Bolton appointment, which has now been withdrawn.  He was appointed, as you know, by the president to be the UN - the ambassador of the

United Nations.  On the other hand we have people writing in about the nomination of Robert Gates to be the new secretary of defense, and as we know he sailed through the

Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday.  I don't believe there was a dissenting vote.  It was unanimous.  So one reader wrote - we had one reader write in saying, why was John Bolton not given an opportunity for a vote?  And then on the other hand we have someone write in and say, I'm concerned that Robert Gates is going to get a free pass to become the new secretary of defense.  And a third one asked - reader wrote in, how can any Democrat justify voting for Gates's confirmation?  (Laughter.) What do you say to all this?

SEN. MURRAY:  You know, every nomination that comes before us, we have to weigh within the merits of the person, what we expect out of the office, their past history and how - whether or not we expect they can do the job that America is asking them to do. 

In terms of the Bolton nomination, Republicans and Democrats questioned whether or not he had from his past experience the capability to deal, at a time when it's so important for us, in the United Nations where we need other nations together with us as we try and move policies forward.

And in addition, there were numerous questions from the committee of jurisdiction - I'm not on it - but they were not getting information on his background from the White House, and both Republicans and Democrats held up his nomination over those concerns.  Now he, of course, has withdrawn his nomination, and we're all going to be looking carefully at who the White House sends us for the next confirmation, and until we know that name it's hard to comment.

On the Gates nomination for secretary of Defense, I listened carefully personally yesterday to the hearings, to weigh whether or not I felt that this nominee understood the tremendous obligation that he had to listen to a nation who sent a very clear message in an election, through the Iraq Study Commission, and through many other voices now who are saying stay the course is not going to get us to where we need to be.  And I felt that he had gotten the message and understood that.  I in fact just had a chance to talk with him personally just a few minutes ago, and I think he understands the tremendous obligation that he has and the difficulties that he is going to be asked to do.

But having said that, I think it's important for all of us to remember that it is the president who is the commander-in-chief who will give direction to his defense secretary, whoever he is.  And I think it is incredibly important that this president take a very strong look at the Iraq Study Commission, the other recommendations that are coming to him, and move us forward in a new course that will give Americans the confidence that we're all in this together in a positive way.

MS. WOODRUFF:  But you're comfortable about Mr. Gates?

SEN. MURRAY:  I am comfortable with myself right now in voting for Mr. Gates.  I do feel that he will at least stay in touch with Congress in a way that gives us the information we need to be able to make the decisions of the future.

Realistic Immigration Reform

MS. WOODRUFF:  Senator, final question on immigration: we had a large number of viewers - visitors to the site who wrote in about that.  I'm just going to summarize two different points of view.  One: "Senator, the immigration issue is extremely important.  I believe we have moral, ethical, practical and economic imperatives to help these 11 million immigrants.  With so many people around the world who are not happy with the U.S., why not permit those who are still willing to risk their lives to come here stay so that they can continue to work and become productive citizens?"

On the other and we had this question asking, quote, "Why is it that the politicians would rather discuss giving these criminals amnesty as opposed to discussing sealing the border and deporting every last one of these foreigners who have disregarded our laws to come to this country?"

SEN. MURRAY:  Well, in just providing me with those two different viewpoints I think you've shown everybody how complex and difficult and challenging this issue is to work through.  There is no simple answer.  Just building a wall on the border is not going to solve the fact that 11 million Americans are here.  Saying we're going to through 11 million people out, not knowing all their different circumstances or how we're even going to find them, prosecute them, pay for that, is simply impossible, too.

The Senate worked its way through this very difficult issue and passed a bipartisan piece of legislation this year on immigration reform that I felt was a good balance.  There is no perfect solution, but it was a good balance and we are hopeful in the next Congress that we will again get to a point where we can balance all of the very disparate views on this and find a pragmatic way to move forward.

MS. WOODRUFF:  Next year?

SEN. MURRAY:  I'm hopeful.

MS. WOODRUFF:  All right.  Senator Patty Murray, thank you very much.  On behalf of Yahoo and on behalf of the "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," we appreciate your time.  Thank you very much for being part of this discussion.

SEN. MURRAY:  Absolutely.  Nice to be with all of you.

MS. WOODRUFF:  Focused on America's young people.  Thank you.

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