Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The Senate Making Progress On The Bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on how the Senate is working to move forward with the National Defense Authorization Act. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

First, I want to thank my colleagues for all of the good work so far on the NDAA, the National Defense Authorization Act. We were very productive last week, and I hope this week can be equally so.

Today, we’ll begin our work by holding two floor votes, one on Senators Cornyn and Casey’s outbound investment screen amendment, and then a vote on the Rounds-Tester farmlands amendment. 

Both of these amendments have been in the works for months, and I intend to vote in their favor. I urge my colleagues to do so as well. I know there are concerns on both sides of the aisle with some of the text in both amendments; Senators Cornyn, Casey, Rounds, Tester and I are all committed to working through these concerns in the conference process. 

Tomorrow, we will vote on the Warnock-Budd amendment designed to halt debt collector harassment of our service members. Again, I appreciate the cooperation of senators on both sides as we worked to lock in these votes.

And today and tomorrow, Leader McConnell, Chair Reed, Ranking Member Wicker and I will also work on assembling a second manager’s package of amendments. 

I hope this effort is successful. It will require everyone to work together and we cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good. 

Concurrently, we will also keep working on additional floor votes that we might need to finish the NDAA this week. We have a chance to show the American people that the Senate can work productively on our national defense, in stark contrast to the partisan race to the bottom that we saw over in the House. 

But the work isn’t finished yet. We’re going to keep negotiating a path forward, and the Senate will continue working on the NDAA until the job is done. I thank both sides for their efforts.

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