Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Highlighting How President-Elect Trump’s Cabinet Nominees Will Fight For Special Interests – Not The Working Class – Ahead Of Their Confirmation Hearings

Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor to express serious concern for President-elect Trump’s nominees, including Russell Vought for Director of the Office of Management and Budget and Chris Wright for Secretary of Energy. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Mr. Hegseth is not the only nominee testifying this week who must answer for a disturbing record.

There are a number of people with disturbing records who have been nominated. Some good nominees, but a number with disturbing records and histories. I don't think I can remember a time in history when we've had that many.

Tomorrow, we will hear from a large collection of nominees, but let me focus on two: Russell Vought to serve as Director of the OMB, and Chris Wright to serve as Secretary of Energy.

Let me begin with Mr. Russell Vought, a key figure of the first Trump Administration and one of the chief architects – one of the chief architects – of Project 2025. This man is not just a bystander who supported it – he helped put it together.

No Administration on Earth can claim to be pro-worker but then nominate someone like Russel Vought to oversee the Federal Government’s budget.

Again, you can't be pro-worker and be for Russell Vought.

He has spent years – years – pushing for trillions in cuts to America’s social safety net, something that would cause immediate, severe harm to tens of millions of American citizens.

We all know Mr. Vought’s history very well. We know his awful and radical record from the first Trump Administration.

Even after leaving government, Mr. Vought was the go-to authority for the most radical elements of the House GOP, advising them on budgets that punished America’s families, seniors, kids, law enforcement, and others with draconian – draconian – budget cuts. His budget cuts weren't just snipping at the edges – they cut deep.

Tomorrow, when Mr. Vought testifies before the Committee, Americans will be re-introduced to his outlandishly extreme agenda.

If Project 2025 caused your stomach to turn during the election, Mr. Vought would be a nightmare scenario.

If you are among Americas working class, or from low-income families, or from middle class families working hard to make ends meet, Mr. Vought would be disastrous.

If you rely on programs like Medicare or nutrition assistance, Mr. Vought would put those services in danger.

On the other hand, if you are among the wealthiest of Americans in this country, Mr. Vought is a wave of good news. He’s a staunch advocate of tax cuts for the ultra-rich, deregulation for America’s mega corporations, even if that means adding trillions to the deficit.

As we will all see tomorrow for ourselves, confirming Mr. Vought would be a disaster for America’s working and middle class families.

Finally, I would like to say something about President Trump’s nominee to serve as Secretary of Energy, Mr. Chris Wright.

There’s a lot – a heck of a lot – in Mr. Wright’s background that should trouble Americans who care about affordable energy and creating good paying clean jobs.

Mr. Wright is one of America’s wealthiest fossil fuel executives and has a history of sounding like a climate change skeptic. He once has said there is no climate crisis and “we have seen no increase in the frequency…of hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, or floods.”

What on earth is this man talking about? Is he such an ideologue that he doesn't see the truth of the world around him? Mr. Wright, look over at California right now and say that we haven't had increases in these kinds of problems!

Tomorrow, Mr. Wright must answer for his background and his comments. It's like putting a fox in the henhouse. If you believe in clean energy, you couldn't have a worse nominee.

If confirmed, will Mr. Wright fight to lower costs for American consumers or fight to help the bottom line of polluters and oil companies?

Will Mr. Wright push policies that build on the progress we made in the Inflation Reduction Act – which created hundreds of thousands, if not millions of good-paying clean jobs – or will he kill those jobs because he's such an ideological extremist?

If confirmed, will Mr. Wright advance our country into a prosperous, affordable, clean energy future, or will he take us backwards and do the bidding of big oil?

He must answer these questions and more tomorrow.

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