Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks As Senate Republican Blocks Passage Of The Bipartisan PRESS Act

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor as Republican Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) blocked Senate Democrats’ attempt to pass the bipartisan PRESS Act via unanimous consent. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

I thank my friend, Senator Wyden, for coming to the floor to champion something I’ve been very supportive of and he has carried: the bipartisan PRESS Act, a bill every person in this room – whether they be Senators, journalists, citizens – should want to see become law.

No democracy can survive without a free and open and thriving press. The free press keeps governments accountable to the people, exposes abuse and wrongdoing, informs the public about what is happening in government.

But if government can unduly harass the press, or when leaders smear journalists as enemies of the people, and when there are too few protections for journalists, our democracy is at the very real risk of eroding away.

We've seen in some countries – in Hungary, Orban, a dictator, tells his friends to buy the press so there can be no real freedom and no real counterargument, and they do. They buy newspapers, television, et cetera. And so we have to protect the press. It's sacred, in America.

The PRESS Act is a commonsense and strongly bipartisan bill to ensure journalists can do their jobs without facing undue harassment.

I am so proud to support this act. Senate Democrats all support this bill. And the bill has already passed the House unanimously. I hope every single Senate Republican joins us to pass it today. I know many of them are ready to do the right thing. I think it has a majority support in both parties.

This bill, again, is commonsense and balanced. It would prohibit the federal government from using subpoenas or search warrants or other measures to force journalists or third parties to reveal confidential information without their knowledge. It has exceptions carefully tailored to address matters of national security. And it would ensure that the decision to seize journalist’s records and compel them to reveal sources falls to the federal courts, not to the Department of Justice – more important now than ever before when we've heard some in the previous administration talk about going after the press in one way or another.

Ninety-nine percent of the work to enact the Press Act into law is already done – all we need is for no Senator to stand in the way today.

So, thank you to Senator Wyden for championing this bill. Thank you to the many reporters, news organizations, press leaders, and press associations for championing this bill.

Being a journalist is a hard job, it’s hard enough. Journalists shouldn’t have to fear baseless government harassment on top of that just for doing their jobs. So let’s pass the bipartisan PRESS Act and send it to the President’s desk.

###