Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Republicans Blocking The Reproductive Freedom For Women Act

Washington, D.C. –  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on Senate Republicans voting yesterday to block consideration of the Reproductive Freedom for Women Act after previously blocking legislation to protect access to contraception and access to IVF.  Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Yesterday was a very sad day for women in America. Yesterday, Senate Republicans blocked a bill that simply expressed support for a woman’s right to choose. That’s it – no more, no less.

Supporting a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions should have been one of the easiest “yes” votes we have taken all year. By voting no, Republicans told every woman in America “your body, our choice.”

Republicans are essentially saying “we don’t care” to all the women who live in states where reproductive rights are almost gone, from Texas to Florida to Alabama and beyond.

This is the terrible legacy of the Senate Republicans and the Trump presidency: they cleared the way for the Supreme Court to overturn Roe. Years ago, Donald Trump himself said overturning Roe was part of the plan. He said, “if we put another two or perhaps three justice on [the Supreme Court] – that will happen.” And then, Senate Republicans, even many who don’t abide by the MAGA philosophy, just laid down and voted for all the president’s nominees.

To this day, Senate Republicans keep doubling down and tripling down on undermining women’s rights, despite so much blowback from the American people. Senate Republicans voted no on protecting contraception. They voted no on protecting IVF. And they voted no again yesterday on supporting the right to choose.

So, let me say to America: you want to know who is on your side in protecting abortion and women's rights? It's the Democrats. Every Republican – with one or two exceptions – has universally voted to take away women's rights. That's the truth of it. And our Republican colleagues can run but they can't hide. They're voting against women because extreme MAGA groups are pushing them to do it or maybe because of belief. Either way, they're out of touch with America.

Now, for all the chaos and disaster of the first Trump presidency, it pales in comparison to the threat of a second Trump presidency.

We’ve all heard about the policy platform drafted by the Heritage Foundation, a project overseen by former Trump officials and advisors and appointees. It’s a manifesto for a second Trump presidency.

What does it do? The Trump manifesto lays the groundwork for a nationwide abortion ban – that’s the heart and soul of the Republican party. That’s where they always go when they’re in power, folks. When they’re not in power, they give some words here and there. When they’re running for office, they try to run away from how they vote and how they feel. Then they come here and they vote to roll over women’s rights again and again and again, and each time they do it, it becomes more extreme and more extreme.

And that’s just the beginning on the issues: the Trump Manifesto 2025 calls for the most conservative agenda America has ever seen.

It calls for more tax cuts for the very wealthy, more tax cuts for corporate elites, more tax cuts for mega-corporations.

It calls for reversing Democrat’s clean energy agenda while empowering the nation’s biggest oil and gas polluters.

And the Trump Manifesto even calls for silencing and attacking all of Donald Trump’s political opponents. Can you imagine? It's like a dictatorship. It's like a dictatorship with nothing safe. Trump says “I’m going to prosecute people.” No evidence. Wow. What happened to rule of law in this grand country? What happens to the visions of the founding fathers when Donald Trump and the MAGA court take over?

The hard-right is done speaking in euphemisms – they’re smelling blood, they’re saying it straight to our faces: if you disagree with Donald Trump, watch your back. It’s bone-chilling, it’s un-American, it’s dangerous for our democracy.

The Trump manifesto is an autocrat’s dream. If MAGA Republicans get the chance to act on the Heritage Foundation’s ideas, the damage to the America we all know and love may well be irreversible. We'll never get it back. Our children and grandchildren will live in a less grand country than we have lived in. The destruction could be unthinkable. And it would betray everything America has represented for 248 years.

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