Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The Bipartisan Agreement To Protect The Economy From Catastrophic Default

Washington, D.C.– Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor regarding the bipartisan agreement to avoid a catastrophic default. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Later this afternoon, the House of Representatives will vote on a bipartisan agreement that will protect the U.S. economy and eliminate the risk of a disastrous default.

Once this bill reaches the Senate, I will move to bring it to the floor as soon as possible. Although the House still has more work to do, Senators should be prepared to move on this bill quickly once it is the Senate’s turn to act.

I cannot stress enough that we have no margin, no margin, for error: either we proceed quickly and send this bipartisan agreement to the President’s desk, or the federal government will default for the first time ever.

It is imperative that we avoid a default. The consequences of slipping past the deadline would reverberate across the world and take years to recover from. Remember, a default would almost certainly trigger another recession, send costs soaring, kill millions of jobs; hardworking people thrown out of work through no fault of their own. That would be a catastrophic nightmare for our economy and millions and millions of American families.

So any needless delay, any last-minute brinksmanship at this point would be an unacceptable risk. Moving quickly, working together to avoid default is the responsible and necessary thing to do.

Nobody on either side thinks this agreement is perfect, that’s for sure. Nobody got everything they wanted.

But this agreement still accomplishes two major goals: it spares the American people from the catastrophe of default and it preserves the most important investments we’ve passed over the past few years, many of them on a bipartisan basis. So moving forward on this agreement is the sensible, responsible, and very necessary thing to do.

We are getting close to finally putting the threat of default behind us, but there is more work to do. I hope that the House does its job when it takes up the bill later today. I urge my colleagues in this chamber to be prepared to move quickly when the time comes.

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