Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The Bipartisan, Bicameral Agreement To Fund The Government

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on the bipartisan and bicameral agreement reached by Congress to fund the government, which secures several key Democratic priorities. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Last night – I think as everyone knows by now – Congressional leaders released the text of bipartisan legislation that will keep the government open, deliver critical disaster relief, extend vital health care programs, and protect our farmers.

With this agreement, we are now on our way to avoiding a government shutdown. The sooner Congress acts, the better.

As always, bipartisan cooperation must lead the way – we can’t have last minute delays or grandstanding, or else the American people won’t get the funding they deserve, or else we could risk a shutdown.

Now, there are many good things in this bill that Democrats worked hard for and achieved.

Democrats have insisted these agreements must not have cuts, and this bill has no cuts. Democrats have warned we can’t have poison pills, and this bill has no poison pills.

And Democrats pushed hard to make sure this agreement included millions for child care, workforce training, job training, funding to rebuild the Key Bridge, and more.

There are three things in particular that I pushed very hard for that I’m glad to see in the bill: policies to outcompete China, including outsourcing, policies on artificial intelligence, and policies to bring manufacturing back to America, including chip production.

This package includes new restrictions I pushed for to restrict the flow of U.S. investment to fund CCP development of technologies like AI and chips. I’m also very pleased this agreement helps alleviate supply chain disruptions, alleviates price spikes, and increases chip investment in the U.S.

I also pushed especially hard to get a strong disaster relief package into the bill, and I am really glad we got that done too. Federal disaster relief programs are just about exhausted, and I’ve warned that doing nothing would come back to haunt us. Communities across the southeast, across the northeast – and in fact across America – still need help rebuilding from the aftermath of hurricanes, flooding, wildfires, and other acts of Mother Nature that have grown far more powerful because of climate change. So, it is very good news that this disaster package got into this bill.

And there are other good things in the bill too – we permanently secured 9/11 responder and survivor health funding, we secured important provisions related to Haiti, extended protections for farmers, dealt with the nature of lithium-ion batteries that might explode on bikes, and much, much more.

Now, this CR is not perfect – it doesn’t include everything Democrats called for, and it includes some provisions we wouldn’t have added. But this CR is a sound and bipartisan and necessary compromise that will keep the government open and deliver many good things for the American people.

So now, time is of the essence. The sooner Congress acts, the better. If we want to avoid an unnecessary government shutdown right before Christmas, Republicans must work with Democrats to pass this CR quickly.

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