Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The Importance Of Passing The Bipartisan Agreement To Avoid Default Without Unnecessary And Potentially Dangerous Delays
Washington, D.C.– Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor regarding the importance and urgency of passing the bipartisan agreement to avoid a catastrophic default. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:
Last night, a large majority of both Democrats and Republicans in the House passed bipartisan legislation to protect the U.S. economy, protect American families, and eliminate the threat of a first-ever default.
The bill is now in the Senate, where we begin the process today of passing this legislation as soon as possible.
The Senate will stay in session until we send a bill avoiding default to President Biden’s desk. We will keep working until the job is done.
Time is a luxury the Senate does not have if we want to prevent default. June 5th is less than four days away; at this point any needless delay or any last-minute hold-ups would be an unnecessary and even dangerous risk. And any change to this bill that forces us to send it back to the House would be entirely unacceptable. It would almost guarantee default. So again, the Senate will stay in session until we send a bill avoiding default to the President’s desk, and we will keep working until the job is done.
The vast majority of Senators recognize that passing this bill is supremely important. It’s about preserving the full faith and credit of the United States. There is no good reason – none – to bring this process down to the wire. No good reason to bring this process down to the wire. That too is dangerous and risky.
So today, I hope we see a genuine desire to keep this process moving quickly. I hope we see nothing even approaching brinkmanship. The country cannot afford that right now. Instead, I hope we see bipartisan cooperation.
Bipartisanship is always the best way to avoid default and get this bill over the finish line.
We’ve said it over and over again: bipartisanship is what prevented default under President Trump, it’s what prevented default under President Biden, and it’s what will prevent default in this case too. Partisan bills and hostage taking, meanwhile, were never going to win the day
Let me say this: last night’s House vote was a resounding affirmation of bipartisanship, which I hope bodes well for quick movement here in the Senate. Large majorities from both sides came together to produce last night’s 314 – 314 – yes votes: two-thirds of Republicans voted for it and more than two-thirds of Democrats voted for it. I thank my House colleagues on both sides of the aisle who fulfilled their duty to prevent a catastrophic default.
We need that same spirit of bipartisanship that governed the House vote to continue here in the Senate this morning. I hope that very soon we can finish the job of putting the default in the rear view mirror. This is the best thing we can do right now for our economy and for American families.
I am optimistic the Senate is going to get this done, but it will take one more concerted, focused, and bipartisan push to get us over the finish line.
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