Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The Senate Vote To Advance Bipartisan Appropriations Legislation And The Need To Avoid A Government Shutdown

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on the Senate vote later today to advance bipartisan appropriations legislation and the importance of avoiding a costly government shutdown. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

After a lot of hard work and compromise by appropriators on both sides, salute goes to Patty Murray and Susan Collins, today the Senate will take up the first procedural vote on a package of three appropriations bills: Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Transportation-HUD.

Each of these bills passed unanimously out of committee, so I hope they will have strong bipartisan support here on the floor. And I mentioned both Chair Murray and Vice Chair Collins, I also want to thank all the members of the Appropriations Committee for their great work. None of this was easy, so they deserve a lot of credit.

The Senate appropriations process thus far has been the gold standard for good governance. All twelve appropriations bills passed through regular order, with Democratic Chairs and Republican Ranking Members working together to move bills forward.

As the Senate continues the work of funding the government, the House gavels back in today with one very important responsibility: following the Senate’s example and working in a bipartisan fashion to prevent government shutdown.

The American people don’t want a shutdown. It would undo so much of our progress to lower costs, create millions and millions of jobs, and help our economy recover from the pandemic.

So, I once again implore House Republican Leadership to reject all-or-nothing tactics, reject unrealistic expectations, and refuse to cave to the extremist demands we’re hearing from thirty or so members way out on the fringe.

There is only one way we will avoid a costly government shutdown: bipartisanship. It’s simple as that. We’ve seen bipartisanship work in the Senate, and now the House must follow suit.

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