Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The Senate’s Progress On Bipartisan Appropriations Legislation

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on the importance of passing bipartisan appropriations legislation. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

While chaos seems to define everything the Republican-controlled House does, here in the Senate we have shown that bipartisanship is key to getting things done.

And tomorrow, Democrats and Republicans will get a chance to make sure that bipartisanship continues.

Unfortunately, last Thursday, a lone Senator, representing a very small group in this chamber, tried to undermine the bipartisan appropriations process with procedural hurdles.

Yesterday, my colleague Senator Murray – the Chair of the Appropriations Committee – moved to get things back on track with a motion to suspend rule 16, and file cloture on that motion. We will vote on that tomorrow.

I believe that a clear majority of Senators want to see us continue on the appropriations process. I hope they vote to keep the appropriations process going tomorrow.

Our colleagues on the other side have asked for regular order, and we have worked with them to make sure that that happens just as it did on the NDAA bill.

Our colleagues on the other side have asked for amendments, and we have worked with them to consider amendments. In fact, Senators Collins and Murray had a list of amendments that was going to go forward, with the okay, I believe, of both the minority and majority leaders, until Senator Johnson threw the log in the tracks.

Our Republican and Democratic Leaders of the appropriations committee have asked to consider appropriations bills on the floor, and it is with their cooperation that these three bills – MilCon-VA, Agriculture, and Transportation/HUD – have been brought to the floor for consideration.

Democrats want to work with our Republican colleagues whenever possible. No one pretends like we don’t have disagreements, we do, but the important part is that so far disagreements have not stymied the process.

Tomorrow’s vote will be a chance to ensure we keep that bipartisanship going. I thank my colleagues on the appropriations committee – especially Chair Murray and Vice Chair Collins – for their excellent work, and I hope we can see strong support tomorrow to continue the appropriations process here on the floor.

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