TRANSCRIPT: Leader Schumer Delivers Remarks At Press Conference To Push Legislation Fighting Back Against The Dangerous Far-Right Actions Of The Trump Administration

Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) held a press conference on legislative proposals to fight the chaos that the Trump Administration has already unleashed on the American people, including freezing taxpayer money and letting unelected bureaucrats (DOGE) have access to the data of every American. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

First, I'd like to announce that all 47 Democrats will vote against Russell Vought. We’re united in our agreement that Russell Vought is a dangerous and destructive choice to lead the Office of Management and Budget, and we saw a precursor to his leadership last week during the dangerous federal funding freeze that crippled, or nearly crippled, critical duties of the federal government and its operation.

As the chief architect, chief cook and bottle washer of Project 2025, it's Russell Vought who is laser-focused on undermining our government. He's proven it.

Senate Democrats will unanimously oppose him and do everything we can to prevent him from leading OMB.

And should Republicans not see the light and shoulder shrug this dangerous person into this seat, they'll have to answer to the American people.

Russell Vought wants to cast chaos across America. He's depending solely on Republicans to do it. And as I said, he's a danger to the budget. He's a danger to what people in America need.

Now, on the reason we are here.

So over the past few days – and, Hakeem and I worked together really closely and well, and I welcome him to the Senate as he welcomes me to the House. Over the past few days, Democrats have warned the American people that DOGE is operating like a shadow government. Yesterday, I said that DOGE is not a real government agency. It has no authority to make spending decisions, to shut down programs or ignore federal law. This is not debatable. This is an indisputable fact. No authority for spending decisions to shut down programs or ignore federal law. Yet, Elon Musk took issue with that warning. He said, in answer to a tweet that I said that did this, he said, DOGE “is the one shot the American people have to defeat bureaucracy and restore democracy.”

Now, give me a break. Nothing screams democracy like having a secret squad of company men pull off a hostile takeover of America's Social Security and tax information in the dead of night. That is not democracy, Mr. Musk.

And yet it’s precisely what DOGE is doing. It's letting a small group of unelected people, secret, run rampant through the executive branch, accessing the private data millions of Americans need, and God knows what they're going to do with it. God knows. So there are two dangers. One, people's privacy is at stake. Second, that there's a risk that this small group could cut program after program using one excuse or another.

So today, Leader Jeffries and I are joining together to push legislation to prevent unlawful meddling in the Treasury Department's payment systems and protect Americans across the country. Our bill aims to do a few simple things.

One, to deny access to special government employees, employees that don't have to disclose their conflicts of interest or any other ethical agreements.

Two, to deny access to anyone with conflicts of interest or lack of appropriate clearance.

And three, include personal tax information into existing privacy protections. We call our legislation Stop the Steal.

Whatever DOGE is doing, it's not democracy. We know what democracy's like. It's out in the open. It's not secret. You do two sided debate and then the elected officials make decisions. Democracy doesn't work in the shadows. Democracy doesn't skirt the rule of law. And it doesn't give special privilege to the ideas and needs of a group of ultra-wealthy people at the expense of American families.

Of course we should talk about reform, reform’s a worthy cause.

Everyone agrees we should find ways to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of government.

But you know what history shows? When it's done in the dark of night, it always leads to bad results. When these DOGE people decide to cut a program, have they even talked to the people who run the program? Have they even done a little research? Have they heard the other side? Or are they just in such rush to cut anything they can so that they can keep tax breaks and give deeper tax breaks to the wealthiest of Americans? Undoubtedly not. They are not checking. They are not debating. They are not doing things in sunlight. So we want reform.

We'd like to cut waste, but do it in front of the American people. Hear the arguments, have the back and forth that has been the hallmark of this republic for over 200 years. You don't have a small group of select people who have little experience across the breadth of government have access to these records and an ability to cut funding. The American people have a right to be part of the debate as to what programs should be cut. And just because a small group of people think they know better than the American people doesn't make it true, so we are going to do everything we can to sound the alarm and fight with everything we've got to stop this horrible, horrible act by this DOGE group with of course the permission, acquiescence, encouragement of Donald Trump.

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