Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Senate Democrats Continuing To Demand Answers From President-Elect Trump’s Extreme And Unqualified Nominees

Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor to express serious concern for President-elect Trump’s nominees, emphasizing that Democrats are continuing to push for answers on issues that the American people care about most, including lower costs, health care, and job growth. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

This week, the American people have gotten their first real look of what’s in store for them under a second Trump Administration, and it’s very bad news for the working and middle class.

Senate Republicans, of course, are in the majority. They control, to a large extent, the final outcome of each nominee in this chamber if they stick together. And Donald Trump’s hold on Senate Republicans, as we’ve seen throughout the nominations process, is very, very strong.

Even so, there are two reasons why holding these hearings, is extremely important regardless of outcome: first, they create a contrast between the parties. People will see what we stand for and our Republican colleagues stand for as they support Trump's nominees. And second, the hearings create a record to hold these nominees accountable should they fail on the job down the line, which unfortunately I think many will given their meter of qualifications.

The contrast between who Democrats will fight for and who Republicans will fight for is becoming exceedingly obvious thanks to these hearings.

On the Democratic side, we want answers to the things Americans are worried about most: what does Donald Trump’s agenda mean for jobs? For inflation?

What are Trump’s tariffs going to do to people’s bottom lines? Will it send prices shooting up?

And people are going to ask, “are my prescription drugs going to get more expensive?”

They’re going to ask, “will our broken tax system become even more unfair under President Trump, in a way that rigs the system for the ultra-wealthy?”

These are the questions Americans care about. These are the things Democrats want answers to, from President-elect Trump’s nominees. In many cases, their answers are very, very troubling.

Second, even if these nominees are confirmed in the end, given that Donald Trump’s hold on Senate Republicans is so absolute, the American people deserve to have a record they can reference down the line.

Candidly, many of the President’s nominees are not fit for the job. Look at Pete Hegseth. Confirming some of these people would be a reckless roll of the dice for our country, but Republicans, under pressure from President-elect Trump, seem willing to press ahead nonetheless.

Should the time come that some of these nominees fail on the job, the hearings we are holding right now will come back to haunt our Republican colleagues, because the warning will have been there from the start.

By asking tough questions, by getting nominees on the record, by establishing that many of these individuals are unfit, these hearings will have been the canary in the coalmine that warns everyone that some of these nominees are too great a risk.

So, Democrats will continue to uphold our responsibility to scrutinize each nominee on the issues Americans care about.

We will continue asking the tough questions because working people deserve to know whose side Donald Trump is truly on. Is it working people like Donald Trump claims? Or is it corporate special interests like his nominations all too often suggest?

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