Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Announcing The Senate Will Vote Thursday On Bipartisan Border Security Legislation Blocked By Senate Republicans Three Months Ago

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor, announcing the Senate will vote on Thursday on the bipartisan border security bill, which Senate Republicans blocked as a part of the national security supplemental three months ago. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Three months ago, Senate Republicans blocked the strongest, most comprehensive border security bill we’ve seen in a generation.

This week, Republicans will get another chance to do the right thing.

Border security, we all know, is one of the most contentious issues that we have to wrestle with in Congress, but most people agree the status quo cannot continue. Our southern border is in desperate need of more resources and our immigration system is in serious need of repair. President Biden, in recent weeks, has taken many actions to increase sanctions against human rights abusers, reform asylum, and enhance drug enforcement to the maximum extent his office allows.

But as our Republican colleagues have said for years, the only long term solution to the border is bipartisan – bipartisan – legislation from Congress.

Well, there is good news: such bipartisan legislation does exist and is ready to go.

I’m talking, of course, about the bipartisan Border Act negotiated earlier this year by Senators Murphy and Sinema and Lankford, and endorsed by the National Border Patrol Council, the Chamber of Commerce, and the very conservative Wall Street Journal editorial page.

This week, the Senate will have the opportunity to move again on this bill.

For the information of my colleagues, tomorrow I plan to file cloture on the motion to proceed to the bipartisan Border Act.

The Senate will then vote on our bipartisan border bill on Thursday.

All those who say we need to act on the border will get a chance this week to show they’re serious about fixing the problem.

Let me repeat: the Senate will vote on our bipartisan border bill on Thursday. All those who say we need to act on the border will get a chance this week to show they’re serious – serious – about fixing the border.

I implore my Republican colleagues to join us in advancing this bill. We’re going to need bipartisan support if there’s any hope of getting this bill done.

I will be clear: we do not expect every Democrat or every Republican to come out in favor of the bill. But as I’ve said before, over and over again, the only way to pass this bill is with broad bipartisan support. I expect to see that on the Democratic side, and I hope we will see this on the Republican side as well.

This bill was written explicitly with the goal of getting support from both parties, unlike messaging bills like H.R. 2 – which did not have bipartisan support to get through both chambers.

And the bill we’re voting on this Thursday is practically the same bill that Senators Murphy and Sinema and Lankford and others negotiated three months ago. Republicans agreed to the substance of this bill; it is not at all some new measure or something that comes only from the Democratic side.

The bill we will vote on this Thursday reforms asylum, boosts staffing at the border, cracks down on drugs like fentanyl, and gives emergency powers to shut the border when crossings meet a certain threshold – all issues Republicans have said we must address.

If our bipartisan border security bill was good enough to win support of the union that represents border patrol officers, it should be good enough to win the support of Senate Republicans.

If you judge this bill by its substance – and take out the partisanship injected by Donald Trump – it is objectively a tough, serious minded, and, critically, a bipartisan – bipartisan – solution to the border.

In fact, when we released this bill earlier this year, many of our Republican colleagues were surprised at how strong it was, at least in private. For a short while, it seemed like we finally had a bill both parties could link arms on and pass together.

Of course, we all know what happened. Donald Trump happened. He barged into the border debate and publicly came out against the bill, and the rest of his Republican supporters fell in place like dominos.

Let me be very clear: the border bill did not fail three months ago because it was too weak – on the contrary, the border bill failed because it was too strong for Donald Trump’s liking and risked taking away an issue he wanted to exploit on the campaign trail. He said that himself.

Again: the border bill did not fail three months ago because it was too weak. It failed because it was too strong – too strong – for Donald Trump’s liking, and it risked taking away an issue he wanted to exploit on the campaign trail.

And as we all know, he was explicit about his intentions: he said, “Please blame it on me,” as if this were all just one giant game to Donald Trump. He really does not care about the border. He just cares about the politics and the gamesmanship.

Well, the American people do not have the luxury of playing games with border security. The issue is too important to ignore, and the bill we negotiated earlier this year is too good to pass up. So, we are going to give Republicans another chance this week.

In the words of one of my Senate Republican colleagues when we worked on the border bill earlier this year: “This moment will pass. Do not let it pass.”

I could not agree more.

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