Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Adoption Of A Schumer Amendment To Ensure Stretch Limousines Must Meet Safety Standards And The Consideration Of Twenty Two Amendments To The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill
Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor after his and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s (D-NY) amendment to enforce safety standards in stretch limousines was agreed to in a bipartisan vote. Senator Schumer emphasized that more than twenty amendments to the bipartisan infrastructure legislation have already been considered. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks:
Let me thank my colleagues for passing this very important amendment.
It stems from the fact that in 2018, 20 lives were lost in a tragic limousine accident in Scoharie, New York. The families came from the small city of Amsterdam, the people. They had done just the right thing. It's a group that went out. They knew they might be enjoying themselves, so they hired a big, long stretch limo. Unfortunately, as the limo came down the hill in Scoharie, it crashed, and 20 people died.
I met the families. These were young people in the prime of life. I met one mom. She lost four daughters, four daughters in this crash.
This community of Amsterdam and these families have endured endless tragedy. But instead of cursing the darkness, they have lit a candle, and they are pushing for the fact – there is a hole in regulation. We regulate trucks and we regulate smaller limos, but when it's a large limo, they’re not sure what it's classified as, and there is virtually no regulation. This legislation fills that hole.
The accident was preventable. There was another accident on Long Island; four young women in the prime of life killed in the same way. That was preventable.
Now, Congress finally has the opportunity to address the gaps and loopholes that have allowed limousines to escape the basic safety standards that cover other vehicles.
My amendment with Senator Gillibrand would ensure that limousines meet minimum safety standards. It mandates seat belts and seat safety standards, and it will save lives.
So I thank my colleagues for supporting this amendment. It's a beautiful thing what these families are doing; the hole in their heart will never go away. The hole in the heart of the whole city of Amsterdam which lost so many of their vital young men and women will never go away, but instead of cursing the darkness, they are lighting the candle and tonight the candle was lit, thanks to the bipartisan cooperation we have here. So I thank my colleagues.
Now on the matter of today, the Senate is making really good progress – really good progress.
As you know, I had promised when we opened up our two-track process that we would be fully bipartisan in the amendment process as we move forward on the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
Well, I think no one can deny that we have kept our word here in the Democratic majority. So far, the Senate has considered 22 amendments on this bipartisan piece of legislation, 14 of them today. That's more amendments than probably happened in many months when we were in the minority. Of those amendments, 12 have been agreed to; five by voice vote; seven by roll call; 10 were not agreed to. 13 of those 22 amendments, more than half, were sponsored by Republicans.
So clearly we have shown a willingness to allow members who were not part of the bipartisan group to have input into this important bill.
Tomorrow, we will continue to consider amendments and then hopefully we can bring this bill to a close in the very near future. So the chamber is working as members on both sides of the aisle have wanted it to. I'm proud of what we have been able to do today and hope we can continue tomorrow in that vein.
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