Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Continuing To Move Forward With The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill And The Extensive Bipartisan Amendment Process

Washington, D.C. –  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor regarding progress made on the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Senator Schumer also reiterated that it is his intention to complete both the bipartisan infrastructure bill and a budget resolution during this work period. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

All week, as we all know, Senators have worked together to move forward on the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Since the text of the bipartisan proposal was finalized on Sunday, both sides have had extensive opportunities to offer amendments.

Senators have certainly taken advantage.

So far, the Senate has considered 22 amendments on this bipartisan piece of legislation. We considered 14 amendments yesterday alone. Of the 22 total amendments, more than half have been offered by our Republican colleagues. Clearly, the Democratic majority has given members who were not part of the bipartisan group a chance to make their mark on this important bill.

Taking a step back, this Senate has operated much differently under Democratic leadership this year than it did under Republican leadership over the past six.

We’ve had bipartisan bills on the floor, open for amendment, and all 100 Senators are participating in the legislative process. The anti-Asian Hate Crimes bill and the USICA bill—both were major bills that worked in a bipartisan way with amendments, as is this bill.

We’ve taken more amendment votes this year than nearly any year in recent memory. In fact, we’ve held more roll call votes on amendments this year—only half way through—than during the past two years where Republicans were in charge, combined.

In other words, half a year into 2021—where Democrats are in charge—we’ve had more amendments than in all of 2019 and 2020. So any talk that we are not working the Senate whenever we can in a fair, bipartisan way is just wrong.

Consider this. At this point in the calendar year in 2017, the first year of a Republican president and Republican Senate majority—a one to one comparison to our current political configuration—the Senate had held roll call votes on ten amendments. Ten, at this point in the first year of the Trump presidency.

On this bipartisan infrastructure bill alone, the Senate has held roll call votes on 17 amendments.

In seven months, the 2017 Republican majority allowed roll call votes on only ten amendments.

We’ve done almost double the number in the past seven days alone.

This is how I promised the chamber would function under a Democratic Majority. I promised it while we were fighting to get that majority. And we’re fulfilling that promise now that we have it.

Legislators should actually have a chance to legislate. No one can deny that we have kept our word here in the Democratic majority.

Today, we will consider even more amendments and then, hopefully, we can bring this bill to a close very shortly. Our goal is to pass both a bipartisan infrastructure bill and a budget resolution during this work period. And we will stay here to get both done.

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