Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Senate Negotiators Continuing To Work On The National Security Supplemental

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on senators continuing to negotiate a bipartisan supplemental package. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

All through the weekend, negotiators continued their work on the national security supplemental. We are approaching the finish line, but the work is not done.

We will continue to finish the supplemental. We will do everything we can to get the supplemental done because, for all the day-to-day intrigue, the big picture has not changed: this is an inflection point in history, where the balance of power in Europe, the future of Israel in the Middle East, and the fate of the Indo-Pacific hang in the balance.

And for the first time in over a decade, we have a golden opportunity to make meaningful, lasting changes to the southern border, the best chance we will likely have in a good while. So, we have an obligation to the American people to get something done.

Now, Republicans in the House and Senate have insisted for years that Congress must make border security a top priority. The speeches, statements, op-eds, and tweets that Republicans have issued on border legislation could fill entire libraries. And we Democrats agree, we want to get something on the border. We have negotiated with our Republican counterparts for months to get something done.

Look, it’s entirely unsurprising, and truly disappointing at the same time, that many on the hard-right, including Donald Trump, are now trying to thwart this bipartisan effort for the sake of electoral politics.

But here in the Senate, both sides have an obligation to tune the partisan noise out and to continue working. Bipartisanship is the only way that action on the border is going to happen, that aid to Ukraine will be secured, that help to Israel and to the Indo-Pacific and aid to innocent civilians in Gaza will happen.

So, for all the noise and partisan posturing, the big picture here does not change. The Senate will continue working on the supplemental this week. We know this is hard – very hard – but Democrats and Republicans in this chamber have an obligation to tune out the outside noise and finish the work of protecting our national security.

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