Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The Election Of New House Speaker Johnson And The Need For Bipartisanship

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on the new Speaker of the House, Representative Mike Johnson, and the need for bipartisanship to avoid a shutdown, fund the government, and pass the supplemental. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Yesterday, after nearly a month-long paralysis in Congress, House Republicans finally elected a new Speaker of the House.

I spoke with Speaker Johnson last night and expressed my congratulations on his election to the Speakership.

I told Speaker Johnson the exact same thing I told Speaker McCarthy: in a divided government, the only way we will avoid a shutdown, fund the government, or pass the supplemental is bipartisanship. 

I hope the new Speaker learns lessons from the disastrous experiences of his predecessors – Speakers Boehner, Ryan, and McCarthy – and realizes that coddling the hard right is disastrous both for the country and for the Republican leadership. Because like it or not, Speaker Johnson will not be able to ignore the need for bipartisanship in divided government.

Right now, the world is in crisis, and Americans – and the citizens of the world, people across the world – are looking for a Congress that is functional, decisive, and able to reach across the aisle.

We must work together to send Israel the help she needs.

We must stand with our friends in Ukraine, which majorities in both chambers have made clear they support. To allow Putin to succeed is to endanger America’s national security, and it’s alarming that a growing number of House Republicans don’t seem to care about this.

We also need humanitarian aid to reduce suffering in the Middle East, in Ukraine, and elsewhere.

We must also finish the bipartisan appropriations process. Extremist funding bills that make cuts way below the bipartisan June agreement will not fly. If Speaker Johnson tries to send those cuts over here, they're not going to happen. They'll be dead on arrival. All they will do is waste more time at a moment when every day counts. We cannot listen to these 30 members of the hard right who somehow think they have all the knowledge and all right on their side and then tie us in a knot.

Again: whether House Republicans like it or not, this is divided government.

Bipartisanship is the only way we’ll be able to get anything done. I hope, pray, Speaker Johnson realizes this quickly.

If Speaker Johnson repeats the mistakes of Speaker McCarthy, if he tumbles down the MAGA road, it will be inevitable that the House finds itself trapped in even more chaos very soon. If Speaker Johnson lives up to the label that Congressman Gaetz has given him, MAGA Mike, he will fail as the previous Speakers have.

But if Speaker Johnson chooses the bipartisan path, we can do great things for the American people, just as we did last Congress with an evenly divided Senate and a narrowly divided House.

I look forward to working constructively with Speaker Johnson, and congratulate him on his election.

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