Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The Need For Bipartisan Action To Pass President Biden’s Supplemental Funding Request

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor regarding President Biden’s supplemental request. Below are his remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Last week, President Biden addressed the nation from the Oval Office to affirm that America will stand with her friends and allies in the face of authoritarians like China, Russia, and Iran who seek to annihilate democracy. 

The future of democracy around the world faces the greatest threat since the end of the Cold War. At this pivotal moment in history, America is once again called upon to rise to the occasion and to lead the way. 

President Biden has now sent Congress a supplemental funding request with aid for our ally and partner Israel, aid for our friends in Ukraine, and funding to outcompete the Chinese government and secure our southern border from threats like fentanyl.

We must pass this supplemental as soon as we can—with bipartisan support—for a simple and important reason: it will make the world safer for the United States, for our allies, and for our democratic values.

In Europe, Vladimir Putin continues his onslaught against the Ukrainian people, and it’s foolish to think he will stop there. In the Middle East, Hamas’s brutal terrorism murdered the most Jewish people in a single day since the Holocaust, and threatens our strongest ally in the Middle East.

Democrats and Republicans alike know that if Putin, Hamas, or other adversaries succeed, it would endanger Americans around the world.

Now that Congress has received the President’s request, I will make it a top priority for the Senate to act quickly, decisively, and most importantly with strong bipartisan conviction. Bipartisanship must lead the way as we take up the President’s supplemental request.

To my Republican colleagues: let’s work together to ensure that this process remains bipartisan, because only things that win support from both sides will make it to the President’s desk.

Democrats and Republicans agree we must stand with Israel, so let’s pass this supplemental with humanitarian aid to help civilians in Gaza and elsewhere as soon as we can.

Democrats and Republicans also agree we must stand with Ukraine—after all, over 70 members voted for Ukraine funding last month in our CR—so let’s pass this supplemental as soon as we can.

And both sides want to outcompete the Chinese government, secure our border from threats like fentanyl, and provide humanitarian aid to minimize civilian casualties in both Israel and Gaza.

All of these priorities are bipartisan. All of these provisions are included in the President’s request. So let’s get to work in the coming weeks to pass this supplemental package quickly and with strong bipartisan support.

With the House of Representatives in paralysis, the Senate will not wait to act. We will step into the breach and make sure the business of legislating continues. And if we act with enough bipartisan conviction, I believe it would go a long way to pushing the House to getting its act together and following suit.  

The world will watch very closely what actions we take in Congress over the next coming weeks. We must send an unmistakable message to the country, to our allies, and to our adversaries that America will always spring to the defense of our allies in their hour of need. That is why we must pass this supplemental as soon as we can.

###