Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The Need For Bipartisanship To Avoid A Government Shutdown And Senate Republicans’ Partisan Effort To Make Support For Ukraine Contingent On Hard-Right Border Policies

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on the need for bipartisanship and Senate Republicans’ tying Ukraine aid to partisan border security proposals. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

In the next two weeks, Congress must work together to avoid another pointless, damaging, unnecessary government shutdown.

We also must work together to defend America’s national security around the world by standing with Israel, standing with Ukraine, and increasing our defenses in the Indo-Pacific.

And we must provide critical humanitarian assistance, including to civilians in Gaza – who have nothing to do with Hamas – who need food and water and shelter.

None of this will be easy to do. None of this is guaranteed to happen.

The outcome of the next two weeks will hang on the same thing I’ve emphasized all year long: bipartisan cooperation.

If Republicans are willing to work with Democrats in good faith, on issues where there is real overlap, and there are many, then we can move forward on the things we must accomplish.

But if Republicans inject partisanship into otherwise bipartisan priorities, that is only going to make it harder to avoid a shutdown, pass Israel aid, pass Ukraine aid, pass humanitarian aid for Gaza, and all of our other priorities.

Yesterday, a group of Senate Republicans released a proposal for border security that they want in exchange for Ukraine funding – and they know full well what they came up with is a total non-starter.

Instead of putting together commonsense border policies that can pass in divided government, Senate Republicans basically copy-and-pasted large chunks of the House’s radical H.R. 2 bill. And that’s their asking price for helping Ukraine.

Making Ukraine funding conditional on the hard-right border policies that can’t ever pass Congress is a huge mistake by our Republican colleagues. By tying Ukraine to border, Republicans are sadly making it harder – much harder – for us to help Ukraine in their fight against Putin. It sends a terrible signal to both our friends and adversaries. It will be a moment that history will remember, if Ukraine aid is tied to this.

Large segments of both parties in the Senate support Ukraine, so why on Earth do some Republicans want to torpedo it by tying this H.R. 2 anchor to Ukraine funding? This move is only going to endanger Ukraine assistance in the long run.

If Senate Republicans’ opening bid for border is an amalgamation of hard-right policies, then sadly the two parties are far apart and we have a lot of work to do to bridge the divide.

Now, I want to be clear: I’d like to bridge the divide. Our caucus would like to see some kind of commonsense border policies done and the President would like to get something done, as his supplemental proposal shows.

If we can come together in a bipartisan fashion to stop the flow of fentanyl and give our frontline officers the resources and tools they need to do their jobs and stop fentanyl, all while staying true to our values, that’s what we should be doing.  

So today, we’re going to keep working with our Republican colleagues to see if there’s a chance for compromise.

But Republicans need to actually work with us on realistic border policies, even if it’s not everything they want. You can't get just a few Republicans, who are pretty much on the hard-right side of their party, to say here's what we want, take it or leave it. That won't work.

Senate Republicans should not repeat the mistakes of the House GOP when they tried to push H.R. 2: their H.R. 2 bill is going nowhere, and this Senate GOP proposal is very close to H.R. 2.

I’ve always been clear that I’m ready to have open, good faith, bipartisan negotiations.

I was one of the authors of the Senate’s comprehensive immigration bill from 2013. It was led by John McCain and me.

I know what it’s like to have hard conversations about these issues. I know through firsthand experience this topic is not easy, but nevertheless, I’m willing to have conversations about the border again, if Republicans are willing to meet us halfway.

We have so many shared bipartisan priorities to protect our nation, our national security. I hope partisanship doesn’t tarnish our shared purpose; I hope we can work in the coming days to bridge the gap.

Again, when Republicans willingly inject partisanship into issues that could have some bipartisan overlap, they make it extremely hard to get anything done.

I urge my Republican colleagues to stop using the same approach again and again of taking bipartisan issues and injecting them with corrosive partisan measures that help sink them.

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