Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks: The Biggest Threat To Our Capitol And Our Democracy Is The Big Lie
Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor regarding the anniversary of the January 6th insurrection and the continued threat to our democracy posed by President Trump’s Big Lie. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:
Earlier this morning I had the opportunity to join my colleagues in the Senate Rules Committee for a Hearing on the progress our Capitol has made to increase the security of this complex in the aftermath of January 6th.
We heard testimony from U.S. Capitol Chief of Police Thomas Manger, who in his first six months has done an outstanding job to make this building safer and better prepared for the sort of horrors that befell this hallowed space only one year ago this week.
That day—on January 6th 2021—the men and women of our Capitol Police stood on the front lines of the unimaginable: a violent assault upon the U.S. Capitol, instigated by former President Trump and carried out by a mob of radicals looking to halt the peaceful transfer of power.
That day, our Capitol Policemen were outnumbered and underequipped. Yet their bravery and quick thinking saved many lives and prevented a violent riot from becoming something even worse.
Today we honor all those who stepped up that day, especially those whom we’ve lost in the aftermath.
In the year since that attack, we’ve gotten a lot of things done in the Senate to strengthen our Capitol Police force to assure – from a security standpoint – that the violence of that day never happens again.
Thanks to this work, and to the new leadership of the Capitol Police, the U.S. Capitol today is undoubtedly, considerably, safer than it was a year ago.
But let’s be clear. Let’s be very clear: January 6th was not merely a senseless act of violence. It was an attempt to reverse, through violent means, the outcome of a free and fair election.
And make no mistake: the root cause of January 6th are still with us today. It lives on through the Big Lie pushed by Donald Trump that is undermining faith in our political system and making our country and our democracy less safe.
A year after January 6th, the biggest threat to our capitol, to our Capitol Police and to our democracy is the Big Lie, perpetrated by Donald Trump.
And without addressing the root causes of the events of January 6th, the insurrection will not be an aberration, it could well be the norm.
Just like the Senate has the power to pass legislation supporting our Capitol Police force, we have the same power — and obligation — to pass legislation to address these root causes that brought the Big Lie to life.
That is what my Senate Democratic colleagues and I are focused on, and are committed to doing.
And we must act. More than any other point in recent history, threats of political violence are on the rise. Election administrators are facing harassment and even death threats for just carrying out their duties. These are people who are sort of like civil servants. They're simply in charge of making sure the vote is counted fairly and accurately. In many states like mine they're bipartisan. In some states they're nonpartisan. But they are simply doing a job to make sure that the vote is counted correctly, and yet there are death threats against them for doing just that. By one measure nearly a third of these election officials say they feel less safe on the job, and many, many, many are quitting in fear for their safety.
All of us have a role to play to protect our democratic system—everyone from our Capitol Police, to the voting public, to those of us entrusted to serve in elected office.
Just as the Capitol Police have taken the experience of January 6th to institute reforms for the future, every member of the United States Senate is called to do the same, to reckon with the lessons of that terrible day and take action to cure America of the disease of the Big Lie.
That means passing legislation to protect our democracy from subversion and safeguard the right to vote, including the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and The Freedom To Vote Act.
Last year, Senate Democrats tried multiple times to get voting rights passed with bipartisan cooperation. Many of us, especially my colleague Senator Manchin, tried in good faith to bring the other side to the table.
But every single time, Republicans mounted a partisan filibuster to stop this chamber from even having a debate on these measures.
By now Republicans have made it abundantly clear that bipartisanship is not an option when it comes to voting rights. That is against the grand tradition where the Voting Rights Act had gotten the support of President Reagan and President H.W. Bush and President Bush—and got large bipartisan margins [in this chamber] when it was renewed in the past.
But that's not true anymore. This is a new Republican Party under Donald Trump, and they are opposing any attempt, any attempt to strengthen voting rights.
If this continues, the only option left for Democrats is to explore and propose reasonable fixes to restore the Senate so we can get these critical pieces of legislation passed into law.
We will consider proposals to restore the Senate on or before January the 17th.
The Republican Leader has wasted no opportunity to criticize any discussion—even a discussion—on how the members of this body can act to restore the Senate to its proper function. Mere moments ago, the Republican Leader strangely suggested that to make this chamber more effectively debate, compromise on, and pass legislation somehow equates to “breaking the Senate.” He criticized the idea that Democrats would go it alone.
But I would remind everyone that when Leader McConnell and Republicans were in the majority, they used their simple majority for almost every major initiative they wished to put in place: to try and repeal the Affordable Care Act, pass a multi-trillion dollar tax break for the ultra-rich, and installing three right-wing Supreme Court Justices.
And they were happy to change the rules then, if it meant getting their picks confirmed to the court. So, let’s stop the crocodile tears right here and right now.
The asymmetry cannot hold. If Senate Republicans continue to abuse the filibuster to prevent this body from acting, then the senate must adapt. Just as Robert C. Byrd said when circumstances change, the rules should change.
There is no better way to heal the damage of January 6th than to act so that our constitutional order is preserved for the future. We must do so by any means that we can, even if it means Democrats find alternate paths forward on our own.
For the sake of the vision handed down to us by the framers, Democrats are going to continue this work in the weeks to come.
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