Schumer Floor Remarks On The Widespread Suffering Caused By The Trump Shutdown And The Upcoming Senate Vote On House-Passed Legislation To Reopen The Government
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer today spoke on the Senate floor
regarding the widespread suffering caused by the Trump Shutdown and the
upcoming Senate vote on House-passed legislation to reopen the government.
Below are his remarks, which can also be viewed here:
Now
President Trump has now kept the government shut down for thirty-four days, and
the pain inflicted on the American people and its government getting deeper and
deeper every day.
Our
economy is suffering. First quarter GDP is in the tank and consumer confidence
is falling.
Our
national security is suffering. FBI agents attest that criminal and
anti-terrorism investigations are severely constrained. Border patrol, TSA, and
hundreds of thousands of homeland security personnel are working under
limitations. These people are all part of our security. President Trump keeps
saying “we need the wall for security” – most people disagree with that. But
even if you didn’t, it’s going to not be built for years. Our security is
suffering today because of the Trump shutdown. It’s so bad, listen to this:
five former DHS Secretaries wrote a letter to President Trump urging him to end
the shutdown without the wall, including his former Chief of Staff John Kelly,
a loyal solider if there ever was one. But Mr. Kelly knew, and they all knew,
that this shutting down the government for the president’s wall, which most
American’s don’t believe we should build, is wrong. The president’s former
Chief of Staff is telling President Trump that his position on the shutdown is
wrong, that his position on the shutdown is a threat to national security. I
would argue far more than not building a huge, ineffective wall.
Yesterday,
a joint statement from the air traffic controllers, pilots and flight
attendants union issued a dire warning. It said: “In our risk averse industry,
we cannot even calculate the risk currently at play, nor predict the point at
which the system will break.” President Trump, you care about security? You’ll
open the government now. You’re the only one standing in the way. Because, we
know, most of our Republican colleagues want the government opened up. They
are, in a positive way, loyal to you. In a negative way, afraid to buck you.
But they all know it, everyone knows it.
And, of
course, 800,000 federal workers are on the cusp of missing their second
paycheck, a month’s share of pay. Some require the assistance of food banks to
get by. That is so disheartening. Hard working people who just want to help
their families, have a decent life, have to go to a food bank. They did nothing
wrong. President Trump is using them as hostages. And here is how callous this
administration is: When asked about that fact this morning, the Commerce
Secretary Wilbur Ross, a billionaire, said, “I know they are - ‘he’s talking
about federal workers.’ I know they are going to food banks and I don’t really
understand why.” His quote exactly is: “I know they are and I don’t really
quite understand why.” He was arguing that it’s easy for furloughed workers to
get a loan.
Those
comments are appalling, and reveal the administration’s callous indifference
towards the federal workers it’s treating as pawns. Secretary Ross’ comments
are the 21st century equivalent of “let them eat cake.”
Many of
these federal employees live paycheck to paycheck. Secretary Ross: they can’t
just call their stock broker and ask them to sell some of their shares. They
need that pay check.
We need
to end this shutdown now. There’s only one way to do it. And this afternoon,
for the first time since President Trump shut the government down in December,
the Senate will have a chance to vote on a bill to reopen the government. Now
Leader McConnell says that President Trump’s bill is the only way to open up
the government – bull. He claims our bill won’t pass because President Trump
won’t sign it. Has he ever heard of a veto override? Has he ever heard of Article
I? But the bill that President Trump has put together can’t pass the House and
can’t pass the Senate, so it has no change of passing. So for Leader McConnell
to say that the only bill that has a chance of opening up the government is
President Trump’s bill – where he puts in a $5.7 billion wall, undoes much of
the asylum provisions, and is broadly unpopular – is false. It’s just wrong.
The two
bills that are on the floor are not equivalent votes. My friends on the other
side, and some in the media who are being lazy, call the two votes “dueling
proposals,” as if there is one Republican proposal and one Democratic proposal
and they’re sort of equal. It’s just not true.
The
president’s plan demands 100% of what the president wants – 5.7 billion for a
border wall plus radical new changes to our asylum laws – before reopening the
government. For the Republican Leader to call this a “compromise” is laughable.
No Democratic sign off. Not from me, not from Senator Durbin, not from any
other Democrat. It’s a harshly partisan proposal that essentially codifies the
president’s position that government funding is a bargaining chip. A vote for
the president’s plan is an endorsement of government by extortion. If we let
him do it today, he’ll do it tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. The whole
structure of our government will change and the chaos we now see will be
magnified.
Even
some of my Republican friends have admitted the president’s plan is not a
serious offer. A few days ago, my friend from Oklahoma called it a “straw man
proposal.” I think that says it all. The President’s plan is a “straw man” –
not a serious offer, merely a way to save face.
The
second vote is the opposite. It demands nothing before we reopen the
government. Nothing. No partisan demands. Not things we want or we’ll shut down
the government. We don’t do that. Only President Trump does that, and our
Republican colleagues go along. Our proposal allows us to reopen the government
and then – then, after government is open – settle our differences over border
security. I know it’s not partisan because every single Republican supported
the same basic idea just one month ago when we voted on it. And when President
Trump changed his mind and said “no” everyone sort of did a 180-degree reversal,
including my friend, the Republican Leader. He knows it.
So the
two votes are not the same. They are not flip sides of the same coin. The first
vote is harshly partisan and one-sided, the second vote seeks to be down the
middle and reopen government and has received overwhelming support from both
sides before President Trump said he wouldn’t do it.
Calling
the two votes equivalent is not an attempt just to simplify but to mislead.
Nonetheless, in a few hours, we’ll take these two votes. The Senate will have a
chance to say no to the president’s hostage-taking. And then the Senate will
have a chance to send a clear message that Congress is ready to reopen the
government.
To my
Republican colleagues, even if you’re for the wall, all of those who have said,
“I may be for the wall but I want to keep the government open,” have a chance
to do it on the second vote. Let’s see how they vote.
Throughout
this debacle, I have not heard one good reason why 800,000 federal employees
must be held hostage for us to discuss border security. Democrats are happy to
discuss border security under regular order with the government open. We
support stronger border security. President Trump believes the best way to do
that is an expensive and ineffective wall. We disagree sharply over that – but
there’s no reason we can’t negotiate and figure it out.
What we
cannot allow is the president to hijack our government and hold it hostage
every time we disagree over policy – which he will do if he wins this time.
The
votes this afternoon are about more than just this shutdown, they’re about how
we govern in a democracy. We’re allowed to come here and disagree over policy.
In fact, our system of government was designed to allow for progress despite
our large and sometimes raucous differences. But when one side, in this case
the president, throws a temper tantrum and uses the basic functioning of our
government as leverage in a policy argument, our system of government breaks
down.
If
every president decided to shut down the government when they didn’t get a
policy from Congress, America would careen from crisis to crisis, an endless
spiral of gridlock and dysfunction.
So the
votes this afternoon are not about border security. These votes are about
ending a manufactured crisis, a self-inflicted wound that is bleeding our
country out a little more each day. And I hope – I pray – the Senate rises to
the occasion.
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