Schumer Floor Remarks on Upcoming Senate Vote on House-Passed Legislation to Reopen the Government & End the Trump Shutdown
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer today spoke on the Senate floor
regarding two cloture votes scheduled for Thursday January 24, 2019. The first
is a vote on the president’s one-sided proposal to radically alter our
immigration system and spend billions on a wall he promised Mexico would pay
for. The second is a vote on the House-passed continuing resolution to re-open
the government through February 8, 2019 and provide needed disaster aid. Below
are his remarks:
Thank you, Mr.
President. And I thank the Republican Leader.
The Republican
Leader has just announced an agreement we’ve reached about the schedule for
Thursday’s votes. Two votes, both of which will be amendments to the
House-passed continuing resolution. First, the Senate will vote on the
president’s proposal and then we’ll vote on an amendment that is identical to
the underlying bill.
Now, the
president said his proposal was a reasonable compromise. In fact, it is neither
reasonable nor a compromise. There were no serious negotiations with any
Democrat about what went into the proposal. That’s because the proposal was
never intended to pass. It’s only a thinly-veiled attempt by the president to
save face. Anyone who looks at the legislation can tell that it was designed to
fail. In exchange for the wall, the president only offers limited, temporary
protections for DACA and TPS – protections he singlehandedly removed – so it’s
sort of like bargaining for stolen goods. And then on top of that, he has
proposed new, radical changes to our asylum system without consulting any
Democrats; changes that controvert our nation’s most fundamental and precious
values. I hope it will be roundly defeated on Thursday.
The good news is,
after that vote, we have a second amendment that could break us out of the
morass we are in. The Senate will proceed to an amendment to the House bill
that is identical to the underlying legislation. In other words, for the first
time, we will get a vote on whether to open up the government without any
decision one way or the other on border security. The proposal also adds
necessary disaster aid to several states that were recently ravaged by national
disasters. People are saying, “Isn’t there a way out of this mess? Isn’t there
a way to relieve the burden on the 800,000 federal workers not getting paid?
Isn’t there a way to get government services open first and then debate what we
should do for border security?”
Now there’s a
way. And that is the second vote that will occur on Thursday. It would renew
all of the portions of the government until February 8th. Open them
briefly. But open them it will, allowing workers to get paid, to get their back
pay. And it will allow us to then debate – without hostage-taking, without
temper tantrums, without anything – how we can best do border security, get
that done hopefully by February 8th, and keep the government open.
So if you’re looking
for a way to open up the government, this is the way. And I hope my Republican
colleagues, many of whom were circulating a letter that does basically the same
thing as this proposal without the disaster aid, to sign, to vote yes. The
American people are looking for a solution. I am glad we will have a vote that
will bring us near that solution, much closer to that solution. And that is the
second vote, which will open up the government and then allow us to debate
border security.
Again, I urge
enough of my Republican colleagues to join us Democrats in voting for that
proposal. It’s already passed the House. That could open up the government.
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