Schumer, Pelosi Remarks Responding to Presidential Address on Trump Shutdown
Washington, D.C. – Tonight, Senate
Democratic Leader Schumer and Speaker Pelosi will respond to President Trump’s
address. Democrats will offer solutions to reopen government, secure the
border and honor our values. Below are the remarks as prepared:
Speaker Pelosi. Good evening.
I appreciate the opportunity to speak directly to the American people
tonight about how we can end this shutdown and meet the needs of the American
people.
Sadly,
much of what we have heard from President Trump throughout this senseless shutdown
has been full of misinformation and even malice.
The
President has chosen fear. We want to start with the facts.
The fact
is: On the very first day of this Congress, House Democrats passed Senate
Republican legislation to re-open government and fund smart, effective border
security solutions.
But the
President is rejecting these bipartisan bills which would re-open
government – over his obsession with forcing American taxpayers to waste
billions of dollars on an expensive and ineffective wall – a wall he always
promised Mexico would pay for!
The fact
is: President Trump has chosen to hold hostage critical services for the
health, safety and well-being of the American people and withhold the paychecks
of 800,000 innocent workers across the nation – many of them veterans.
He
promised to keep government shutdown for ‘months or years’ – no matter whom it
hurts. That’s just plain wrong.
The fact
is: We all agree that we need to secure our borders, while honoring our values:
we can build the infrastructure and roads at our ports of entry; we can install
new technology to scan cars and trucks for drugs coming into our nation; we can
hire the personnel we need to facilitate trade and immigration at the border;
and we can fund more innovation to detect unauthorized crossings.
The fact
is: the women and children at the border are not a security threat, they are a
humanitarian challenge – a challenge that President Trump’s own cruel and
counterproductive policies have only deepened.
And the
fact is: President Trump must stop holding the American people hostage, must
stop manufacturing a crisis, and must re-open the government.
Thank
you.
Senator Schumer. Thank you, Speaker
Pelosi.
My fellow
Americans, we address you tonight for one reason only: the President of the
United States – having failed to get Mexico to pay for his ineffective,
unnecessary border wall, and unable to convince the Congress or the American
people to foot the bill – has shut down the government.
American
democracy doesn’t work that way. We don’t govern by temper tantrum.
No president should pound the table and demand he gets his way or else
the government shuts down, hurting millions of Americans who are treated as
leverage.
Tonight –
and throughout this debate and his presidency – President Trump has appealed to
fear, not facts. Division, not unity.
Make no
mistake: Democrats and the President both want stronger border security.
However, we sharply disagree with the President about the most effective
way to do it.
So, how
do we untangle this mess?
There is
an obvious solution: separate the shutdown from the arguments over border
security. There is bipartisan legislation – supported by Democrats and
Republicans – to re-open government while allowing debate over border security
to continue.
There is
no excuse for hurting millions of Americans over a policy difference.
Federal workers are about to miss a paycheck. Some families can’t
get a mortgage to buy a new home. Farmers and small businesses won’t get
loans they desperately need.
Most
presidents have used Oval Office addresses for noble purposes. This
president just used the backdrop of the Oval Office to manufacture a crisis,
stoke fear, and divert attention from the turmoil in his Administration.
My fellow
Americans, there is no challenge so great that our nation cannot rise to meet
it. We can re-open the government AND continue to work through
disagreements about policy. We can secure our border without an
expensive, ineffective wall. And we can welcome legal immigrants and refugees
without compromising safety and security.
The
symbol of America should be the Statue of Liberty, not a thirty-foot wall.
So our
suggestion is a simple one: Mr. President: re-open the
government and we can work to resolve our differences over border security.
But end this shutdown now.
Thank
you.
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