Schumer to GOP: Sit Down And Work Together to Come Up with New, Mainstream SCOTUS Nominee, Avoid Nuclear Option Crisis
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer this morning appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press, offering Senate Republicans a proposal to avoid changing the rules of the Senate in order to confirm President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Neil Gorsuch: let’s sit down, work together, and produce a mainstream nominee. Below is a transcript of his offer:
Democratic Leader Schumer: “Let me make a proposal to make break this problem -- to maybe break this problem that we have, okay? It looks like Gorsuch will not reach the 60 vote margin. So instead of changing the rules, which is up to Mitch McConnell and the Republican majority, why doesn't President Trump, Democrats and Republicans in the Senate sit down and try to come up with a mainstream nominee? Look, when a nominee doesn't get 60 votes, you shouldn't change the rules. You should change the nominee, and let's just -- give me one minute here because this is important. Let's look at the history, okay? Our nominee was Merrick Garland. Mitch McConnell broke 230 years of precedent and didn't call him up for a vote. It wasn't in the middle of an election campaign; it was March. Second, then, now we -- looks like we have the 60 -- the votes to prevent Gorsuch from getting on. Now, that doesn't mean you have to change the rules. Each side didn't get their nominee. Let's sit down and come together. Our Republican friends are acting like, you know, they're a cat on the top of a tree, and they think they have to jump off with all of the damage that entails. Come back off the tree, sit down, and work with us, and we'll produce a mainstream nominee.”
