Government Funding

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, with only 4 days remaining until a lapse in government funding, Democrats still have not heard back from President Trump about whether he is willing to accept either of our offers to keep the government funded. For that matter, Republicans in Congress--both the House and Senate--have been almost entirely silent about what plan they might support to avoid a shutdown. They say that they want to avoid a shutdown, but our Republicans in the House and Senate have no plan. Senate Republicans were telling reporters they had no idea what the White House's plan was or even if it had one.

Let me remind my Republican colleagues and President Trump that Democrats have put two reasonable ways to avoid a shutdown on the table: the six appropriations bills plus a 1-year CR for homeland security or a CR for all seven bills to fund the government.

Neither proposal contains a single Democratic demand. No Democrat is pounding a fist on the table, saying that we have to shut down the government unless we get our way--the way President Trump is. We only want to fund the government. If President Trump were to accept either proposal, it would sail through the House and Senate, and we could conclude the Nation's business before the Christmas holiday.

The only proposal that cannot pass is the President's demand for an unnecessary, ineffective, exorbitantly expensive border wall. So if President Trump throws a temper tantrum and clings to his position on the wall, he will not get a wall, but he will cause a Trump shutdown over Christmas.

With only a few days to go until appropriations lapse on Friday at midnight, President Trump needs to come out of hiding and accept one of our proposals to keep the government open. Either will get a majority of votes on the floor of the House and the Senate

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source