Infrastructure

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, finally, on infrastructure, as the impeachment inquiry continues, the Democrats in both Chambers continue to do the work of the American people. Just last week, my colleagues in the House discussed a proposal for a very significant investment in infrastructure. At the very beginning of the Trump administration, the Senate Democrats proposed a trillion-dollar infrastructure plan that would create 15 million jobs.

At our meeting at the White House, I mentioned this to President Trump and asked him to join us in either supporting our bill or in working to modify it in a way that he might be able to support it. At the time, after promising over and over again in his campaign that he would pursue a major overhaul of our Nation's infrastructure, we had hoped President Trump would have worked with us on specific legislation. Unfortunately and typically, after 3 years into the Trump administration, instead of working with the Democrats, President Trump has done next to nothing. Earlier this year, the President walked out of a meeting on infrastructure that was held between him, Speaker Pelosi, me, and some other Congressmen and Senators. We haven't heard from him on the issue since.

Meanwhile, Leader McConnell has turned the Senate into a legislative graveyard and seems uninterested in any bipartisan, bicameral legislation. It is so typical of this administration--of President Trump. He campaigns on infrastructure and has commercials running right now that say the Democrats are not doing anything on infrastructure when he is the one who is doing nothing. He has an amazing penchant for looking at his own faults and then of pointing the finger at others and saying those faults are theirs. It is glaring on infrastructure.

The idea that the House impeachment inquiry is some sort of distraction from other issues is plain wrong.

President Trump, we are doing nothing here in the Senate. Come talk to us about infrastructure, and we can get something done.

The Democrats in the House and the Democrats in the Senate are willing to work with our Republican colleagues right now. We have over 200 House-passed bills we could consider here on the floor and have plenty of bipartisan Senate bills besides--from bills to lower the cost of prescription drugs to election security, to the Violence Against Women Act. We would like to work on a large infrastructure bill as well. It is entirely up to President Trump and Leader McConnell to decide if we are going to make progress on a topic like infrastructure or if the Senate, under McConnell's leadership, will continue to be a graveyard for commonsense ideas to help so many millions of Americans.

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