Business Before the Senate

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, we have a busy day in store for the Senate as we aim to hold a number of important votes before the start of Yom Kippur.

Today, we will vote to advance four Presidential nominations. First, we will confirm James Kvaal to be Under Secretary of Education, and we will also confirm both David Estudillo and Angel Kelley to serve as district judges in Washington and Massachusetts, respectively.

This afternoon, we will also advance the nomination of Ms. Veronica Rossman of Colorado, who has been nominated by President Biden to sit on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. Ms. Rossman has spent practically her entire legal career in public service as a Federal defender, giving a voice in the courtroom to those who often cannot afford legal representation.

She is also an immigrant, who fled Russia with her parents as a child after her family endured anti-Semitic persecution in their home country. She understands personally the damage faced by those who endure discrimination.

If confirmed, Ms. Rossman would be the only Federal defender to sit on the Tenth Circuit, and one of the few in the entire country. I am proud to have nominated Eunice Lee to the Second Circuit Court of New York. She, too, has been a Federal defender.

We also have plenty of prosecutors and corporate lawyers wearing black robes.

Like so many other of President Biden's judicial nominees, Ms. Rossman is going to bring a sorely needed perspective to our courts. The more we work to make our courts reflective of the diversity of this country, both demographic and professionally, the more we will strengthen the public's trust in our judicial system.

Now, secondly, today, the Senate Democrats will also continue work to turn President Biden's Build Back Better agenda into law. It bears repeating: This is a historic effort. This is not just another simple piece of legislation. We are laying a foundation for another century of American prosperity. Just like the Great Society and the New Deal before it, our legislation will bring transformational change to help build ladders so that those can climb up into the middle class, while making it easier for those already in the middle class to enjoy that middle class life and stay there. Too many in the middle class worry they are going to slip out with all the changes occurring in our society. We strengthen their ability to stay.

And too many who are trying to climb those ladders find the ladders steep and unavailable. We are providing those ladders so they can get there, too. It is strong, bold, important legislation, and it is really a privilege to be here in the Senate and consider something as strong and bold as this.

Later today, our caucus will discuss the latest elements of the reconciliation bill. Working with our colleagues in the House, we will have met the target date of September 15 set in the budget resolution for producing text to review.

I expect our committee chairs will provide an overview of all the work that each of their committees have done over the last 4 weeks in drafting legislative text, and the entire caucus will have the chance to offer feedback so we can continue to move this process forward.

This will continue to be a collaborative process. Everyone-- everyone--is going to have input into this legislation. But, of course, our unity is our strength, and if we are not unified with 50 votes, we can't get anything done. So we all must come together.

Now, I am pleased to say, after working for weeks over the summer on our reconciliation bill, we are making great progress toward bringing the bill to the floor.

Now, while Democrats are fighting to strengthen the middle class, our Republican colleagues, unfortunately, are resorting to the same, tired, predictable objections they raise about practically any Democratic proposal. Rather than explain why they oppose supporting families or expanding healthcare or taking action on climate change, they spent the last several months recycling old accusations about ``liberal wish lists.'' And rather than engage our policies on the merits and have a real debate, too often they raised unwarranted and incorrect points about how these programs will impact inflation.

I remind my colleagues of a report released not long ago by the chief economist at Moody's Analytics, Mr. Mark Zandi. When Mr. Zandi examined the Democrats' two main legislative proposals, our infrastructure bill and our Build Back Better legislation, he concluded these packages would provide a massive boost to our economy. Specifically, he said our program would ``lift the economy's longer-term growth potential'' and would ``lift productivity and labor force growth''; that is, our proposal will do exactly what we said it would do, according to this impartial arbiter, Mark Zandi.

And as for the Republicans' overheated rhetoric on inflation, Mr. Zandi dismisses such concerns as ``overdone'' and said our two infrastructure bills are designed to ``ease''--his words--inflation pressures.

Let me repeat that. According to Moody's top economist--hardly a fervent liberal--the Democratic proposals would actually ease inflation pressures, not raise them.

When you strengthen worker productivity, when you increase supply chains, the push to inflation decreases--decreases. And he also said that, in the long term, it would help grow our economy so that more Americans can get to and stay in the middle class.

Compare that to the signature accomplishments that Senate Republicans forced when they were in charge: a massive tax break for corporations and the wealthy that did little to help everyday Americans.

That is the difference between a Democratic majority and a Republican one. We are fighting to strengthen American workers and American families. Republicans seem only worried about protecting those at the very top.

And, in addition, to those with inflationary concerns, we are going to pay for our proposal. The Trump tax cuts, which every Republican voted for, created a $2 trillion deficit.

So let's be realistic here. Let's be honest here. The charges of runaway inflation are just wrong, especially when you consider we are paying for it, when Republicans were so willing to give tax cuts to the rich without paying for them at all.

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