Government Shutdown

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Now, Mr. President, last night was a low point in the recent history of this Chamber. With the government shutdown only days away and a default crisis coming in a matter of weeks, the Senate was faced with a simple and urgent question: Shall the Members of this Chamber allow the Federal Government to pay its debt and stay open, or will its Members accelerate our country toward a shutdown and a first- ever default?

Yesterday, we got our answer. Republicans voted unanimously-- unanimously--to block legislation to keep the government open and prevent an unnecessary default on our debt.

Republicans are now the official party of default, the party that says America doesn't pay its debts; the party that runs up the balance on the credit card, receives an invoice in the mail, and sends the bill straight to the shredder.

No average family could get away with what the Republicans are trying to do; that is for sure. But Republicans here shrug their shoulders and say: We incurred the debt, but we don't have to pay it. Republicans would let the country default for the first time in history, and it will be the American people who pay the price.

Now, Republicans have said for weeks--for weeks--that the United States must never be allowed to default. They said the debt ceiling, of course, needed to be raised. They said to do so otherwise was to play with fire. But when given the chance to actually put the fire out, Republicans chose to spray it with gasoline instead. And now our country is staring down the barrel of two Republican-manufactured crises: a government shutdown and a default on the national debt.

But, fortunately, there is an easy way to stave off disaster. Last night, the Republican leader--I believe he did again this morning--last night and this morning, the Republican leader cited an example from the 2000s, during which Republicans held unified control of government and provided the votes to increase the debt limit. The Republican leader said that example was ``exactly the situation we are in now.''

What Leader McConnell conveniently left out is that back then, there was a consent agreement, requested by the Republican majority leader, that cleared the path for the Senate to vote to increase the debt limit at a majority threshold--only one party--allowing the minority party to vote no but also preventing a catastrophic default.

Let me be clear: I am still of the belief that addressing the debt limit, which includes debts incurred by both parties, should be done in a bipartisan way. But let's see if Leader McConnell truly wants what he is asking for, truly wants what he favorably looked upon as happening in the early 2000s to allow to happen again.

Later this afternoon, I will ask unanimous consent for the Senate to hold a vote to increase the debt limit at a majority threshold. In other words, we would get consent that you only need 50 votes, not 60, on this vote to increase the debt limit. And that is what happened in the past.

It would be very similar to the process that Leader McConnell cited yesterday, favorably, which allowed for the debt limit to be increased without the minority party providing any of the votes needed to do so.

So if Republicans want to abscond from their responsibilities, not vote to pay the debt they incurred, so be it. That is a bad thing. It is a bad precedent. But this is the way out. It is a way out. It is a straightforward proposition: If Republicans really want to see the debt ceiling raised without providing a single vote, I am prepared to hold that vote. I can't imagine the Republican leader would object to his own request--his own request.

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