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Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, it has become clear over the last few months that too much of the Republican Party has been taken over by MAGA Republicans, who are now dominating the party and Republicans in the Senate, moving the party away from things it has often stood for in the pest.

The contrast has become clear: Democrats, for instance, want to codify a woman's freedom to make decisions about her own body into Federal law, but MAGA Republicans want to take away women's rights by pushing national abortion bans, jailing women and doctors for carrying out abortions, and even pushing bans with no exception for rape or incest.

In the wake of the Buffalo shooting, MAGA Republicans continue embracing unhinged conspiracy theories like the ``great replacement,'' which has been a rallying cry for ultranationalists and White supremacists in Europe for years.

And all year long, while Democrats have been pushing solutions that will lower costs, MAGA Republicans and the chair of the Republican campaign arm openly support raising taxes on the poor and working families, while cheering on inflation as a ``gold mine.'' And those were Senator Scott's words, not mine. He called inflation a gold mine. Imagine.

MAGA Republicans are showing Americans exactly who they are. In an amazing happening this weekend, the Conservative Political Action Conference, the largest conservative organization in America, held their conference in Hungary and welcomed one of Europe's most notorious proponents of ``replacement theory,'' Viktor Orban, as their keynote speaker.

Again, the Conservative Political Action Conference, a very important organization in the new Republican MAGA party, had Viktor Orban as their keynote speaker, an autocrat, who has whittled away democracy in Hungary.

It is sickening--sickening--to see that 2 weeks after the shooting in Buffalo, Republicans as prominent as Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson, spoke at the same event as one of Europe's most prominent White nationalists and authoritarians. It is a scary and otherworldly turn for one of America's two parties to take.

I know not all Republicans embrace the views of MAGA Republicans. I know many of them support women's rights and embrace diversity and reject conspiracies like ``White replacement.''

I urge these Republicans in the Senate and the country to repudiate the MAGA wing taking over the GOP. I invite the voters to support Democratic candidates as a protest against extremism so we as a nation can halt the dangerous rise of the hard right.

This week, all of us in the Senate will have a chance to take a stand against extremism by voting to begin debate on the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act.

For the information of all, I will take the first procedural step on this legislation later today, and Members can expect to vote on Thursday on this bill that will crack down on domestic terrorism and extremism.

As far as legislation goes, this bill is as much of a no-brainer as it comes. Two years ago, when Donald Trump was President, the House passed this bill unanimously. Every single Republican was for the bill. But in a sign of how radicalized the GOP has become, nearly every single House Republican opposed it last week, despite one Morning Consult poll that showed that a majority of Republicans and Republican voters support these commonsense measures.

Let me say it again. According to one Morning Consult poll, a majority of Republican voters support cracking down on domestic terrorism. Yet, nevertheless, every single House Republican voted against this bill last week.

If you wanted some proof that the MAGA wing of the Republican Party is taking over the whole party, there it is.

I hope that, given everything happening across the country right now, Senate Republicans will act differently and support this bill.

Let me be clear, Democrats' goal is to pass this bill, just as it is with all bills we bring to the Senate floor. But if Republicans keep going down their extremist, obstructionist path, then this vote will still allow the American people to hold their elected representatives accountable.

Not long ago, views like ``replacement theory'' were relegated to the fringes of American society, shared primarily by twisted minds on online message boards. But today, White supremacy, which has been with us for decades and centuries, is now out in the open, and proponents speak about it unabashedly and unashamedly.

Many were shocked in 2017, when, out in the open, thousands of White supremacists marched at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville and chanted: ``You will not replace us.''

It was out in the open on January 6, as insurrectionists waved Confederate flags through the hallways of this Capitol--the first time that ever occurred in American history.

It is out in the open every time Donald Trump holds a MAGA rally and blames undocumented immigrants for stealing the 2020 election.

And it is out in the open on cable news networks like FOX, where Tucker Carlson has spread ``replacement theory'' in over 400 episodes, and other commentators join in.

To be sure, the extremism of MAGA Republicans is hardly limited to their embrace of ridiculous conspiracy theories. Across the country, the hard right is also hell-bent on turning back the clock on women's rights by 100 years, pushing restrictions on abortions that are wildly outside the mainstream.

Whether it is a national ban on abortions, which Leader McConnell acknowledges is possible if Republicans win the Senate, or the prosecution of women who pursue abortions, or even banning businesses that help employees access abortions out of State, MAGA Republicans are openly championing restrictions that would have been career-enders just a few years ago but are now part of GOP canon. We cannot ignore who suffers most under these radical restrictions: women of color, low- income families, families who live in deeply gerrymandered States, where their views have all been but silenced.

This is what MAGA Republicans clamor for: a world ruled by conspiracy theories, national abortion bans, and the greatest curtailing of individual rights in 50 years; a world where immigrants and communities of color are considered ``replacers''; where women are considered second-class citizens and are told what to do with their bodies; where White supremacy is tolerated or even embraced; and where our democracy erodes in favor of autocracy.

Imagine again Orban, the leading autocrat of Europe, being the lead speaker at CPAC, with President Trump and other major Republicans participating. Who would think we would see that day? Who would think?

We cannot let these views become accepted or even become the norm in the United States. This week, we can take one step of many in helping silence the voices of White supremacy, the voices of domestic terrorism.

So I implore my Republican colleagues: If you reject the dangers of White supremacy and views like ``White replacement,'' you should vote in favor of moving forward to begin debate on this domestic terrorism bill.

This is a test. This is about accountability. Republican Senators, do you reject the views of MAGA Republicans? Do you reject White supremacy and ``replacement theory''?

Taking a stand against domestic terrorism and White supremacy should be the easiest thing in the world. If Republicans can't join us on something as simple as that, Americans will see, with even greater clarity, how radical the GOP has become under Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans.

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