State of the Union Address

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Tonight, President Biden will come before a joint session of Congress and deliver his State of the Union to the American people. It is a chance for all of us to hear directly from the Commander in Chief about the tremendous progress we have made as a nation, the challenges we have overcome in recent years, and how Democrats are keeping our promises to make the lives of the American people better.

I expect the President will make the case clearly and convincingly that today the United States is far better off than it was a year ago. Inflation is coming down; wages are going up; gas prices have eased at last; unemployment is near record lows; and the pandemic, after causing so much suffering, so much destruction, no longer dominates our lives. Our work is not finished, but today we can confidently say America is headed in the right direction thanks to President Biden's leadership and thanks to the work of a strong, unified Democratic Party in Congress.

As Americans listen to President Biden, I am confident they will see the glaring contrast between Democratic unity on the one hand and Republican chaos on the other. Democrats remain laser-focused on delivering our people-first agenda. Every bill Democrats passed last Congress was written with average Americans in mind, from the American Rescue Plan to the infrastructure bill, to the Inflation Reduction Act, to gun safety, marriage equality, and so, so much more.

Let's just take one example out of many. It is an important example but just one. Senate Democrats worked very hard to deliver a $35 insulin cap for every American on Medicare, but, of course, we want to go further. We tried to get it for everybody before reconciliation, but the reconciliation bill only allowed us to pass, in the IRA, an insulin cap for some Americans. When an amendment was offered to add everybody in, unfortunately we did not get enough Republicans to vote for it. But this idea deserves new life and bipartisan cooperation in this Congress, and I look forward to hearing more from the President tonight.

Very soon, Americans are going to feel the benefits of our agenda in their daily lives. Implementation is going to be a top priority for Senate Democrats in the months to come. Not everyone has the time to follow what happens in Congress day by day, but when we actually start doing things, implementing the bills, oh, it gets out.

Just look at my home State of New York. After we passed infrastructure, many people didn't hear about it. To others, it was a line in the newspaper--oh, they have a bipartisan infrastructure bill. But last week, when the President came to New York to celebrate Gateway, you could feel the exaltation and excitement in the city. That is going to start happening again and again everywhere, in every State, in every community, as these large bills that helped American families are implemented and people see the actual results in their communities.

So let me say it again. Democrats are proud we stuck together and delivered on an agenda that lowered costs, lifted America out of crisis, and helped lay a foundation for future prosperity. Our MAGA Republicans cannot claim the same. On the very first day in the new majority, House Republicans passed a bill not to help average Americans but, rather, that helps the ultrarich so they can avoid paying their fair share in taxes. The bottom line is, these people who are going to be added to the IRS are going to focus on all of those who are much richer than the average American but pay at a much lower rate. But the Republicans couldn't go for that. Those are the people they want to represent. Then they hardly stopped there. In just 1 month, the MAGA House majority has doubled down on their war on women, tripled down on their asinine national sales tax proposal, and Republicans continue to hold the full faith and credit of the United States hostage to their radical agenda.

In the coming months, nothing will require more cooperation and serious-mindedness than lifting the debt ceiling. I was glad to work with both Presidents Biden and Trump to lift the debt ceiling over the past couple of years. We did it without political blackmail, without brinkmanship. But Speaker McCarthy and many of his House MAGA Republicans are taking the debt ceiling hostage and basically saying: Our way or the highway. Agree to cuts or we won't lift the debt ceiling.

That is not going to work, plain and simple. History shows that those who try to threaten their way to an agreement end up losing.

If Speaker McCarthy is insistent on spending cuts, which we Democrats will strongly oppose, he has an obligation to take the next step and actually say what those cuts are for. We will oppose tying the debt ceiling to these types of cuts. The debt ceiling is debts we have already incurred and should be paid without brinkmanship, without adding things to the agenda, which risks a great deal for the American people.

So what are the Republicans asking for? They say they want cuts. What are they? Are Republicans going to ax Social Security or Medicare? We think it is not enough for the Speaker to just say he doesn't want to make those cuts, because Members of his own party, including some of the very MAGA Republicans he followed in the first week of his session, are saying otherwise, and they have shown--some of them--that they can get their way in the new majority. Speaker McCarthy needs to prove he won't cut Social Security and Medicare by showing us the plan, his plan.

What about funding for national defense? Our military just shot down the Chinese spy balloon. Are Republicans seriously thinking about cutting defense on some bogus claims of fighting a ``woke agenda''? What the heck does that mean?

Republicans, show us the specific cuts. Show us the plan.

What about families and children who rely on nutrition aid? The chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee recently said they are still looking at cuts to SNAP benefits at a time when children are hungry and groceries are far too expensive. This is from the party that cut taxes for billionaires and mega corporations back in 2017. If making sure hungry children have enough to eat is part of the ``woke agenda,'' then we sure don't have the same definition.

Look, I know it is not easy for this new majority. The 20 or so extremists who dictated the House rules package can now thwart whatever proposal the Speaker wants to come up with if they feel the cuts don't go far enough. So I am gravely concerned that things will be very, very hard for the Speaker to manage, if he can come up with a plan at all.

All this brings us back to what Democrats have been insisting on from the very beginning: No brinkmanship. No hostage-taking. Let's lift the debt ceiling together. Let's pay the debts that Democrats and Republicans, including Donald Trump, already incurred without ultimatums.

Tonight, I expect the President will make this very clear to the American people, and it will be the responsibility of House Republicans to show that they take the debt ceiling seriously before they create an unprecedented crisis that will wreak havoc on every single American.

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