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Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, this morning, the Senate Democratic caucus held leadership elections for the 119th Congress.

I am grateful, I am honored, I am humbled that my colleagues have again unanimously elected me to serve as their Democratic leader.

To my Democratic colleagues: Thank you for this opportunity. Thank you for extending to me your trust.

Serving as Democratic leader has been one of the greatest honors of my time in public office, as has been representing the people of New York. It has allowed me to learn more from my colleagues than I could have possibly dreamed of when I first took this job. And after 4 years of the most productive and consequential years the Senate has had in decades, it has galvanized my faith in this Chamber's ability to get big things done for the country because, wow, we got a lot done, even in times of division, especially when bipartisanship prevails, as it did with so many of our bills. Most of the major bills we passed were done in a bipartisan way.

Anyone who thinks in this Chamber that we should abandon bipartisanship is making a huge mistake. Whether it is CHIPS and Science or infrastructure or gun safety or helping the veterans, gay marriage--you name it--we did it in a bipartisan way.

I pledge to dedicate every ounce of my strength and focus and wit-- however much I have of that--to keep serving as leader dutifully the years ahead to help our caucus better serve the American people.

I want to say, Mr. President, that I love my caucus. They are just such a beautiful group of people. We don't all agree--from different parts of the country, different ages and philosophies and backgrounds-- but every one of my caucus Members loves his or her country. Every one of them has made huge sacrifices to be here. And every one of them strives for unity, and it is one of the reasons we have been so successful in my last 4 years as majority leader, because our caucus has been great.

I sent a little message to every Member of my caucus on Thanksgiving Day that I am thankful for them. It is a great group.

Congratulations, of course, to my fellow Democrats elected to serve on our caucus's leadership, as well. You can't do it all alone, and I am glad to count the Members of our leadership team--every Member of my caucus--as a friend, in addition to being your faithful colleague.

I would also like to thank our dear friend Senator Patty Murray, who for the last 2 years has served this Chamber and served the American people faithfully as President pro tempore of the Senate.

Everyone here knows no Senator can get through the day or even through the hour without incredible staff. I have an amazing staff led by Mike Lynch, who has been with me since I just about started leading our team in Washington, and Martin Brennan, who has also been with me since I just about started in New York. What an amazing group of dedicated people. I am blessed, truly blessed to have such a great staff. I thank them, each and every one for their dedication, their brilliance, their unflinching faith in our democracy.

I wish to thank all of the staff across the Senate who do our caucus's work. You are the unsung heroes of our democracy. Every one of our staffers labors hard. Just about everyone could go out and make more money, but they are dedicated to making this country a better place, to helping the working people of America. We are lucky and blessed to have such a great staff.

I want to send a particular thanks to the Senate floor staff. We weren't able to get this much done without them, particularly Gary Myrick and the miracle workers in the Cloakroom who make this Chamber come to life, as well as the members at the front desk. Thank you all.

We have more work to do in this Chamber before the year is out, and we will have to hit the ground running when 2025 arrives. The challenges of our country remain great. Our divisions still run very deep, but our task in this Chamber cannot and will not change. We are sent here to make life better for the American people. So thank you to all of my colleagues. Let the work continue.

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