Providing for Congressional Disapproval Under Chapter 8 of Title United States Code, of the Rule Submitted By the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Relating to ``Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Fuel System Integrity of Hydrogen Vehicles; Compressed Hydrogen Storage System Integrity; Incorporation By Reference''

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I am a sponsor, along with Senator Markey, our lead sponsor, and Senator Hirono, for the Small Business Liberation Act. In a few minutes, Senator Markey will come to the floor and ask unanimous consent to pass it, but I wanted to say a few words in advance of his coming.

Senate Democrats today will try to pass the Small Business Liberation Act to exempt small businesses from Trump's destructive trade war. I am very proud to cosponsor and support this legislation that Senator Markey has sponsored.

Two months since Donald Trump's so-called ``Liberation Day,'' his tariffs have been economic arson on Main Street, and small businesses are getting scorched.

I have visited small businesses from one end of New York to the other, and these tariffs are sowing chaos. They are raising costs, smashing supply chains, forcing businesses to hike prices, lay off people, and even close their doors for good. Already, employment of the smallest of small businesses has declined by 3 percent, and last month alone, 65,000 small business jobs were wiped out.

Trump's 90-day pause does nothing to bring relief or certainty to small business but only continues the uncertainty and chaos. How can a small business possibly plan for the future when the future only shows chaos? One day Donald Trump says this, the next day he says that, and nobody knows what tomorrow brings.

These small businesses can't do anything about their pain. They don't have the ear of the President like the mega corporation CEOs do. The administration is utterly clueless about the pain they are creating for small business.

Our legislation will help small businesses get back on track by exempting them from Trump's destructive tariffs. There are almost 35 million small businesses in the United States that employ roughly half of the private sector jobs in the country. Providing these businesses with tariff relief shouldn't be partisan. It is a national priority.

If Republicans clearly care and truly care about protecting small business, they should not stand in the way of our legislation passing today.

Will they side with the American people and small business and help pass our legislation or will Republicans block this bill and side with Donald Trump as his trade war decimates small businesses from one end of the country to the other?

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, earlier today, the Defense Department announced that the United States has formally accepted a luxury 747 jetliner as a gift from Qatar to be used as Air Force One. It is the largest foreign gift to an American President in modern history--one Donald Trump says will go to his Presidential library after his term.

This gift is outrageous. Donald Trump will berate companies to ``eat his tariffs'' and tell parents to pay yet more for groceries but is accepting a luxury plane he can use as Air Force One.

This gift screams ``national security risk.'' It is bribery in broad daylight. Donald Trump is thumbing his nose at Republicans and practically daring them to stop him.

Well, today, the Senate can. In a few moments, I will move for swift passage of the Presidential Airlift Security Act, prohibiting the use of any foreign plane to be utilized as Air Force One.

Specifically, my legislation would prohibit even a single taxpayer dollar from being used by the Department of Defense to procure, modify, retrofit, or maintain any foreign aircraft for the purposes of transporting a U.S. President. This is about ensuring our national security and about not wasting taxpayer dollars on an utterly senseless deal.

It should not take an act of Congress to stop the President of the United States from accepting the largest foreign bribe in modern history, but apparently Donald Trump is perfectly willing to sell out the American people and the Presidency to fill his own pockets.

Senate Republicans who say they are troubled by the idea of using a foreign plane as Air Force One should join me in supporting this very commonsense bill. Donald Trump accepting this gift reeks of corruption and naked self-enrichment, and Republicans should stand up and support my bill, defend national security, and protect Americans.

1804 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I want to be very clear about what is about to happen tonight, here on the floor of the Senate.

Tonight, in order to do the bidding of the fossil fuel industry, Republicans will erode away at the Senate and undermine this institution they claim to care about.

By weaponizing the CRA, Republicans tonight cross a point of no return for the Senate, expanding what this Chamber can do at a majority threshold--this from the very party that professes to care about the rules and norms and precedents of this institution.

To override the Parliamentarian and to use the CRA in the way that Republicans propose is going nuclear--no ifs, no ands, no buts. It is going nuclear.

Don't take my word for it. This comes from Leader Thune himself. He was asked a few months ago about this very scenario of overriding the Parliamentarian, and he said this:

Yeah, and that's totally akin to killing the filibuster. We can't go there. People need to understand that.

But, unfortunately, we are going there, it seems. And, just yesterday, he admitted that this step could ``create precedent for the future.''

So, apparently, when the rules suit the Republicans, they will preach about protecting them. But now that the rules are inconvenient, when they stand in the way of their ideological goals, Republicans will say: Away with them.

Make no mistake, this is not a narrow assertion of congressional authority, as the other side claims. This is an aggressive, new precedent. Moving forward, Congressional Review Acts will likely be weaponized to bold new levels.

Today, it is all about California emission waivers, but tomorrow the CRA could now be used to erase any policy from an Agency that the Trump administration doesn't like, at a simple majority threshold. They could eliminate healthcare innovation waivers that assist patients on Medicaid and the ACA, at a simple majority threshold. They could use CRAs to make it harder to form a union, at a simple majority threshold. They could go after Agency actions that protect access to reproductive care, like making it harder to access the medication mifepristone. All of this and more can now be done, at a simple majority threshold, with an expanded CRA.

This, in other words, is a backdoor strategy for Republicans to make Project 2025 a reality. It is the legislative branch ceding its authority over to the Executive, which will now slap the ``CRA'' label on a whole host of policies and get Congress to rubberstamp their appeals.

Republicans should tread very carefully today. What goes around comes around.

If Republicans are willing to overrule the Parliamentarian and hijack the CRA in a way it has never been used before, they will not like it during this session of Congress and, certainly, next time, when they are in the minority.

So this is a sad, shameful, disappointing day for the U.S. Senate. Republicans, I am certain, will come to regret the ill-considered step they take tonight. Parliamentary Inquiry

Now, I have a parliamentary inquiry.

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Mr. SCHUMER. Is the Chair familiar with section 802(d)(1) of the Congressional Review Act, which states that ``all points of order against the joint resolution (and against consideration of the joint resolution) are waived''?

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Mr. SCHUMER. Thank you, Madame Chair, you made the case that this is nuclear.

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Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, is it true--parliamentary inquiry, Madam President.

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Mr. SCHUMER. Yes. I just want to--I hope our leader will listen because it is exactly clear, and I want to repeat what we had said yesterday.

Is it true what you said yesterday: that the Parliamentarian advised leadership offices that the joint resolution of disapproval regarding the California waivers at issue do not qualify--do not qualify--for expedited consideration under the Congressional Review Act?

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Mr. SCHUMER. Thank you. It shows we are going nuclear, no matter what the leader says.
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Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I raise a point of order that points of order are not in order under section 802 (d)(1) of the Congressional Review Act.

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Mr. SCHUMER. I appeal the ruling of the Chair.

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I move to recess for 90 minutes, and I ask for the yeas and nays. Vote on Motion

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I move to recess for 60 minutes, and I ask for the yeas and nays. Vote on Motion

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Mr. SCHUMER. I move to recess for 30 minutes, and I ask for the yeas and nays. Vote on Motion

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I move to recess for 15 minutes, and I ask for the yeas and nays. Vote on Motion

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I move to recess for 10 minutes, and I ask for the yeas and nays. Vote on Motion

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I move that the Senate adjourn, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

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Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, on this vote, the Republicans will be breaking their commitment and will be going nuclear. And however they try to disguise their actions, this is nuclear--no ands, ifs, or buts.

Tonight, Senate Republicans expose themselves as fair weather institutionalists by overriding the Parliamentarian, which the Chair explicitly noted that the Parliamentarian has been overridden. And in order to do the bidding of the fossil fuel industry, Republicans have eroded away at the Senate foundation and undermined this institution they claim to care about.

Make no mistake, Republicans have set a new precedent that will come back to haunt them and haunt this Chamber. What goes around comes around.

If Republicans are willing to overrule the Parliamentarian and highjack the CRA in a way that has never been used before, they will not like it next time they are in the minority.

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