Cloture Motion

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I just want everyone here and in the country to understand what our Republican colleagues just did.

For the third time this year, Republicans just resorted to the so- called nuclear option in the Senate, weakening the Senate even further and turning this Chamber into a conveyor belt for unqualified Trump nominees--a conveyor belt for unqualified Trump nominees.

Make no mistake. This move by Republicans was not so much about ending obstruction, as they claim; rather, it was another act of genuflection to the executive branch.

Democrats have shown very clearly we are willing to negotiate. We did that at the end of the last work period. We were doing it today. But what Republicans have done is chip away at the Senate even more to give Donald Trump more power and to rubberstamp whomever he wants, whenever he wants them, no questions asked. That is not the Senate's job.

We are supposed to debate and take votes on nominees, especially when the executive branch is grossly breaking norms by sending us woefully unqualified, unscrupulous, and, in some cases, deeply dishonest individuals for powerful and important positions.

By going nuclear today, Republicans are saying: We don't want to do our jobs. They are saying: Whatever Trump wants, we will do it.

Make no mistake. Because of the harmful step Republicans took today, the historically bad nominees Donald Trump has sent to the Senate all year long will get even worse.

Republicans now own even more than they had before: the terrible nominees who are about to sail through this Chamber, the special interests will get even richer, and the American people will be the ones who are hurt the most.

This is a sad, regrettable day for the Senate, and I believe it won't take very long for Republicans to wish they had not pushed the Chamber further down this awful road.

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