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Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President yesterday, Democrats released our bill to extend government funding and meet the needs of the American people. The contrast between the Republican bill and the Democratic bill is glaring.

The Republican bill is more of the same failed status quo of Donald Trump's failed policies: more high costs, healthcare cuts, and premiums up.

Democrats have a different option. We address the crises Americans face in healthcare, in Medicaid, in inflation, and in higher costs.

The House is expected to vote on their partisan, status quo bill either later today or tomorrow. If the bill passes the House, the Senate should take up the issue immediately afterward. We could do it quickly so we don't interfere with anyone's travel plans to Arizona.

We would ask for limited debate and just two votes: the House status quo bill, which delays any sort of healthcare relief; and the Democratic alternative, which would lower healthcare costs for millions of Americans.

I urge Republican leaders to speed up these votes.

One of the oldest sayings in politics is from the great Abraham Lincoln. He said that ``public sentiment is everything.'' That is certainly true in this debate. The American people will look at what Republicans are doing and what Democrats are doing, and it will be clear that public sentiment is on our side.

Public sentiment will be on our side for at least three reasons:

First, the American people want both sides to work together. We have made it clear we want a bipartisan negotiation, but Republicans don't. The American people detest seeing Republicans being so intransigent. Republicans are governing like their view is the only view. That is, of course, not true. We are a split country, half and half. And to cut one half out entirely--no talk, no negotiation--is unacceptable for the American people. That won't win public sentiment in any way.

The second reason public sentiment is on our side: Americans are tired of the failed, chaotic, high-cost status quo, which decimates their healthcare, which raises their costs, and which Republicans are defending in their bill.

Tens of millions of people are going to lose coverage. Starting in October, millions will receive notices that their healthcare insurance premiums are going to go up $400, $500, $600--not a year; a month. The average working family can't afford that. Premiums are skyrocketing. Hospitals from Virginia to Nebraska, from Maine to California are shutting down now--not later. People won't be able to see a doctor or access affordable medication.

I met a woman whose daughter had cancer. She said to me that they depend on Medicaid for her recovery. What is she going to do? Wait? Delay? See what the Republicans want to do, if anything, when they haven't said they would do anything at all and they decimated healthcare themselves?

Now nursing homes are going to close down, and many, many American families are not going to know what to do about taking care of their elderly parents. They may not have room at home to have them move in, and even if they did, they can't give them the kind of healthcare their parents got in nursing homes. But nursing homes, one after the other, are going to close. They depend on Medicaid.

This is all chaos. This is suffering.

Medical research, which can cure cancer or Alzheimer's--millions are alive because we invested in medical research--cut it off? stifle it? don't send the money out for it? This is chaos. This is suffering.

These are the results of Donald Trump's policies, which the status quo, partisan Republican bill maintains, and Americans are tired of this status quo. All the data shows it. Even Leader Thune called the Republican bill status quo--the status quo option--on the floor yesterday.

America, do you want the status quo on healthcare? Leader Thune says his bill is status quo.

Today, I was amazed to hear that Leader Thune called our bill filthy. Is it filthy to provide healthcare for sick Americans? Is it filthy to prevent premiums from going up $400 or $500 a month? Is it filthy to prevent rural hospitals from closing? That is why Republicans are so out of touch. That is why.

The American people desperately want change. They don't think our country is headed in the right direction, and they need help in bringing healthcare costs down, providing better healthcare. They need help maintaining coverage. They need help for the essentials. The Republican status quo bill doesn't do any of this, but the Democratic bill does--the second reason that public sentiment is on our side, not theirs.

Finally and just as importantly, it is unacceptable that Donald Trump has told Republicans not to negotiate with Democrats, and Donald Trump is heading America toward a shutdown by not negotiating.

Look. Here is what he said. These are Trump's words, not mine. I will remind everybody of his words last week: ``Don't even bother'' to deal with Democrats. When Donald Trump says ``don't even bother'' to deal with Democrats, he says he wants a shutdown, plain and simple. And again, that is the last thing the American people want--a President who says: My way or the highway, and shut the government down if I don't get my way. That is what he said.

The public is on our side. The public is on our side. Public sentiment is everything. They don't like Republican partisanship, they don't like the status quo bill, and they certainly don't like Donald Trump refusing to even have Democrats be part of the decision.

He says he doesn't need us? Well, Donald Trump either doesn't know how to count or doesn't understand a modicum of Senate procedure, which most Americans do.

You need 60 votes, Mr. President, Donald Trump. You have 53. You need our votes. To say not to bother with us is saying you want a shutdown, plain and simple. The American people see that.

Finally, Leader Thune has spent a lot of time talking about the past. He has quoted me. I want to remind Leader Thune--I want to remind my Republican colleagues--when Democrats were in the majority and I was majority leader, every year, we did not see a shutdown. I was majority leader for 4 years--no shutdowns. Why? Because we sat down with the other side and negotiated. We knew that the majority had to work with the minority. Like now, we knew then we had to get 60 votes. And bipartisanship ruled the day. It had to if you wanted to avoid a shutdown.

Why is that not happening now? Well, frankly, Leader Jeffries and I were befuddled for about a month because in late July, we asked Thune and Johnson to sit down with us--late July. We heard nothing from them, crickets. We asked again in early September; nothing, crickets.

But now it has become clear why they wouldn't sit down with us. Here is the reason: Donald Trump. Donald Trump made it clear: ``Don't even bother'' dealing with the Democrats. Thune and Johnson listen to Trump. They are not independent actors. They don't represent an independent Congress, an independent House, or an independent Senate. And when Donald Trump says don't negotiate with Democrats, they don't and come up with 20 excuses why.

The single biggest reason that we are on the brink of a shutdown is Donald Trump's refusal to let Republicans even negotiate.

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