Cloture Motion

Floor Speech

Date: March 21, 2026
Location: Washington, DC


The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 49, nays 41, as follows: [Rollcall Vote No. 60 Leg.] YEAS--49 Banks Barrasso Blackburn Boozman Britt Budd Capito Cassidy Collins Cornyn Cotton Cramer Crapo Cruz Ernst Fischer Graham Grassley Hagerty Hawley Hoeven Husted Hyde-Smith Johnson Justice Kennedy Lankford Lee Lummis Marshall McConnell McCormick Moody Moran Moreno Mullin Murkowski Ricketts Risch Rounds Schmitt Scott (FL) Scott (SC) Sullivan Thune Tillis Tuberville Wicker Young NAYS--41 Alsobrooks Baldwin Bennet Blumenthal Blunt Rochester Booker Cantwell Cortez Masto Duckworth Gallego Gillibrand Hassan Heinrich Hickenlooper Hirono Kim King Klobuchar Lujan Markey Merkley Murphy Murray Ossoff Padilla Peters Reed Rosen Sanders Schatz Schiff Schumer Slotkin Smith Van Hollen Warner Warnock Warren Welch Whitehouse Wyden NOT VOTING--10 Coons Curtis Daines Durbin Fetterman Kaine Kelly Paul Shaheen Sheehy

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I have a motion today that asks every Senator a very simple question: Do you want TSA workers to get their pay--yes or no? Are you tired, like many Americans are, of seeing long lines at the airport--yes or no?

If Senators want to pay TSA workers and end the airport chaos, they should support my motion. Our TSA workers cannot be taken hostage for political games, but that is what Republicans have done.

It is unacceptable--unacceptable--to say we will only pay TSA workers if it is attached to a bill that funds ICE with no reforms, but that is what Republicans have done.

Democrats want to pay TSA workers ASAP, no strings attached. A ``yes'' vote on my motion would start doing just that. This is the only vote--the only vote, not the others--that the Senate has taken that will fund TSA--no ands, ifs, or buts.

This is the first time--the first time--the Senate holds a vote related to paying TSA workers that has zero strings attached to it. This is the only vote that says you are for supporting TSA families unconditionally. All the votes Republicans have pushed so far tie TSA paychecks to fully funding ICE without any reforms.

Republicans say: Sure, we will pay TSA, but only if you keep funding ICE agents without any guardrails whatsoever.

That is not acceptable to the American people.

So, today, my motion makes the matter very simple: Let's pay TSA workers ASAP. That is it--nothing else. We can keep negotiating ICE and CBP separately.

We are having some productive conversations on getting reforms to ICE, and Democrats are going to continue pushing for real, serious reforms through legislation. But that is an ongoing process that should not get in the way of funding our TSA workers.

So let's keep negotiating the outstanding issues with ICE while sending paychecks to TSA workers now. Let us end the long lines at the airports now. This is the logical, expedient, and correct thing to do.

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Mr. SCHUMER. You bet.

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Mr. SCHUMER. Would my colleague yield for a question?

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, this is the only vote available to us because you have filled the tree and not allowed an amendment like this here.

Would the Senator be willing to put this amendment to pay TSA immediately on the tree?

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Mr. SCHUMER. Is the tree full, Mr. Leader?

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Mr. SCHUMER. Like this past amendment was?

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, we are having productive discussions. I just met with our team 20 minutes ago. We are making some progress. There is more to be made. Each side has its own views.

But why hold pay for TSA workers up when we can do it immediately? Why wait? We don't know how long these negotiations will take. There are some pretty tough positions. We could do it now.

The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 41, nays 49, as follows: [Rollcall Vote No. 61 Leg.] YEAS--41 Alsobrooks Baldwin Bennet Blumenthal Blunt Rochester Booker Cantwell Cortez Masto Duckworth Gallego Gillibrand Hassan Heinrich Hickenlooper Hirono Kim King Klobuchar Lujan Markey Merkley Murphy Murray Ossoff Padilla Peters Reed Rosen Sanders Schatz Schiff Schumer Slotkin Smith Van Hollen Warner Warnock Warren Welch Whitehouse Wyden NAYS--49 Banks Barrasso Blackburn Boozman Britt Budd Capito Cassidy Collins Cornyn Cotton Cramer Crapo Cruz Ernst Fischer Graham Grassley Hagerty Hawley Hoeven Husted Hyde-Smith Johnson Justice Kennedy Lankford Lee Lummis Marshall McConnell McCormick Moody Moran Moreno Mullin Murkowski Ricketts Risch Rounds Schmitt Scott (FL) Scott (SC) Sullivan Thune Tillis Tuberville Wicker Young NOT VOTING--10 Coons Curtis Daines Durbin Fetterman Kaine Kelly Paul Shaheen Sheehy

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