Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Democrats’ Decisive Election Victories And The Need For Republicans To Negotiate To Reopen The Government And Prevent A Healthcare Crisis

Washington, D.C. - Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on the decisive election night victories that Democrats had nationwide yesterday, urging Republicans to work with Democrats to extend the ACA tax credits and reopen the government. Below are Senator Schumer's remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Last night was a great night for America and a five-alarm fire for Donald Trump and Republicans.

The Republicans' high-cost house is on fire, and they've only got themselves to blame. As loudly and clearly as they could have, the American people last night said enough is enough.

Enough with Donald Trump's tariffs, which are overwhelmingly being paid for by working people and small businesses. Enough with Republicans' relentless attack on healthcare, where people are seeing their premiums go up by thousands of dollars, even each month, and they may have to be without healthcare altogether.

Last night was a sign that if Republicans continue with their failed policies, their majorities are at risk, including here in this Senate chamber. The election showed that Democrat control of the Senate is much closer than people and prognosticators realize.

So let me say again: Republicans' high-cost house is on fire, and they've only got themselves to blame.

And by the way, that's not my opinion-it's Donald Trump's opinion. Last night he said that the shutdown is a negative factor for the Republicans. When addressing why he had lost, this is what Trump said: "The shutdown was a big factor, negative for the Republicans." And let me read what Trump said last night. He said, this is Donald Trump speaking:

"Trump wasn't on the ballot, and shutdown, were the two reasons that Republicans lost election tonight." That's what Trump said. Trump admits that the Republican shutdown is hurting him and his party.

The president is right: Americans realize Republicans are responsible for this awful shutdown, now the longest officially in history. What a shameless milestone. Donald Trump has now presided over the longest and second longest shutdowns ever, and he only has himself to blame.

When Leader Jeffries and I met with Donald Trump in the Oval Office last month, we warned him that this would happen.

We warned the president of the consequences of ignoring Democrats, ignoring the American people, and ignoring the healthcare crisis. We warned the president that ignoring Democrats and insisting on zero negotiation was a recipe for disaster and would come back to haunt him.

Well, Republicans shouldn't ignore us anymore, for their own good and for the country's good. So this morning, Leader Jeffries and I once again demanded a meeting with the president. It is time to sit down and negotiate with Democrats to bring this Republican shutdown to an end, we told the president. We have been asking for a meeting for weeks, and even months. But now the election results ought to send a much-needed bolt of lightning to Donald Trump that he should meet with us to end this crisis and his shutdown, which he admits, hurt him badly in the election.

It is time to hold a bipartisan meeting of legislative leaders to reopen the government. It is time to fix the ACA premium emergency that is now upon us. And Democrats are ready to meet, anytime, anywhere, anyplace. Donald Trump ignores us at his own political peril.

Because the takeaway from last night was simply unmistakable: Democrats swept in states last night across the country, red and blue alike. Democrats won overwhelmingly, by more than anyone thought, in New Jersey, Virginia, and in Mississippi. Democrats won in New York, in Pennsylvania, and in Georgia. Democrats won in statewide races. But it went deeper than that-we won in local races too: mayoral races, state Supreme Court races, ballot measures, and even historic swings in the Georgia Public Service Commission, where two democrats were elected statewide, I believe.

Why did Democrats do so well? Because Americans are fed up with Republicans shooting their costs through the roof, particularly on healthcare, on tariffs, and on their electric bills. And Americans saw that Democrats are the ones fighting for them, fighting for lower healthcare costs, fighting for working families.

And while all of this is happening, what is Donald Trump doing? Depriving hungry Ameircans of their SNAP benefits, telling hungry children that we're going to cut off your food and use you as a pawn in this shutdown that the Republicans have caused. He's telling the elderly, who depend on that SNAP money to adequately feed themselves, to heck with you. He's telling a veteran, who has PTSD, or a worker who is unemployed, that we're not going to give you food. How callous, how cruel, how mean, how vindictive, and how wrong.

Americans saw that contrast between Democrats and Republicans in full effect last night. They saw that Trump is treating Americans, particularly needy Americans, as political pawns during the shutdown.

From one end of the country to the other, including in battleground states, Democrats, Independents, and even Republicans rejected Donald Trump's policies and rejected hard-right elected officials.

And let me say something else: after last night Donald Trump ought to learn that his petty vindictiveness doesn't work. Here is one glaring example: he tried to axe federal funding for the Gateway Tunnel, the biggest public works project in the country, employing tens of thousands of workers and ensuring prosperity and good transportation in the entire northeast corridor. But he axed the funds, and his axing of the funds was aimed, in his mind, at Democratic leaders, like Leader Jeffries and me.

In the end, it totally backfired and became a big factor in voters making their decision in New Jersey and electing Mikie Sherrill by an amazing 13 percentage points. One of the main points in that campaign was Donald Trump's vindictiveness in cutting off this tunnel and trying to use it and all the workers as a hostage.

So again, let me say it again: last night serves as a five-alarm fire for Republicans. It was a warning from the American people that they are tired of Donald Trump raising people's costs, raising healthcare costs, and ignoring the needs of working people.

The right way forward for Republicans-and for all of America-is to negotiate with Democrats to reopen the government and extend the ACA premium tax credits. The American people have spoken-enough is enough.

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