Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Republicans’ Failure To Pass Their Partisan Continuing Resolution And The Need For A Bipartisan Solution To Fund The Government And Address The[...]

Washington, D.C. - Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor to call out Republicans for their lack of effort to work with Democrats to negotiate a bipartisan solution to fund the government and address the healthcare crisis, even after five failed votes on their partisan continuing resolution. Below are Senator Schumer's remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Yesterday, for the fifth time, the Republican CR failed to secure enough votes to pass this chamber. After five failed votes, Republicans should understand that they cannot go forward unless we come to a bipartisan agreement to address the healthcare crisis facing America.

This shutdown has now lasted almost a week, and Republicans are still in the "no negotiation, our-way-or-the-highway" mode. President Trump, meanwhile, is not taking this shutdown seriously.

Listen to this: instead of fixing healthcare, instead of reopening the government, Donald Trump seems more interested in sending money to other countries instead of focusing on the problems here at home. His administration is in negotiations right now to send a $20 billion to bail out Argentina, right in the middle of a government shutdown.

You got to be kidding. Does the administration really want us to believe that there's not enough money for air traffic controllers and not enough money to fix ACA healthcare premiums, but that there's somehow $20 billion available to bail out Argentina because Trump likes the government's leader there?

Give me a break. That shows you that this administration - and Republicans - aren't serious enough when it comes to people's healthcare and when it comes to ending their shutdown. The crisis will not end by sending $20 billion to Argentina.

We need to get serious about fixing the problems here at home, starting with healthcare. And Democrats' position has not changed: we want the same thing that a majority, an overwhelming majority, of Americans want, which is to end this shutdown and halt the healthcare crisis that will send premiums spiking for tens of millions of people.

Eighty percent of Americans want to extend the ACA tax credits. Fifty-eight percent of Trump voters want to extend those credits.

We need to end this shutdown and halt the healthcare crisis. We can do both - it's not either-or, as some Republicans seem to think.

We've been wanting to talk to the president, and the Republicans, and have serious negotiations with the president and Republicans, for months.

Finally, after months and months of asking Leader Thune and Speaker Johnson to sit down with Hakeem Jeffries and I, and asking the president to sit down with us - where he said yes, then he said no - finally, at the last minute, they finally agreed to have one meeting, the night before the money was running out. But it was not a productive discussion and nothing was agreed to.

Now, yesterday, President Trump claimed that he is talking with Democrats on fixing healthcare. He now clearly knows that he has to show the American people at least some figment of caring. So, he said he's talking with Democrats on the healthcare issue. There's only one problem - it's not true.

I'm not sure what the president was talking about yesterday, but he certainly hasn't called my office or Leader Jeffries' office. Still, Leader Jeffries and I happily welcome a chance to talk with the president and with Republicans, and to sit down and seriously negotiate with them so we can address the healthcare crisis facing Americans. The sooner the better.

But it takes two sides to negotiate, and Republicans - particularly Speaker Johnson, who seems to be the nub of the crisis -still haven't come to the table in a serious way. Speaker Johnson, perhaps more than anyone else, has dug in and shut the door to any cooperation. Speaker Johnson has become a massive roadblock to progress.

Yesterday, he even said that "there's nothing to negotiate" on the shutdown and has sent the House home for yet another week. The House hasn't held a vote now for eighteen days. They haven't been in session for two weeks. That proves beyond a doubt that Speaker Johnson is causing - and not interested in ending - the shutdown. Clearly, at this point, he is the main obstacle.

So, ending this shutdown will require Donald Trump to step in and push Speaker Johnson to negotiate. Because without the president's involvement, Speaker Johnson and MAGA Republicans in the House are increasingly dug in.

Speaker Johnson has pushed this partisan, one-sided CR and told us to take it or leave it. I heard my friend, Leader Thune, say it's a bipartisan bill. There hasn't been one drop of Democratic input. You can't call that a bipartisan bill. It's a partisan bill.

Anyway, Speaker Johnson pushed this partisan, one-sided CR and said, take it or leave it. I'm going home. He's shut the House of Representatives down for three weeks and he said he won't bring the House back until Senate Democrats cave to his demands.

He also continues to outright lie about Democrats trying to give undocumented immigrants health insurance through the ACA or Medicaid or Medicare.

That was a lie yesterday, it is a lie today, and it will be a lie tomorrow. He knows that and yet he's still saying it to distract from the real issue. He doesn't want to solve the crisis of healthcare premiums, so he makes up these lies and he hopes it will divert people's attention. It's not diverting our attention, Speaker Johnson. We know you're lying, and we're paying attention to what the American people need.

Every action the Speaker has taken has been geared towards avoiding having to confront the core issue at hand, which is to fix people's healthcare. So, why is he doing this?

Well, in part, he doesn't want to come back. He cares more about protecting the Epstein files than protecting the American people from the healthcare crisis. But also, he has a very big problem: House Republicans, his own caucus, are bitterly divided on healthcare.

On one hand, a large number within his Conference will never agree to any extension of the ACA premium tax credits. They're against it. But there's also a growing number of House Republicans who realize something needs to be done to fix this mess.

Listen to this: Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of the hardest-right MAGA loyalists, broke with the Speaker and said we need to fix these ACA tax credits. Let me read what she said. This is not Chuck Schumer. This is Marjorie Taylor Greene: "I'm going to go against everyone on this issue because when the tax credits expire this year my own adult children's insurance premiums for 2026 are going to double, along with all the wonderful families and hard-working people in my district."

So, hold on to your hats - I think this is the first time I've said this, but on this issue, Rep. Greene said it perfectly Rep. Greene is absolutely right. Republicans cannot sit by and do nothing while American families pay thousands more out of pocket for healthcare.

If the Speaker doesn't relent and these credits expire people will go bankrupt. People will get sick, and some will die.

Inaction would be reprehensible, and the Speaker needs to realize that. And that's why, when push comes to shove, Donald Trump needs to step in and get Speaker Johnson and Republicans in Congress to come to the table and engage in real negotiations to address this issue.

Democrats stand ready and willing to negotiate. We urge Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans to do the same.

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