Chuck Schumer Explains Why He Will Vote To Avoid Government Shutdown Ahead Of Key Vote

2 days ago

In remarks on the Senate floor Friday, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke about why he was supporting the bill to avoid a government shutdown.

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Transcript

00:00Before we finish today, I would like to say that soon the Senate will vote on a bipartisan

00:06piece of legislation that will make an important D.C. funding fix.

00:11This legislation will make sure that we take care of the residents of the District.

00:15It will support law enforcement and firefighters and teachers and city services.

00:20The legislation is very good news for the residents of the District of Columbia.

00:24I'm happy we're passing the bill today.

00:26I thank my colleagues for working quickly to bring this bill to the floor.

00:30Once the Senate acts, we urge the House to act quickly.

00:33Now, government funding expires at midnight tonight, and the votes before us is a Hobson

00:40choice.

00:41The CR bill is a bad bill, but as bad as the CR is, I believe that allowing Donald Trump

00:47to take even more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option.

00:54A shutdown would allow DOJ to shift into overdrive.

00:58It would give Donald Trump and DOJ the keys to the city, the state, and country.

01:05And that is a far worse alternative.

01:07Now, I want to remind everyone that it was Republicans who pushed this false shutdown

01:12choice.

01:13Their inability to govern has led us to this precipice.

01:18Our caucus members have two bad choices.

01:21Republican Senators will come down on different sides of the question, but that does not mean

01:25that any Senate Democrat supports a shutdown.

01:29Whatever the outcome, our caucus will be united in our determination to continue the long-term

01:35fight to stop Donald Trump's dangerous war on our democracy and on America's working

01:40families.

01:41And now I want to be clear about what this bill does and does not do.

01:45The full-year CR is a law that sets funding levels for the full year.

01:50And the president and executive branch have a legal and constitutional duty to faithfully

01:55execute the CR.

01:58The CR does not change the underlying law making the Trump administration's impoundments

02:03and mass firings illegal.

02:06This is true as a matter of law.

02:09Nothing in the CR changes the Impoundment Control Act, the foundation of Congress's

02:14Appropriations Authority, and the authorization laws that require USAID and other agencies

02:20to exist and to operate the programs Congress has assigned to them.

02:25Nothing changes Title V, governing the Civil Service, the Administrative Procedure Act,

02:30and so on.

02:32One of the reasons I'm voting for cloture is for the very reason that these actions

02:36are illegal and no new law is needed to declare that.

02:40I yield the floor.

Chuck Schumer Explains Why He Will Vote To Avoid Government Shutdown Ahead Of Key Vote

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