Chuck Schumer

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, now on to business, in no time at all, the House Republicans are off to the rockiest start of any new majority in recent memory. Have you ever seen anything like this? We aren't even a month into the new Congress, and already the House GOP has shown the American people they have been consumed by chaos, paralyzed by division, and held captive by the most extreme elements of their conference. On their first day of voting--the very first day--House Republicans decided their first order of business as the new majority was to pass legislation making it easier for ultrarich tax cheats to escape accountability. Amazing. That is their first thing. At the same time, as they did that, they would blow a hole--a $100 billion hole--in the deficit because according to CBO, the amount of money brought into the Federal Treasury by closing some of these loopholes against tax cheats--very wealthy tax cheats--would far exceed the expenditure made for the new IRS agents. The deficit would come down if we passed this legislation. For all the talk on the other side about we have got to bring down the deficit--not when it comes to closing loopholes of the ultrarich and corporations that pay a smaller percentage than most Americans, uh-uh. Wow. Apparently, cutting taxes for megacorporations and the 1 percent was not enough for Republicans 5 years ago. They did that in the Trump tax bill. Now they want to make things even easier for tax cheats. Then, a few days later, the House Republicans doubled down on their war on women by passing measures that will undermine women's freedom of choice. Make no mistake, these bills will never see the light of day in the Senate. But again, the extreme--the extreme--MAGA fringe element of the Republican Party seems to be controlling the whole entity. We hope that doesn't last for long. We in the Senate will serve as an inextinguishable firewall and stop the anti-woman, anti-health, anti-choice bills in their tracks. So, right off the bat, the House Republicans are showing us exactly whose corner they are in: the ultrarich and the fringe elements of their party. Now, make no mistake, Democrats want to work with a competent and capable Republican Party wherever possible to make life better for average Americans. Democrats are united in this commitment because we all saw firsthand how bipartisanship was the key to so many of last year's successes. Later today, in fact, I will join President Biden, Leader Jeffries, and a number of Senate and House colleagues precisely to talk about how we can turn our unity into action to help the American people. House Republicans, meanwhile, seem trapped in a cycle of extremism so powerful that now they are even giving proposals like a national sales tax--a national sales tax--serious consideration. According to some House Republicans, House leadership has agreed to give GOP radicals a vote on a 30-percent national sales tax on all goods across the board. That means, right now, with inflation finally beginning to drop, Republicans are looking to make Americans pay 30 percent more for everything they buy. Look, if Republicans want to have a debate with Democrats on their national sales tax bill, we will be happy to have it. We would love to hear Republicans explain to the American people why it is a good idea to send prices skyrocketing on everything from cars to groceries, to diapers, and everything in between. We would love to hear Republicans tell seniors why their expenses would go up by a third after they have spent a lifetime for retirement. And we would love to hear Republicans explain to middle-class families why their taxes would increase by thousands of dollars a year while the ultrarich see their taxes go down. If Republicans want to push this terrible proposal, they are welcome to make their case. Make our day. I think many within the Republicans own ranks recognize that a national sales tax is an especially dimwitted idea. Even Grover Norquist, whose ideas on tax are far away from most Americans--and he is one of the most conservative voices out there--called it ``a terrible idea.'' Even Steve Forbes said this would make the average new home in this country cost $100,000 more. Young families, do you want to buy a home? Some of our Republican friends want to add $100,000 to the cost of buying that home, and of course it would raise bills by thousands more. And yet--yet--despite the insanity of this idea, the House Republican leadership is bent to the MAGA wing of the Republican Party and have promised a vote. If this is how House Republicans want to spend their time--taxing middle-class families, attacking women's freedom of choice, giving cover to tax cheats--be our guest. Once again, this is the central quandary of the new Republican majority. By bending to the demands of the MAGA hard right, Speaker McCarthy has guaranteed that Republicans will have to constantly cater to the whims of the MAGA wing at the expense of the American people. Now, we will be a firewall against all of these things, and I am sure the American people are glad that we have a Democratic majority in the Senate to stop some of these rather insane proposals because when extremists run the show, as seems to be happening in the House, it makes it nearly impossible to have serious-minded, constructive conversations on the big issues that matter. No issue, of course, will matter more in the coming months than raising the debt ceiling. Over the next few months, we are going to hear more about the debt ceiling in Congress, maybe more than any other issue. But the matter is very simple. If the United States is allowed to default on its debt for the first time, the consequences will be severe and every single American will pay the price. A default means interest rates will spike on everything from car loans to credit cards, to mortgages. It means that Americans will have to pay thousands of dollars more on regular expenses. Homes will lose their value. Homes, the average middle-class person's piece of the rock that they struggled and saved for so that they could own a home and so they don't have to pay rent and can pay a mortgage where they get equity--those homes will lose their value if we default, God forbid, on the debt because mortgage interest rates will soar. That means people will have less money to pay for a home and supply and demand just sits. The price goes down. The value goes down. Meanwhile, the millions of Americans who have saved for retirement will see their retirement plans, like 401(k)s, lose their value, robbing retirees of their hard-earned livelihoods. So the dangers of default are not abstract. Oh, no, this is not some academic argument up there in the clouds. This affects every American family, and we are going to make sure that they hear all about it. The consequences are as real as they get, and the entire world is watching what we do here in Congress. But, rather than work with Democrats in a productive, constructive way to raise the debt ceiling, the House GOP has immediately resorted to brinksmanship and hostage-taking. They say they will not raise the debt ceiling unless we give in to their demands for draconian spending cuts that would impact just about every American--again, in a very bad way. Well, I say to my Republican colleagues, if you want to talk about deep cuts, then you have an obligation--an obligation--to show the American people precisely what kind of cuts you are talking about. Are Republicans going to hold Social Security hostage in exchange for the debt ceiling or pay raises for our troops or support for veterans or funding for police and fire and first responders or Medicare funding that millions of seniors rely on? Republicans, you owe the American people answers on what you mean by spending cuts. Remember, the House rules that the GOP approved are clear. They need to bring a debt ceiling bill to the floor, let the entirety of the House debate it and vote on it, and let the American people see and assess the cuts for themselves. So, once again, to my House GOP colleagues, if you are serious about spending cuts, show us the math. Show us why you think it is worth risking a global financial crisis just to pass an extremist agenda, because, inevitably, what you are saying are cuts are vital to so many Americans--so many Americans. Being in the majority means that it won't be enough to hide behind time-worn rhetoric about wasteful spending. When it comes to the debt ceiling, the substance counts; the details count; and the consequences are very, very real. Unless the Republicans can resolve their own chaos and beat back their own extremism, I fear that every day that passes without action on the debt ceiling will increase the risk of default and risk the great harm it will do to the American people. And, should that happen, Americans will see that the fault lies entirely in the hands of the radical GOP. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, today the thoughts of the Senate are with the people of Monterey Park, CA, as they heal from this weekend's tragic and terrible shooting. What should have been a weekend of joy and celebration within the AAPI community as they celebrate the Lunar New Year, turned into another occasion of grief and mourning. I spoke yesterday with the sheriff of Los Angeles County and assured him that the Federal Government is ready to provide whatever assistance they need right now. While first responders are still investigating the causes of this incident, it is clear that the prevalence of guns in our country have made tragedies like this one too frequent. While the Senate passed bipartisan gun safety legislation last year--and that was a very welcome move--more should be done. My thoughts are with all the families and the loved ones of the victims of this insidious attack. I thank all the first responders and even the private citizens who responded quickly to stop the shooter and prevent even more lives from tragically being cut short. 118th Congress Madam President, I want to also welcome our new colleague from Nebraska and wish him the best. Now, this week, for the first time in the 118th Congress, both Chambers gavel into session to begin anew the work of serving the American people. It is a new era here in Congress, an era of divided government where both parties will have to demonstrate they can work together to solve our Nation's problems. Democrats begin the 118th Congress with an open hand of cooperation, and I urge my Republican colleagues to respond in kind so we can hit the ground running. We have a lot of difficult and important work ahead of us, perhaps none more important than working together to raise the debt ceiling and protecting the full faith and credit of the United States. In America, when it is time to pay the bills, we have followed through on our obligations without any exception. In the months to come, I expect we are going to hear a lot from our Republican colleagues about the debt ceiling. So let me begin by making a few things perfectly clear at the onset. First, few issues require more bipartisanship, cooperation, and serious-mindedness than making sure that America is able to pay its debts on time. At stake is the health of our economy and the very stability of the global financial system. Should the U.S. default on its debt, the consequences could be severe, and it is going to affect just about every average American family. This is not some esoteric issue that is just abstract and way up there in the clouds. It is going to affect all of us. Listen to what could happen if we default: Interest rates will go up on mortgages, on car loans, on credit cards; pensions, the money people have put aside, will lose billions, so will IRAs and 401Ks, in all likelihood. Home values will decline because when mortgage interest rates go up people are willing to pay less for homes. That is a lot of money for lots of people. For many people, their home is their rock. It is all they have. By playing brinksmanship, some of the MAGA Republicans on the other side of the aisle, on the other side in the House, are risking just that. So, again, this is not an abstract issue. Real Americans will see real dollars from so much of what they own disappear from their pensions, their IRAs, their home value. Merely approaching a default could raise costs on everything from mortgages and car loans to credit card interest rates. So it is going to hurt average families. This is not an abstract argument. And as the months go on, and as we get closer and closer to the day that we have to act, the American people will see this, and we are going to make sure of that. Second, raising the debt ceiling has consistently been a bipartisan responsibility for decades. Neither party has played brinksmanship. Since 1960, the debt ceiling has been raised approximately 80 times under both Republican and Democratic administrations, under both unified and divided government. I will note once again that while President Trump was in office and Republicans had the House and Senate, Democrats voted to raise the debt ceiling. We did it not once, not twice, but three times, including twice under Republican majorities in the House and Senate. Of course, we could have done what some MAGA Republicans want, threatening to block debt ceiling extensions unless we got our way. But we knew how badly it would hurt the American people, and we didn't do it. This time should be no different. Brinksmanship, hostage-taking, default on the debt should be off the table. Both parties should work together to ensure we can continue to pay our debt on time, and we Democrats are ready to move quickly in order to make that happen. Indeed, we are ready to move well in advance of default, because even brinksmanship over the debt ceiling can cause serious damage to the economy and to individual American families. Unfortunately, Madam President--unfortunately, House Republicans have kicked off their new majority by saying yes to brinksmanship, yes to hostage-taking, and yes even to risking default, all because of draconian spending cuts pushed by the hard right. House Republicans' approach to the debt ceiling is dangerous, destabilizing, and the only thing it accomplishes is making a bipartisan solution less likely. If Republicans want to show that they can govern effectively, they are off to a pretty poor start. If House Republicans are serious about taking the debt limit hostage in exchange for spending cuts, the new rules that they adopted require them to bring a proposal to the floor of the House and show the American people precisely what kind of cuts they want to make. It is not enough to hide behind the old GOP talking points about wasteful spending. When you are in the majority, substance counts. If Republicans are talking about draconian cuts, they have an obligation to show Americans what those cuts are and let the public react. And let's let them do it now, not 6 months from now when the danger of default is much closer. House Republicans: You voted for rules that require regular order for bringing bills to the floor. So put your proposals for debt ceiling on the floor, let the entirety of the House debate it and vote on it, and let the American people see and assess these cuts for themselves. Otherwise, Americans are going to be left with some pretty big questions. Republicans say they want spending cuts. Well, does that mean cuts to Social Security or Medicare or childcare or Pell grants or our military or pay raises for our troops or funding police and law enforcement? Many House Republicans are serious about cutting national defense in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. I hope they are not but many seem to be--or maybe they are pushing cuts to public health and nurses and hospitals. Whatever the case may be, Americans deserve to know what kind of cuts Republicans want to make and why they think it is worth forcing an unnecessary crisis that will hurt most American families. Frankly, I expect the House Republicans themselves will struggle to come up with a serious answer, because deep down, they know that no matter what they propose, their cuts are likely to be deeply unpopular with the American people. This is the central quandary of the new majority. By yielding so much to the whims of the MAGA hard right, House Republicans have boxed themselves in and now have to choose between serving the American people or pleasing the extremists within their ranks. We are already seeing this play out when it comes to the debt ceiling. I yield the floor.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, finally, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it convene for a pro forma session only, with no business conducted, on the following dates and times: Friday, December 23, at 11 a.m.; Tuesday, December 27, at 5:30 p.m.; Friday, December 30, at 9:30 a.m.; and Tuesday, January 3, at 11:30 a.m. Following the January 3 pro forma, the Senate will convene at 12 noon, pursuant to the Constitution; further, I ask that following the prayer and the pledge and following the presentation of certificates of election and the swearing-in of elected Members and the required live quorum, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the Senate be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. SCHUMER. For the information of the Senate, on January 3, the swearing-in of our new and recently elected Senators will be at noon, followed by a live quorum.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Can I have the attention of the Chamber? That was a 12- minute vote. We can do 2 minutes better. Please stay in your seats.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, that was 9 minutes. Let's keep it up.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 60-vote threshold be vitiated with respect to this amendment so that we can have a voice vote.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to modify amendment Nos. 6607 and 6596--to modify the instruction lines.

Mr. SCHUMER. One final appeal for a voice vote? It is going to win. OK. Vote on Amendment No. 6597

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I want to thank Senator Menendez and Senator Cotton--another good example of bipartisan progress. Families have been left out, in several different instances, who are victims of terrorism, who have had relatives who were victims of terrorism. We are saying: We stand by you. Let's vote. Let's vote by voice.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 310, H.R. 4373.

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that the Leahy amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to and the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. SCHUMER. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Con. Res. 51, which was submitted earlier today.

Mr. SCHUMER. I know of no further debate.

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 5357, which is at the desk.

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 1082, which was received from the House and is at the desk.

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that the Wicker amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to; the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; the amendment to the title be considered and agreed to; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations en bloc: No. 763, No. 1136, No. 1153, No. 1169; further, that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be discharged from further consideration of PN 2225 Terrence Edwards to be Inspector General of the National Reconnaissance Office; that the Senate vote on the nominations en bloc without intervening action or debate; that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table; and that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate resume legislative session.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported substitute amendment be agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.