Democrats: Republicans Refuse To Engage In Bipartisan Funding Negotiations
Senate Minority Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke yesterday on the Senate floor.
Schumer was Tuesday’s KVML “Newsmaker of the Day”. Here are his words:
“I’d like to begin by reiterating where Democrats stand on government funding.
Our position remains this: we want to keep the government open by engaging in bipartisan negotiations, where we can address some of the grave harms Donald Trump has caused to our healthcare system and help Americans with the cost of living.
We haven’t seen that to date. Republicans so far have refused to have any conversations about the issues we’ve clearly outlined – healthcare most of all.
Speaker Johnson said recently he hopes Democrats won’t politicize the process, but Speaker Johnson has already done that by: refusing our multiple requests to sit down and talk, and doing his own CR without consultation and without any inclusion of what the Democratic Leader in the House or I are asking for. Theirs is a total partisan proposal.
And so has President Trump. When Donald Trump said on Fox News that Republicans “don’t even bother” dealing with Democrats, then he’s responsible for making a shutdown more likely.
This afternoon he doubled down again, posting online that Republicans should go it alone on their partisan CR instead of engaging with Democrats to keep the government open.
Now, to pass a CR in the Senate, as everyone knows, it requires votes from both sides.
If one side refuses to negotiate, they are the ones causing the shutdown.
Because, again, Democrats are happy to negotiate. We want to have a conversation with Donald Trump and Republicans about the things we’ve been talking about for months – like healthcare, Medicaid, and the cost of living.
And the American people know all this.
They know that if Donald Trump refuses to even talk with Democrats, it’ll be him shutting things down.
They know he needs to negotiate.
They know he needs to compromise.
He’s not a dictator, as much as he thinks he likes to be. He needs to work with Democrats if he doesn’t want to get blamed for shutting the government down.
And if Republicans follow Donald Trump’s orders not to even bother dealing with Democrats, they too will be putting our country on the path toward a shutdown.
And let me finish with this: I heard my friend, the Republican Leader, come to the floor and cherry-pick some of my old quotes about keeping the government open with a CR.
He zeroed in on the phrase “clean extension.”
Well, the Republican Leader glossed over the key point: I said in the past that Republican colleagues have to “work with Democrats in a bipartisan way” to extend government funding.
I said they actually have to work with us and it has to be bipartisan. That is not happening right now.
It was happening then, in 2023. That is the difference. And the Majority Leader conveniently forgets that extremely important point.
And it’s not happening right now because Donald Trump is shutting down any hopes of negotiation.
Leader Thune wants to wonder what has changed?
A lot – including Donald Trump’s actions, which have dramatically harmed this country and undermined the appropriations process.
He’s canceling congressionally appropriated funding.
He’s redirected and is stealing funds.
Russell Vought says that he wants to see the appropriations process less bipartisan. And we know he is running the show.
And now he says that Republicans shouldn’t even bother to deal with Democrats.
Meanwhile, the cost of people’s healthcare has gone up.
Rural hospitals are already closing because of this “Big, Beautiful Bill.”
Job reports continue to show warning signs.
Trump’s tariffs are a mess.
And the economy is heading in the wrong direction.
That’s all because of the choices Donald Trump has made as president.
We need to have a bipartisan negotiation, which is what we are asking for right now. That’s the only way you can get this done, and it’s what we talked about back then as well.”
The “Newsmaker of the Day” is heard every weekday morning at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 on AM 1450 and FM 102.7 KVML.
