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Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, this morning, Democrats sent Republicans our counteroffer on legislation to reopen DHS, pay TSA workers, while at the same time rein in ICE with commonsense guardrails. Our offer is a reasonable, good-faith proposal that contains some of the very same asks Democrats have been talking about now for months.

Leader Jeffries and I have spoken about this agenda, and he agrees we need these strong reforms.

Now, over the last day, Republicans have made the outrageous and bad- faith claim that Democrats are somehow moving the goalposts back in these negotiations. They are saying Democrats changed the ask. They are saying Democrats are backtracking and suddenly introducing new demands at the last minute.

This is nonsense--nonsense.

Democrats and the American people have been very clear from the beginning about what we need in order to move forward. We have been talking about ICE reforms from day one. These are not new demands. These are not surprise demands. They are not things we came up with yesterday.

They are commonsense reforms, reasonable reforms, reforms that police departments across America follow every day. These are reforms the American people overwhelmingly support and things that Republicans know perfectly well we have been seeking since these negotiations began-- since these discussions began as well.

So for Republicans to now act as though Democrats have changed our position as though we have moved the goalposts is poppycock, bad faith. And for Republicans to send us a proposal that has no reforms is bad faith as well and will only slow things down. They know it is bad faith.

In fact, over the weekend Democrats had constructive conversations in person with our Republican colleagues. They--the Republican colleagues--conceded that some of the reforms, verbally, that we have been looking for, they said: These make sense.

We thought there might be a path forward on some of the ways to reform ICE and to get some of the things everybody knows ought to be in Federal legislation. We thought there had been some progress.

But then Republicans sent us their offer yesterday, and it contained none of what had been talked about, none of the reforms we had been discussing. So if anyone is slowing down negotiation and hurting TSA workers, it is the Republican leadership who did not include one single reform.

Republicans, frankly, are struggling to get on the same page among themselves. That is probably why they have been so erratic here.

Moderates in the Republican caucus say one thing; conservatives say another. Donald Trump is all over the place, seemingly without a clue of what is going on. They are still worried about and afraid of what he might say or do. That is what this is all about.

So let me say this: We are ready to discuss these issues at a moment's notice with Republicans. We will not walk away. We are not walking away, and we want to get to a solution.

We now have given Republicans our response. It is a serious offer, and time is of the essence, I say to my Republican colleagues. The Easter holiday is coming. Families are going on spring break. TSA lines are literally stretching out the door at airports. People are exhausted. And our TSA agents need to be paid.

Enough is enough. It is time for Republicans to drill down and work with us to solve this thing. We have asked the Republicans nine times already to support TSA. We have told Republicans: Just support TSA while we settle these disputes with ICE, and they have refused nine times. They say they want their position on ICE met first before they do anything to fund TSA and pay our workers.

The way to pay TSA is to vote to send their paychecks now while we settle this dispute regarding ICE. We can and must do both--negotiate reforms to ICE but vote to pay our TSA workers now.

That is why, today, for the 10th time--10th time--Democrats will go to the floor so that we can pay TSA immediately as we negotiate ICE. We hope our Republican colleagues will finally see the light and join us.

Let me say it again: Enough is enough. It is time for Republicans to drill down and work with us to solve this thing. SAVE America Act

Mr. President, finally, on the SAVE Act, which seems to have now been intertwined in these negotiations because of Donald Trump and Republican obeisance to him, let me say this to our Republican colleagues: If you want to shove the SAVE Act into reconciliation, then have at it. We are going to fight you tooth and nail throughout the reconciliation process every step of the way.

You are going to find it very difficult to jam massive changes to the American election system, to turn the American election system inside out, as it were, by using a process that was never designed for that purpose. Reconciliation was not, is not, and will not be intended to be a backdoor for sweeping election law; that is not what it is for.

So if Republicans want to head down that road, they should understand it will be a hard road. Democrats will fight them every--every--step of the way on that road, and it will not go the way they think or want.
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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, today's vote is simple. Will Republicans join us to save good-paying energy jobs, strengthen our grid, and undo the damage from Donald Trump's war on clean energy; or will they bow before the throne of Big Oil once again?

This CRA vote is a necessary step to reverse the damage from Donald Trump's anti-clean energy vendetta. It will overturn the IRS's eleventh-hour rule change that makes it harder for wind and solar companies to claim tax credits needed to expand investment, increase output, and put Americans to work. This IRS rule does nothing but raise taxes on energy producers. Experts have warned this could raise electricity by 10 percent.

Do you hear that, America? What Trump has done is going to raise your energy costs 10 percent just on this alone. It is going up higher because of other things. It also hurts local communities that rely on jobs.

It is nothing but another front in Donald Trump's war on affordable American energy, and in this case--this is a harsh word, but it is a corrupt giveaway to his Big Oil and Big Gas donors.

It was public. It was in the newspapers. They said: If you give us a billion dollars in campaign contributions, we will get rid of all the deregulation and giveaways they could possibly imagine. It is a crooked, corrupt scheme that is raising people's energy costs along the way.

If you are a Senator and you care about good-paying jobs, care about our grid, and want to lower people's energy costs, support this resolution.

I thank Senators Cortez Masto, Wyden, and everyone who has shown leadership on this issue, and I want to thank my Democratic colleagues for leading the way.

Last week, Senate Democrats released our newest ``Broken Promises'' report, exposing how Donald Trump is driving up people's energy bills. Trump made a promise to the American people on the campaign trail: I will cut your energy bill in half. But has he done that? Of course not. Energy prices are up. And they aren't just up; they are rising and at triple the rate of inflation. Some States are seeing double-digit increases over the last year. And now, thanks to Donald Trump's idiotic war with Iran, gas prices are at $4 a gallon.

We must put a stop to all of this today, and that is what this vote is all about.

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