Chuck Schumer Unleashes On Donald Trump In Senate Democratic Briefing

Forbes Breaking News

Senate Democratic leadership held their weekly press briefing on Wednesday.

Transcript

00:00Okay, well I hope everyone had a good break and I want to thank Senators

00:09Murray, Klobuchar and Schatz for joining me. Well, today we learned that

00:14Republicans are trying to rebrand their big ugly bill. This bill is so wildly

00:22unpopular because it's at the very core, at its very core, it's devastating to

00:27American communities and Americans are already feeling it. So they're running

00:31away from it. So instead of trying to actually address what's hurting families

00:37what they what do they want to do? Change the name. Hello, changing the name isn't

00:44going to restore somebody's Medicaid. Changing the name isn't going to have

00:49those premiums not go up. Changing the name is not going to open the rural

00:54hospitals who are closing and laying off people. So it shows what a bubble

00:59they're in. And you know the fact that Donald Trump says a big beautiful bill is

01:05cutting Medicaid is showing the American people just what his values are and

01:11they're not the American people's values. So Americans know damn well that these

01:18cuts to Medicaid and to ACA they're not they are big but they certainly ain't

01:23beautiful. The fact that Republicans think that Medicaid cuts are beautiful as I

01:28said reveals who they are to the American people and the about and the

01:34average about the average American Donald Trump doesn't give a damn. He's in

01:38his own little bubble. He talks to his billionaire friends. They make him happy

01:43when they say thanks Donald you're doing a great job. You're giving me a tax break.

01:48So it's he's the only one who would really label such a horrible bill as

01:55beautiful. Let's be clear this isn't a branding problem okay. We spent a month at

02:02home. I did a I did close to 20 meetings on health care mainly in upstate

02:07Republican districts and areas and you heard how bad it was. I went to the state

02:12fair which is a pretty Republican operation. I had a great time. I saw the

02:16butter sculpture. I got to drink chocolate milk which is the one time a

02:21year. My wife will let me drink it. But at the state fair it was clear. So let me

02:27show you this chart. Not the oh it's a different chart. Where's the chart on the pole?

02:32You don't have that? Okay well this chart is the trade war. The price of goods is up 40% for leather products, 70% for press products.

02:4112% for cars, 18% for consumers and electronics. Can we get the polling chart?

02:48Okay thank you. So here are the polling data which will show on a chart. Pew Research 46%

02:59disprove of this big beautiful bill, 32% approve. Navigator 52% unfavorable, 33%

03:07favorable. CNN 61% opposed, 39% approve of the big beautiful bill. And it's

03:16interesting almost all Democrats oppose it but in depending on the poll two

03:20thirds to three quarters of independents oppose it and a good chunk of

03:24Republicans oppose it up to 40% in one poll as I understand it. So on the shutdown

03:30this month Republicans will face their greatest test under the Trump

03:35administration. Will they work in a common sense bipartisan way to keep the

03:42government open? The only way to avoid a shutdown is to work in a bipartisan way.

03:48You need Democrats and Republicans with a bill that gets both support, both parties

03:53support in the Senate. Senate Democrats, we've shown firsthand that we're willing to

03:59work with them in a bipartisan way to keep our government open by advancing the

04:05bipartisan appropriation bills, which Patty will talk about. However, as we near the

04:10funding deadline, Republicans are once again threatening to go at it alone, heading

04:16our country towards a shutdown and making the healthcare crisis even worse. With Trump's

04:21attempt of so-called pocket rescissions, Republicans are prioritizing chaos over

04:26governing, partisanship over partnership, and their own power over the American

04:31people. For weeks now, Leader Jeffries and I, and we're working on the same page, we

04:36talk all the time, just talked to him last night again, we've written to the

04:42Republican leaders asking them to meet us to start the negotiation process. We did

04:47that in early August. We didn't hear from them. Weeks later, we wrote a letter asking them

04:53to meet with us to start negotiating again. Nothing. Nothing. Again. Crickets. We heard

05:01nothing. Time is short. Republicans need to stop trying this go-at-it-alone approach.

05:08They did that with the big, beautiful bill. Look how that's working out for them. Look how

05:13that's working out for them. Chart's not here yet. Okay. We don't want to shut down. We want

05:20bipartisan negotiations and a bipartisan bill. If Republicans want to keep the

05:24government open, they got to work with us. We need some action from Republican

05:29leaders showing that they're serious. That they want to prevent a shutdown by

05:34working with us. We Democrats are ready to get to work. Patty.

05:41Here it is. The star of the show. Look at this. 46, 32, 52, 33, 61, 39. And I give my colleagues

05:52a lot of credit. We did over, I'm sorry, I can't stop. We did over 300 events on health care.

05:59Every Democratic senator did an event in their state, I believe. So, this message

06:06is sinking in. Patty. Well, less than a month until the next funding deadline. And here's

06:13the bottom line. Just as we have worked in a bipartisan fashion here in the Senate on fiscal

06:19year 2026 funding, Republicans and Democrats need to work together to fund the government with

06:27a short-term CR at the end of the month. That CR agreement needs to reflect Democratic values

06:33and principles. And it needs to be a real bipartisan compromise. For the last few months, we have

06:41shown a bipartisan way forward on the Appropriations Committee. Democrats have shown that we are willing

06:48to work in good faith to write bipartisan funding bills that protect investments in education,

06:55life-saving research, and a lot more. We've already passed eight out of the committee and three on the

07:03floor, Milcon VA, Ag, and Ledge Branch. As part of a bipartisan short-term CR, I support conferencing

07:11those three bills and passing them with the short-term CR for the remaining nine bills. And I hope that we

07:19can continue to make progress on our Senate-passed bills so they will be ready at the end of the month.

07:26Now, now is the time to continue with that responsible bipartisan work, just as we have shown all summer.

07:33If House Republicans, however, go a different route and try and jam through a partisan CR without any input

07:43from Democratic members of Congress and they suddenly find they don't have the votes they need from our

07:49caucus to fund the government, well then that is a Republican shutdown. But there is no reason for

07:57Republicans to walk away from this table, not after the progress we have made this summer. Republicans

08:04need to work with us to keep the government funded. They need to ignore Russ's vote, the guy who's

08:10tearing apart the federal budget, breaking the law, and destroying things like cancer research for kids

08:16while Trump spends his time golfing. That's not even hyperbole, that's the facts. Now, I stand exactly

08:24where I have always been. I support a bipartisan path to fund the government like we have been doing

08:31so far here in the Senate. And that's because I believe that elected members of Congress should

08:37decide how to spend taxpayer dollars on behalf of our constituents, not Russ's vote, not Donald Trump,

08:45and that means preventing another year-long slush fund CR. Now, on another note, since Congress should

08:52be able to do more than one thing at a time, will Republicans work with us to stop the health care

08:57premiums from skyrocketing this fall for millions of Americans? So far, Republicans have refused to

09:04lift a finger to extend the tax credits and save families from massive new health care costs. For many,

09:12higher premiums are going to mean cuts to their family budget. For others, it will mean giving up their

09:18health insurance entirely. That is wrong. Republicans are choosing right now to let that happen. They

09:25could easily extend that policy and stop premiums from spiking. Democrats have already written the

09:31bill to do just that. Don't try and tell the American people you could afford to cut taxes

09:37for billionaires a few weeks ago, but now working families will have to tighten their belts and pay

09:43literally thousands of more dollars per year for health insurance. So Democrats are ready to fund

09:49the government in a bipartisan way, and we are ready as well to protect health care for millions.

09:56Democrats have our priorities straight. To my Republican colleagues, you are lawmakers. Write some laws.

10:03Help people. Do your jobs. Don't just hand that pin to Russ's vote and call it a day.

10:09Thank you, Senator Murray. Senator Klobuchar. Thank you very much,

10:12Chuck. And I'm sure we can go head to head on who has the better state fair at another time.

10:18Biggest one in the country. I really think when you, there you go. When you really look at this

10:26August, it is the tale of two parties. You have one party, and that is ours, that spent August,

10:34as Chuck mentioned, 300, over 300 events, going to rural hospitals, so many of them concerned about

10:40these Medicaid and Medicare changes, talking to our constituents who are scared to death because

10:46their mom's in the assisted living and they know exactly when that Medicaid funding is going to

10:50run out, when it's going to happen to them, talking to people who are working two jobs but depend on

10:55SNAP and getting help when it comes to groceries, and having people that are just looking at their bills,

11:00whether it is for their rent, whether it is for their health care, and saying, what did these guys

11:05just do to us? That was our August. Then we have these other guys who are literally running out of

11:09town hall meetings, hiding in the back of airplanes with hats on. Okay, I may have seen one. Just trying

11:15to avoid their constituents while Donald Trump keeps wreaking more havoc, more chaos, and more corruption

11:23on this country. So for me it was actually pretty jarring to come back here having spent the last few

11:28days in my state embracing these families who had kids that literally watched their friends be shot in

11:35the gut, shot in the neck, meeting the family of one of the children who was killed, who that night they

11:42were already sitting in the Holy Angels gym trying to find solace among their families and friends. They

11:49literally went to that event because they believed in the people that surrounded them. They didn't want

11:55to be alone at home. And those harrowing stories of those kids who got saved because their friend who

12:02was three years older laid their body on top of them on top of a six-year-old and his friends get shot in

12:08the back but survives or the teacher with the little boy who was disabled and couldn't move and took his body

12:15out of that wheelchair, threw it under the pew and laid on top of them, it's pretty jarring to come

12:21back here because those kids and those teachers and those faith leaders in that moment, in that horrible

12:27moment, made the decision to look out for each other. And so as I look at this budget before us,

12:34I see this opportunity when under Senator Murray and Schumer's leadership we've been able to already

12:40negotiate three bills that'll be good for people right out of the Senate through that chamber.

12:46That's what we should be doing. We should not be embracing a partisan budget process. We have this

12:54moment where our colleagues who we work with all the time in different matters can finally stand up

12:59and say, hey, we want to see a better world here and we want to see something better and we want to

13:04reverse some of the harms that have been done and we do not want to embrace this partisan process.

13:09So that's where I am. And it's very much dictated by what I just saw happen at home. I think our

13:14constituents deserve better than having someone ram something ram down their throats that are going

13:20to make their lives worse and not better. Thank you, Senator Schatz.

13:27This is not that complicated. Russ vote in late July said exactly what he thinks, which is that the

13:37appropriations process should be less bipartisan. And we disagree. And if Republicans produce a partisan

13:48product, they should expect a partisan vote. If they produce a bipartisan product under the leadership

13:57of Patty Murray, they can get a bipartisan vote. But time is running out. There is still enough time to

14:05get this done. But to do that, they have to start to show that they're serious about keeping the

14:11government open. They have the House, the Senate and the presidency. This is on them to initiate the

14:16process. And they haven't even scheduled a meeting with the key leaders to keep the government open.

14:25And I just want to give my Republican friends some free advice.

14:31Another jam job is not going to work. You are in charge of the government. The ball is in your court.

14:40And you have to decide if you want to shut down or not.

14:47Thank you, Senator Schatz. Q and A. Yes.

14:53Do you expect to put up a tougher fight in your time that you did in March?

14:58You took criticism in your party for voting? The bottom line is very simple.

15:04We Democrats want a bipartisan bill. And we are pushing the Republicans very hard to do it.

15:12We're on our front foot. We're unified. We're strong on health care. They're all divided and fighting

15:17with each other. Yes. Yes.

15:19Could I just add one thing that's different from back then? Donald Trump at the beginning of this year

15:23was nine points up. He's nine points under. And because of Chuck's work and others in our caucus,

15:28we have people who have risen to this moment like Governor Cooper in North Carolina and like

15:34Jared Brown in Ohio and who are deciding to run because they believe they can win and they're

15:40patriots. And on the other side, you have people that are literally stepping out of the ring.

15:44And so it is a very different situation and they know it.

15:47It's much different than last time. We are on our front foot. People now know,

15:51as Amy said, how bad Trump is. His numbers went from 52 to 43.

15:55We are unified and we've been on the same message for months already since the beginning of July.

16:01Number two. And number three, we have seen that Trump and vote through pocket rescissions,

16:08which they just put forward and all these other issues don't really want to obey the budget process.

16:13The policy matter. Can Democrats agree to a government funding bill if the White House carries

16:17out this pocket rescission or is that red line? We need a bipartisan proposal to to avoid a government

16:24shutdown. We are working on it. They are not right now. They're not talking to us. Yes.

16:29Then does a bipartisan proposal mean taking proper precision off the table?

16:33We need a bipartisan proposal where we have real input. Yes. No, no, no. Her.

16:39Would you be willing to consider a clean CR just for a temporary amount of time?

16:45As I said, we are willing to sit down and negotiate a bipartisan proposal with significant

16:51Democratic input. So far, they are not. Yes.

16:54Leader Schumer, why haven't you met with Momdani yet? Are you planning on doing that?

16:59Plan to meet with them soon. Thank you. Why haven't you endorsed it?

17:01Why haven't you endorsed it? Why haven't you endorsed it?

17:03Senator, I think you have to have been twice.

17:05Thank you, guys.

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