Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Honoring Hispanic Heritage Month

Washington, D.C. - Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor to honor Hispanic Heritage Month. Below are Senator Schumer's remarks, which can also be viewed here:

I'd like to wish my colleagues and Americans everywhere a happy Hispanic Heritage Month, which began on September 15^th.

Hispanic Heritage Month crystalizes perfectly why we live in an amazing country. You can't tell America's story without talking about Hispanic Americans, who have left their mark in every corner of life - entertainment, the sciences, the arts, our food, music, sports, our military, and government.

Hispanic Heritage Month is perhaps more important today than it ever has been. Some politicians are trying furiously to demonize America's diversity. But diversity is what makes America strong. It's what makes America wondrous. And that's why I've always fought to defend Dreamers and fight for comprehensive immigration reform. It's why I've worked with the Biden-Harris Administration to lower insulin costs, create good-paying jobs, make our communities safer, and help Hispanic Owned businesses pick themselves up from COVID.

I'll also fight for housing reform so that Latinos, like all Americans, can become homeowners. And finally I will fight for the Latino museum to honor the contributions of Hispanics and Latinos to our nation and so much more. We can get it done! Si se puede.

In the Senate, we have confirmed a historic 37 Latino judicial nominees, 22 of them women. We appointed the first Latina to serve on the Federal Reserve in the Board's 109-year history, the first Hispanic judge on the 7^th Circuit, and the first openly-LGBTQ+ judge for the district of Puerto Rico.

And speaking of Puerto Rico, there are few causes that mean more to me as a senator than helping Puerto Ricans have greater opportunity and a better life. A few months ago, I championed legislation that would expand SNAP benefits to Puerto Ricans, who have been unjustly excluded from this program for decades. It's one reason why it's crucial we make progress on the Farm Bill, because Puerto Ricans deserve the justice that's long been denied to them.

America's strength has always been rooted in our diversity, on our immigrant heritage, on being a home to Americans of all walks of life.

So today, I want to celebrate the contributions of Hispanic Americans to the country we call home. Without them, America as we know it would not be possible.

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