Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Need To Complete Pending Senate Business Before The End of 118th Congress

Washington, D.C. - Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on the need to approve funding, pass vital legislation including the NDAA and confirm well-qualified judges. Below are Senator Schumer's remarks, which can also be viewed here:

The Senate comes back into session with a lot of work left to do before the end of the year.

First, we need to make sure the government is funded beyond the December 20^th deadline. Otherwise, we'll have a shutdown right before Christmas, something no sane person could possibly want for the country.

As always, it will take Republican cooperation to fund the government and avoid a Christmas time shutdown. I am hopeful that we'll get it done smoothly - just as we did back in September.

Second, we also need to pass the National Defense Authorization Act to keep America safe, to take care of our troops, and to hold the line against America's adversaries around the world.

The NDAA has passed through the Senate for over six decades without fail. This year should not be an exception, provided that our Republican colleagues work with us in good faith to finish the job.

Meanwhile, there are other priorities we also want to make progress on before the end of the year, which will only happen if we have bipartisan support.

One of the issues the top of the list is disaster aid funding, to replenish funding to vital programs that support communities in times of disaster.

We've all seen the destruction in states like Tennessee, North Carolina and Florida battered by recent hurricanes. But there are many more communities like these that have also suffered in the northeast, the south, the west coast, Hawaii, and everywhere in between. I hope we can work together to make sure no community is left behind.

We also need to continue making progress on the Farm Bill, to ensure we don't go over the so-called dairy cliff which looms at the end of December. Again, our Republican colleagues have to decide if they want to work with us to get it done. Democrats are ready to work.

Finally, the Senate will continue fulfilling our constitutional obligation to consider and confirm President Biden's highly qualified judicial nominees and nominees to other agencies.

Today the Senate will vote on the nomination of Jonathan Hawley to be U.S. District Judge for the Central District of Illinois.

And I've also filed cloture on Embry Kidd to serve as a Circuit Court Judge for the Eleventh Circuit.

We will vote on these and other nominees in the coming days. We will work to get as many confirmed as possible.

So, the bottom line is that we have a lot of work ahead. I thank my colleagues for their cooperation.

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