[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 121 (Thursday, July 18, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S4926]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Senate Legislative Agenda

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, last night, we saw the President of the 
United States, who has spent years maligning America, continue to 
malign Americans. The President once again whipped up a toxic brew of 
racism, xenophobia, and nativism, with his crowd chanting ``send her 
back'' about a duly elected Member of Congress and a U.S. citizen--one 
of the oldest and ugliest racist attacks against Americans of color.
  The way the President appeals to the worst instincts of people and 
what was shouted and chanted at the rally last night without the 
President's upbraiding them was despicable and eerily familiar to what 
happens in dictatorships.
  We all know that the only way President Trump will stop this is for 
Republicans--his own party--to demand it. The only way President Trump 
will stop is when Republicans on the other side have the honor, the 
decency, and the courage to tell him to stop. All we hear is silence 
and diversions from Leader McConnell.
  So, America, if you don't like what the President says, if it gets 
you upset and makes your hairs stand on end, say: This is not the 
America I know and love. Whatever your political views, call your 
Senators and tell them to tell President Trump to stop this.
  Argue the merits, argue the issues, but stop this appeal to the worst 
instincts--the worst instincts. And our Republican friends are silent.
  History will show this. This is a moment. There is no John McCain 
anymore. When this kind of bitter racism emerged in his townhall 
meeting, he rejected it publicly when somebody used it against then-
Candidate Obama. It went down in history as one of his finest moments. 
Where are the fine moments of my colleagues? There are 53 of them on 
the Republican side, and not one has spoken out strongly enough--not 
one.
  They are quiet on everything else, too--things that matter to average 
Americans to help make their lives better. Where are our Republican 
friends on the substantive issues that can help Americans of all colors 
and creeds--all colors and creeds--help Americans whether their 
families have been in this country for 11 generations, as some of my 
friends have been, or are new immigrants, as some of my friends are? In 
New York, we have everybody.
  Here are some of the things our Republican friends can do. The House 
has passed legislation to improve our healthcare system and intervene 
in the lawsuit against eliminating protections for Americans with 
preexisting conditions, but Leader McConnell--once again silent--sent 
the bill to his legislative graveyard. The House has passed legislation 
to close loopholes in our gun background check system. This is no 
longer controversial. Ninety percent of Americans are for it--90 
percent. Leader McConnell has sent that bill, too, to the legislative 
graveyard. Climate change, voting rights, paycheck fairness for women--
all are in the legislative graveyard.
  Where are my Republican friends on those issues? Why aren't they 
standing up and saying that we should at least debate them here in the 
Senate? Democrats have had to petition for weeks to even be allowed 
amendment votes on issues of importance to the American people.
  It is a sorry state of affairs here in the Senate. I believe it has 
frustrated many of my Republican friends--I hear it from them 
privately--as well as us Democrats, because while we may not always 
agree on legislative solutions to a problem--we are not all supposed to 
agree; this is not a dictatorship--we want to debate the issues. We 
want to make forward progress.
  My Republican colleagues know that they didn't come here just to 
rubberstamp an assembly line of the President's nominees, judicial and 
executive, and neither did we, but under Leader McConnell, legislative 
progress is the lowest and often last priority.