[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 182 (Thursday, November 14, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S6582]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Senate Legislative Agenda

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, for the past few weeks, including this 
morning, the Republican leader has amazingly accused the Democrats of 
being uninterested in making progress for the American people because 
we are so distracted by the impeachment inquiry into President Trump. 
It is a ludicrous charge, not the least because Leader McConnell has 
shuttered the Senate when it comes to legislative business.
  The House has passed over 250 bills that Leader McConnell has taken 
no action on here in the Senate. Leader McConnell proudly called 
himself the Grim Reaper and blocked just about everything that came 
through the House long before impeachment was even being talked about. 
So this idea that impeachment is blocking us from doing things belies 
Senator McConnell's record. Let me repeat it. The House has passed 250 
bills, and Senator McConnell has taken no action on them from January 
forward.
  There are lots of these bills we could have put on the floor this 
week, but there has been not a one. The Republicans just block and 
block. They block legislation to protect Americans with preexisting 
conditions, to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, and even to 
secure our elections from foreign interference.
  A few minutes ago, I heard Leader McConnell say that everything was 
fine with the elections and that we don't need any more legislation. Go 
talk to the election officials around the States. The States are the 
ones that have the say. The bottom line is they think we need to do 
more, and the experts think we need to do more. Only Leader McConnell 
doesn't. Again, he is blocking that. If Russia interferes in 2020--and 
I hope it will not--all eyes will be on the Republican leader, who has 
repeatedly prevented us from moving forward on bipartisan legislation 
to make our elections safer.
  To show another example of the legislative graveyard, in a few 
minutes, the two Senators from Connecticut--Murphy and Blumenthal--will 
be moving forward on bipartisan background checks, H.R. 8. It is 
overwhelmingly supported by the American people. Senator Murphy and 
Senator Blumenthal will ask for unanimous consent, and the Republicans 
will object. So, while the Republican leader accuses the Democrats of 
being too distracted to make progress, he has turned the Senate into a 
legislative graveyard, where we hardly ever vote on legislation, where 
we hardly ever have an open amendment process, where we hardly ever 
debate major issues. This is despite commitments that have been made by 
the Republican leader in the past. At one point, he said--and I am sure 
my colleagues from Connecticut will point this out--yes, we ought to do 
something on background checks. Yet nothing has happened--nothing.
  You don't even have to ask me. My friend the Republican Senator from 
Pennsylvania, Mr. Toomey, said something last week that caught my 
attention. He and I may not agree on much, but here is what he said: 
``Our Democratic colleagues have frequently criticized the Republican 
leadership and Republican majority for not legislating. Sometimes they 
have a point.'' Those are his words, not mine.
  I was here on the floor yesterday with the senior Senator from Texas, 
and we talked about how the Senate might go about trying to lower the 
costs of prescription drugs. I disagreed with the Senator's unanimous 
consent request, as it was too narrow a rifle shot. We need to do a 
whole lot more. Yet we agreed we could work through the issues if the 
Republican leader would only allow a debate on the floor whereby both 
sides could offer amendments and receive votes. We Democrats very much 
want to vote on legislation that would maintain protections for the 
people who have preexisting conditions. We Democrats very much want to 
have a vote on allowing Medicare to negotiate with the drug companies 
to dramatically lower drug prices. Let's have a debate on all of these. 
Who is stopping that? It is not the Democrats. It is the Republican 
leader.
  The fact of the matter is, the kinds of open debates for which we 
wish and the American people wish have not happened in Leader 
McConnell's legislative graveyard. The man who proudly called himself 
the Grim Reaper goes far too far in accusing the Democrats of stifling 
progress. Instead, he should take a hard look in the mirror.