Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Condemning The Trump Administration And Russell Vought’s Use Of Federal Workers As Political Pawns, Calling For Republicans To Get Serious About Ending Shutdown

Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor to call out Donald Trump and Russell Vought for their despicable incompetence in accidentally firing 800 federal workers, demand the administration reverse every single vengeful firing made last week, and urge Republicans to negotiate an end to the shutdown. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Last week, the Trump administration vindictively fired thousands of federal workers in a mistaken attempt to try and hurt Democrats in this shutdown.

Let's be very clear, nobody forced the administration to do these firings. They did it because they wanted to, period. They did it on their own. This decision, which Trump made, and his administration made and Russell Vought made, was so callous, so unnecessary, so deeply hurtful to hard-working Americans.

And yesterday we learned it’s even worse than we thought. Yesterday, we learned that the administration admitted in court that nearly 800 employees at HHS were laid off in error. So, not only are they mean and vicious and uncaring, but they're also incompetent. It’s despicable.

How careless, how incompetent is this administration? How cruel are they that they'll throw away people’s livelihoods like this with sort of the flick of a pen, without even examining what's happening?

These accidental firings show you how stupid it is for Russell Vought to treat federal workers as political pawns. It’s destructive. It’s cruel. It’s vicious. And it will backfire in the eyes of the public. That's why even some Republicans in Congress have urged the administration not to take vengeance out on federal workers.

The administration should reverse every single firing from last week and should stop playing politics with people's livelihoods. They should instead get serious about negotiation with Congress to end this shutdown at once.