Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Introducing Landmark Anti-Corruption Legislation
Washington, D.C. – Today, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke on the Senate floor to introduce the Anti-Corruption Bureau Creation Act, a landmark piece of legislation that will revitalize our anti-corruption institutions, allow citizens to sue to recover money earned through corruption, and establish a new, independent bureau that brings all federal corruption guardrails under one roof. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:
Today, I am introducing the Anti-Corruption Bureau Creation Act: the biggest, boldest, and broadest proposal ever put forward to revitalize our anti-corruption institutions.
The scope and scale of Donald Trump’s corruption dwarfs anything we’ve seen in American history, which is why Congress has to respond more strongly than ever before.
In just 18 months, the Trump family has cashed in on the influence of the presidency to the tune of more than four billion, billion dollars.
The same corrupt practices that Trump is using to rake in billions are also causing Americans to pay an extra $3,100 in higher costs each year.
Trump profits, Americans pay.
Our grifter-in-chief has tried every scam in the book and invented new ones we never imagined.
The bill I’m introducing today with my colleagues Senators Padilla, Merkley, and Kim is designed to stop Trump’s “Art of the Steal.”
The first goal of our bill is to get Americans their money back.
The bill will create a private right of action that allows Americans – including state attorneys general representing the public – to sue to recover the money Trump and his family have taken from them.
The False Claims Act already allows citizens to file lawsuits against people who defraud the government and share part of the civil penalty if they win, so it only makes sense that we expand that ability so citizens can sue people who use government influence to defraud the public.
If Donald Trump or one of his lackeys, sons, cronies uses government influence to steal from you, you deserve your day in court.
The second goal of our bill is to stop this corruption from happening again. Instead of draining the swamp, Trump blew our anti-corruption institutions to smithereens.
He installed MAGA loyalists at the Office of Government Ethics and the Office of the U.S. Special Counsel – watchdogs whose whole mission is to stop the same type of corruption Trump is now committing.
Trump also neutered the Federal Election Commission (FEC), which Congress created to stop the corruption Watergate exposed.
My bill would establish a new, independent Anti-Corruption Bureau that brings all the guardrails Trump has weakened under one roof.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau is a sum greater than its parts.
The Bureau would have subpoena power to give it real investigatory strength, meaningful enforcement authority, and the ability to disgorge ill-gotten gains.
We want to create a one-stop shop to catch the corruption and make them pay up – an agency with real teeth and real independence.
It will be led by seven Senate-confirmed commissioners – three Republicans, three Democrats, and one independent.
Trump won’t be able to commandeer the Bureau because our bill explicitly outlaws trying to weaponize it, with fines and jailtime for people who try.
Congress can’t defund the Bureau, because our bill establishes a self-sustaining funding source for the agency, much like the Fed.
And the president can’t dismantle the Bureau by purging its members since our bill requires a panel of judges to appoint temporary replacements so the Bureau always has a quorum.
The bill is just common sense – a basic, straightforward way to make sure all facets of government serve the people and no one else.
Americans are demanding we go back to a government that they can actually trust.
This legislation tells them that we hear them and that we’re going to fight for them with the strongest measures we’ve ever proposed.
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