Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Providing An Update On Progress Made Over The Weekend On Government Funding Legislation

Washington, D.C. –  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on continuing to make progress on omnibus government funding legislation. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks:

Appropriators are racing around the clock to finish the last major item on our to-do list for 2022: an omnibus package that will keep the government funded into next fall.

It was another extremely busy weekend for appropriators, the members, and their staffs. I was on the phone all day Friday, Saturday, Sunday—every ten minutes—with my colleagues, with the committees, and my staff, my great staff who hardly slept this weekend, to help finalize a deal.

Sunday night was the first night of Hanukkah, but unfortunately, I had to spend 75% of the night on the phone with my colleagues and staff. My family, of course, was very understanding and I appreciate that. Sleep has been hard to come by for many who are part of the appropriations process.

And while the world enjoyed a truly heart-stopping World Cup final, staff were on the clock working diligently to keep our government funded; I thank all of them for their great work.

Much of my focus today, tonight, and tomorrow will remain on getting the omnibus done. Despite having a little more work to do, the omnibus continues heading in the right direction. We must wrap the whole process up and vote on final passage before the end of the week. It won’t be easy, but we are working hard so we can get it done before the end of the week and be with our families for Christmas.

Once the omnibus comes before the Senate, I’m confident that both sides will find things in it they can enthusiastically support.

We all know the omnibus will be the best way to ensure that our kids, our veterans, our small businesses, and our military continue to have full access to vital services and programs they depend on. It’s not going to be everything anybody wants, that’s for sure, but it’s far preferable to a CR, which will leave the country high and dry, and it’s certainly preferable to a government shutdown.

The omnibus will also allow the Senate to pass the Electoral Count Act into law, which my colleagues on the Rules Committee, Senators Klobuchar and Blunt, have done great work on. And finalizing the omnibus is critical—absolutely critical—for supporting our friends in Ukraine and for fully implementing bipartisan bills like CHIPS and Science, and the PACT Act and more.

So just as both parties cooperated on bipartisan achievements like CHIPS, Gun Safety, Veterans benefits, Respect for Marriage—and so much more—let’s finish this session by passing an omnibus by working together in good faith.

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