Date: March 28, 2017
Schumer Statement on President Trump’s Climate
Protection Roll-Back
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today released the following statement after President Trump signed an executive order rolling back efforts to fight climate change: “If there was any doubt that big oil was back in charge under the Trump administration, today’s executive order lays that to rest. It reads as if it was written in an Exxon board room, with no regard for the health and safety of the American people, or the planet. This executive order is nothing more than a giveaway to big oil at the expense of the health and safety of our children and the bank accounts of hard working middle-class families. Simply put, the Trump administration has put the health of the American people and the future of our planet on the back burner all for the sake of lining the pockets of big oil and extreme-right special interests. The United States should be investing in cleaner water and cleaner air and in renewable energy, not ignoring basic scientific facts and rolling back the great progress we’ve made in addressing climate change.
“Today’s announcement comes on the heels of the egregious decision to reverse fuel economy standards that are saving American families money at the pump, making air cleaner to breathe and reducing our dependence on foreign oil. The Trump administration also passed a law making it easier for big oil companies to hide bribes to foreign governments and proposed a budget blueprint that would eviscerate American investments in science, research, public health and safety. I will never stop fighting to protect the environment, the integrity of our government, and the health and safety of our children, and I hope the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans will appreciate the significance of doing so too.”
Date: April 2, 2017
Schumer to GOP: Sit Down And Work Together to Come Up with New, Mainstream SCOTUS Nominee, Avoid Nuclear Option Crisis Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer this morning appeared on NBC’s Meet thePress, offering Senate Republicans a proposal to avoid changing the rules of the Senate in order to confirm President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Neil Gorsuch: let’s sit down, work together, and produce a mainstream nominee. Below is a transcript of his offer:
Democratic Leader Schumer: “Let me make a proposal to make break this problem — to maybe break this problem that we have, okay? It looks like Gorsuch will not reach the 60 vote margin. So instead of changing the rules, which is up to Mitch McConnell and the Republican majority, why doesn’t President Trump, Democrats and Republicans in the Senate sit down and try to come up with a mainstream nominee? Look, when a nominee doesn’t get 60 votes, you shouldn’t change the rules. You should change the nominee, and let’s just — give me one minute here because this is important. Let’s look at the history, okay? Our nominee was Merrick Garland. Mitch McConnell broke 230 years of precedent and didn’t call him up for a vote. It wasn’t in the middle of an election campaign; it was March. Second, then, now we — looks like we have the 60 — the votes to prevent Gorsuch from getting on.
Now, that doesn’t mean you have to change the rules. Each side didn’t get their nominee. Let’s sit down and come together. Our Republican friends are acting like, you know, they’re a cat on the top of a tree, and they think they have to jump off with all of the damage that entails. Come back off the tree, sit down, and work with us, and we’ll produce a mainstream nominee.”
