TRANSCRIPT: Leader Schumer Demanding Republicans And Trump Negotiate To Reopen The Government And Address The Healthcare Crisis After Last Night’s Complete Repudiation Of GOP’s[...]

Washington, D.C. - Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke at a press conference following last night's election results and the complete repudiation of Donald Trump and Republicans' policies, calling to Republicans to work with Democrats to end the government shutdown and address the skyrocketing healthcare costs. Below are Senator Schumer's remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Last night was a shellacking for the Republicans and for Donald Trump. Last night was clear, unmistakable, as a repudiation of Trump and a vindication of what Democrats have been fighting for over the last several months and all year. Americans have been feeling the real world repercussions of Trump's policies for months. They're having trouble paying their bills. And now this month as they're getting their healthcare insurance premium vouchers, they're just scared to death of how they're going to pay it. And they know that Democrats are fighting for them and Republicans are doing nothing, nothing to address the healthcare crisis. And last night, Republicans felt the political repercussions. It should serve as nothing short of a five-alarm fire to the Republicans. Their high-cost house is burning, and they've only got themselves to blame. As loudly and clearly as could possibly have done, from one end of the country to the other, the American people said enough is enough, enough with Donald Trump's astronomical costs and tariffs. Right now, the president's lawyers are defending these awful tariffs in the Supreme Court. And Americans know that tariffs are a tax on them. They hate them. Maybe the Supreme Court will put Donald Trump out of his misery and declare them illegal because they are illegal. But Trump's tariffs have been one of the biggest hikes on American families in recent years.

And of course, the election last night wasn't just about tariffs. The American people said enough with Republicans' relentless attacks on healthcare. As I said, they're getting these healthcare vouchers and then there's a pit, there's a knot in their stomachs. How am I going to pay this? Am I going to do without healthcare when my children get sick? Americans all over the country are just sitting there and wondering what the heck is going on. And they also said enough with the cruelty, the corruption, the chaos that defined MAGA radicalism. When they see that Trump doesn't want to help them with healthcare or paying for food for needy people but sending $20 billion to Argentina and saying his most important thing he can do is tear down the wall in the White House, they say what the heck is going on with this guy? And last night, they showed it.

So, last night was a really good night for Democrats and our fight to lower costs, improve health care, and reach a better future for our country. But more importantly than that, last night was a great night for American families that are struggling now to make ends meet because the election showed that Democrats' control of the Senate is much closer than the people and the prognosticators realize. The more Republicans double down on raising costs and bowing down to Trump, the more their Senate majority is at risk. We are seeing this from one end of the country to the other. That's not my opinion. Guess whose opinion it is that this shutdown is hurting Trump and the Republicans? Trump himself. Here's what he said, these are his words: "The shutdown was a big factor, negative for the Republicans." That's what he said about the elections last night. It comes right from him. He knows it.

And when Leader Jeffries and I met with Donald Trump in the White House a month or so back, we told him this was going to happen. We warned him that if he didn't do something, working with us to address the healthcare needs of America and instead insisting on no negotiation with Democrats, that was a recipe for disaster for the country, and it would come back to haunt him. Last night should make it clear to Republicans that they simply cannot continue to ignore not only us but the American people for the good of the whole country.

So again, Leader Jeffries and I this morning demanded that Donald Trump sit down and meet with us to address the healthcare crisis anytime, anywhere, anyplace. We're ready to meet with him. It's time to sit down and negotiate with Democrats to bring this Republican shutdown to an end and address the healthcare crisis. Because if Donald Trump was smart, he'd recognize the election results for what they are and at least this quote indicates he may. What are they? What are these election results? They're a bolt of lightning and a wake-up call to Donald Trump to start working with us to end this crisis. The takeaway from last night was unmistakable. Democrats swept in states across the country, red and blue alike. Democrats won in New Jersey by an astounding margin, in Virginia, in Mississippi, in New York, in Pennsylvania, in Florida, in statewide elections, in citywide elections, and in local elections. From school boards to state houses, voters sided with the party that's fighting for them: the Democratic Party.

Let last night ring like a siren in Republican ears. The American people are tired of Donald Trump and his willy-nilly policies, raising their costs and just helping his very wealthy friends. The American people are tired of Donald Trump raising healthcare premiums, ignoring working people, so the way forward is simple. To Donald Trump and the Republicans: work with Democrats. Work to end your shutdown by meeting with us and addressing the healthcare crisis. The American people have spoken. It's about time the Republicans finally listen.

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Reporter: What do you say to Republicans claiming that you waited until after the elections to reopen the government? Was getting past these elections part of your calculus?

Schumer: Give me a break. We've been trying to meet with Thune and Johnson since late July. We've been trying to meet with Trump since September, and they've said no. We're not the ones waiting. They are. But maybe this election is a wake-up call to them.

Reporter: You mentioned that this election should be a wake-up call for Republicans and Trump to meet with you but Trump, in addition to saying what's on the chart, has been calling on Republicans to eliminate the filibuster and do this on their own. Why do you think that he's going to respond to your letter and agree to meet with you and Hakeem Jeffries?

Schumer: Well, look, he says he's a smart politician. The election results were not vague. They were not unclear. They were a lightning bolt. Trump, America doesn't like what you're doing. Change course.

Reporter: On health policy, are you willing to now possibly vote on a clean CR separate from the premium tax credits what would you need?

Schumer: The answer, as I said, is simple, and what we've been saying all along. Republicans who caused the shutdown by not even negotiating with us on a partisan bill, should sit down with us and address the healthcare crisis. That's the way to end the shutdown, plain and simple.

Reporter: Senator Sanders just came here and he made very clear that a vote itself to extend subsidies on Obamacare is not enough. They need immediate commitment that this will become law. Are you in the same place?

Schumer: Look, I'm not going to negotiate in public, but we must address the healthcare needs of the American people. The Republicans got to sit down and talk to us about it, and I agree with Bernie Sanders. The way to solve this is for Trump to sit down with Jeffries and I. That's why we demanded it this morning.

Reporter: President Trump has said that Republicans should nuke the filibuster because he says that you would do the same thing, or you are going to do the same thing in the future. Why is he wrong?

Schumer: Look, stop the bull, sit down and talk to us and end the healthcare crisis. Stop coming up with all of these excuses. He doesn't know anything about what we're doing here. One thing he should know, this. He's caused the shutdown. The American people know he has caused the shutdown, but the American people are demanding he bring real relief.

Reporter: Let me read you a quote that AOC said last night when asked about you not endorsing Mamdani. She said, "the Democratic Party cannot last much longer by denying the future, by trying to undercut our young, by trying to undercut the next generation of diverse and upcoming Democrats that the actual electorate and voters support." What do you say to that?

Schumer: Listen, I'm moving forward. This morning, I talked with Mayor-Elect Mamdani. We had a very, very good conversation. We said that we cared about New York City and that we look forward to working together to help the city and improve the city. I congratulated him on running a very, very good campaign, and the issue that he stressed - is being stressed by Democrats across the country, from one end of America to the other - is the high costs that the Trump administration is imposing on us and their failure to do anything about it.

Reporter: Are Democrats willing to open the government for a limited period of time so these talks can go on while people are getting paid -

Schumer: Look, I'm not going to negotiate in public, but the bottom line is simple. The election has, the American people have spoken: end the shutdown, resolve this healthcare crisis, sit down and talk with us. We've been saying it for a long time, but that is becoming obvious even to Republicans, even to Donald Trump, who's often a very stubborn guy.

Reporter: Are you supportive of the negotiations that Senator Shaheen and other Democrats are leading?

Schumer: Look, I've always encouraged Democrats and Republicans to sit down and talk with each other, but all of us Democrats agree, just about every single one of us, that Trump should sit down and talk with us as a way to solve this. Everyone agrees on that.

Reporter: So I'm asking, just following on that, would you accept a vote at a later date on healthcare to -

Schumer: I'm not negotiating in public, but I told you what the answer is. The answer is to sit down and talk to us. This election is clear as a bell, and I think it's going to affect Trump, and I think it's going to affect the Republicans. They can't - if they put their heads in the sand about this election and continue on their same path, their shutdown, their inability to help people with healthcare, tariffs and other costs, they're going to be in big trouble. And that's why I think, that's why I'm, you know, feeling, look, this is just a battle. We have a long war to fight. But the war we're fighting, the electorate supports, which is bring our costs down. Trump promised to do it on day one. Costs are going up, tariff costs dramatically up because of Trump. Electricity costs dramatically up because of Trump. Healthcare costs dramatically up because of Trump and the Republicans. Three times they refused to extend the ACA credits.

Thank you everybody.

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