Press Releases

After refusing on principle even to hold hearings for President Obama's nominee to fill a Supreme Court vacancy with nearly eight months before the 2016 election, Senate Republicans today rushed through the confirmation of President Trump's nominee only eight days before an election he is on track to lose.

The bill brought to the Senate Floor today is yet another example of Republicans’ refusal to take this pandemic seriously. It shows that Senate Republicans have no interest in providing relief to the American people, who so desperately need it, or in defeating this virus.

“The Republicans are deeply divided. It's awfully tough to negotiate when [Secretary] Mnuchin has to go from Pelosi over to McConnell to find out whether McConnell will get people and [Senator] Thune just pointed out, they don't have the votes over there.”
 

[President Trump] is erratic, he’s impulsive. You don’t know what he believes from time to time and he sends mixed messages. And as I understand it from McConnell, he's got at least half of his Caucus who don't want to do anything.

President Trump’s decision to walk away from the ongoing negotiations to give relief to people and businesses is another stark example of him telling the American people: ‘you’re on your own.’

Today, the House expressed its concern and its disgust at allegations that medical personnel performed serious and invasive surgical and medical procedures on women detained at the Department of Homeland Security's Irwin County Detention Center without their proper consent. 

I hope that the President and First Lady remain asymptomatic and recover quickly. COVID-19 is a dangerous and deadly disease, one that has already taken the lives of more than 200,000 of our fellow Americans. This remains a highly contagious disease that can affect any person, and we all share a responsibility to slow its spread by wearing masks, washing hands, and practicing social distancing.

Sadly, but not surprisingly, President Trump has taken another unprincipled and polarizing action – one that is at odds with the principles stated by Senator Mitch McConnell, Senator Lindsey Graham, and the Republican members of the U.S. Senate, who were so sanctimonious in 2016 in asserting that it would be wrong to confirm a nominee to the Supreme Court in the last year of a President’s term. Their craven commitment to situational ethics remains ever apparent.

The legislation introduced today by House Democrats continues our work to root out corruption and make government more accountable to the American people.

More than 200,000 Americans have now died from COVID-19, nearly thirty times as many Americans who were killed in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 79% of U.S. COVID-19 deaths have been seniors over the age of sixty-five. 

Tonight, Jewish families in America and across the world will begin observing Rosh Hashanah and wishing each other a sweet new year.