Schumer: Our Democracy Is Being Taken Away

Schumer: “Thank you, and it’s great to be here, and I thank Maya for her inspiring words. I want to thank Senator Warnock, what a great beacon he has been in so many different ways, and he’s our lead sponsor of the John Lewis Act. I want to thank Senator Durbin from being here, Senator Padilla, Senator Blumenthal, Senator Booker is expected, and our great partners, the Leadership Council on Civil Rights — (Cheering and Applause) — the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and so many others, 200 groups, and that’s good trouble. And that’s not just an inspirational phrase, no, it’s a challenge to every one of us. Especially at these times when our democracy is being taken away, when it’s at risk, when we see so many terrible things happen, the Justice Department being weaponized. Instead of keeping us safe, it’s just going after Trump’s political enemies, real and imagined. And so it’s been clear when we fight for democracy, when we protect democracy, we got to fight fire with fire. We’re not going to stand idly by, as Maya said, we’re not going to let them revert to Jim Crow, and if you don’t think they want to revert to Jim Crow, just look what they did in the SAVE Act, which went back to Jim Crow for the whole nation. By so making it hard, they said you need ID, and they made it so hard to show ID that probably half the people in America couldn’t vote. We wouldn’t let it pass. Democrats, they needed our vote, they went to court, many of us, Durbin, myself, and others, and we beat them in court, but it shows why we need legislation, because these guys are undoing everything in every way they can. They don’t want poor people to vote. They don’t want people of color to vote. They don’t want Democrats to vote. They don’t believe in democracy. We do. And so we see what they do to people everywhere, a heinous act of legislation, great ugly betrayal, taking away people’s health care, taking food out of the mouths of hungry children to get billionaires a tax break. Shame on them. I can’t believe it. No principle, no conscience, shame, shame, shame, shame. American people are angry in its righteous anger. They have made it harder to vote throughout the decades. The Republican Party, now accentuated by the awful MAGA group, they are doing all of this stuff. So I am proud to stand here. I’m going to cut my remarks short because it is hot, but no amount of heat is going to stop us from getting this done. Thank you, everybody. Appreciate everybody being here. (Cheering and Applause) Thank you, Maya.”