Thank you very much for coming. The republican credo can be summed up this way theres the rich, and the middle class. The whole year can be summed up in that one sentence. Republicans have spent every waking hour catering to the wealthy special interests leaving the middle class and , those wanting to get there as an afterthought. Republicans have cemented their legacy as the party of the rich. If you ask the top 1 how Senate Republicans did this year, they would give them an a. If you ask the wealthy corporations how they did this year, they would give them an a. If you ask the americans how they did this year, they would give the republican senators an a. Wealthy americans who took advantage of tax loopholes how they did this year, they would give the republican senators an a. But, if you ask middleclass americans, they would give them a big, fat, red, f. This week crystallizes the last year and a half in the senate than any other. In the same week, they lower the tax rate on wealthy americans, they are willing to fund the chip program that provides health care for kids. Failing to fund the chip program that provides health care for kids. They are shortchanging millions of middleclass americans who lost their homes to wildfires and historic storms. In the same week they are preserving the loophole they said they would close, republicans are failing to provide a boost in lending of funding of both military and he domestic programs that the middle class relies on like infrastructure, funding to combat the opioid crisis, pension relief, and more. Focused een so republican colleagues have been so focused on taxes, they have been unable to Reach Agreement on these issues for fear it would upset their tax bill. That has been the story of the year. The last three months, republicans have buried their heads in their tax bill, zealously slashing taxes for those who need it the least while leaving the critical middleclass programs behind. That has been the story this year. Republicans have not accomplished watch, but what they have accomplished has only benefited the wealthy and wellconnected. It reminds me of the old woody allen seen. Scene, woody allen is in a diner and the guy says to him, this food is terrible. End woody says ytea says yeah, but the portions are small. [laughter] they havent accomplished much, but what they have a comp list has benefited the wealthy. Republicans will claim they had year according to three things judge gorsuch, their use to roll back regulations, and the tax bill. All three things will help the wealthy and powerful. They will help corporation, but they wont help the middle Senate Republicans engaged in obstruction. Ge that wouldud rule on the set of corporations instead of people. And they capped the year by l, whicha tax bil provides huge tax breaks for the rich and huge corporations, while providing crumbs for the middle class. That is what they did do. We have not even got into what they failed to do. They tried for months to repeal the Affordable Care act, which soa that theys havering. Pca. Istently undermined now, when premiums go up, the American People will know President Trump and the republicans are to blame. They failed to rebuild our infrastructure, something that would create millions of good paying jobs, despite the president s promise. Wages have barely budged and our republican friends have not done anything to actually lift those wages. It helps mainly the rich. Growth is nearly flat. The president and republicans promised they would stop outsourcing, but that has not happened. Even the companies the president said he would personally work with have sent jobs to mexico. Leaving families in the midwest and across the country without the income they need this holiday season. Time and time again the middleclass was an afterthought or outright forgotten by Senate Republicans and President TrumpPresident Trump promised to remember the forgotten man. The forgotten man is still waiting to be remembered. Long republicans have been hell bent on pursuing a partisan agenda. Right out of the gate on taxes and health care they used reconciliation. A partisan process that said democrats get lost. They did not even pretend they were being bipartisan their view of bipartisanship has billto write the themselves, introduce it and get democrats to support it. Has failedgle bill because the democratic filibuster. Let me say it again. Before republicans blame obstructionist democrats in the ofate for their lack compliments, they should remember the democrats did not filibuster a single bill at tehe 60 vote threshold. We hope the future will be different. We hope they forget about the partisan agenda to leave behind the middleclass and those struggling, but if they dont, the political problems they are having a look at worst. People are standing up and rejecting the republican agenda, including in states that been ruby red for years. We are seeing an incredible swing away from the republicans and toward the democrats come from one end of the country to the other. If republicans continue to hurt the middleclass, if they rich,ue to cowtow to the they are in for a reckoning next november. Thanks, chuck. If you are going to be doing your shopping at the gift shops in springfield, illinois, for your favorite lincoln mementos, just a member that sign that says if you break it, you own it. That is our message to republicans. What you have broken you own. The president said, we have repealed obamacare. What it means, of course, is that 13 million americans will use Health Insurance protection because of this tax bill. And many others, millions of others will see their Health Insurance premiums go up 10 to 20 or more because of this republican tax bill. The American People say health care is the number one priority. It was the driving issue in the Virginia Campaign and look what republicans have done when it comes to protection in america for health care. They have broken promises, too. Heard . Y speeches have we how many times have the republicans post for holy pictures when it comes to our National Debt . How many speeches have they given about the sanctity of fiscal conservatism and cutting our debt . They just added 1. 5 trillion to taxNational Debt with their bill to give tax breaks to the wealthiest people in america and the biggest corporations. Thats the biggest broken promise any republican could make. The third one, of course, is the broken promise President Trump and republicans made to the working families across america. They told working families, you will be our priority. We hear your suffering and we are on your side. Look at that tax bill. Try to imagine for a minute how giving a tax break to the wealthiest people in america is going to help those who are working families and middle income families. We know that by the year 2027 breaks willthe tax go to the top 1 in america. Another broken promise and they own it. They will own it all the way until the election in november of next year. You. Ank you know, i have to say, at the beginning of this year i held out some hope that President Trump was serious about what he said over and over again on the campaign trail, that he was going to put workers first and fight for the middle class. And i hoped that maybe, just maybe, republicans in congress would take those, promises seriously too. But instead, as senator schumer and senator durbin said, this you more than ever republicans have meant clear exactly what it is they want to do. Take from the very people President Trump said he would help and give it to the wealthy and special interests. Thanks to the work of people across the country who stood up and fought back, republicans have not always succeeded. But one way they have jammed agenda their damaging is by rolling back, rule after rule designed to protect our workers and retirees and students and women. Instead of workers helping workers left behind in todays economy, republicans made it easier for corporations to hide workplace dangers from workers, putting those workers lives at risk. They rolled back the rule designed to make sure that everyone gets paid fairly onthejob. Instead of dealing with the retirement crisis, keeping workers up at night, republicans options to help them save for retirement. And rather than simply leaving key protections in place to help all students get a high quality public education, which should not become commercial, republicans acted to undermine those guardrails. Even though millions of men and women get affordable and quality care at title x Family Planning clinics, care that they would not otherwise be able to afford, get rid of vowed to rightwing ideology and made it possible to discriminate. A choice which could be people who are most in need of care going without. List ofts a long damage done to the middleclass. The democrats and republicans and people across the country. And i could keep going. There was a lot more. With so many middleclass hurtrs and families being by these policies, it is worth asking, who got the help. The answer is already clear. Those at the top. Massive corporations that care more about boosting profits than treating the workers fairly. And special interests that drown out women who cannot access the health care they need and children who all deserve a quality public education. So, this is not a mystery. It is very clear her republicans are putting first and who frankly, isnt on the list at all. The massive burden they have put on the middleclass is wrong. For families and for our country as a whole. This is not the direction we should be headed in. The democrats know that and you Better Believe that people across the country know it. 2018 ready tointo fight back harder than ever against the backwards policies and even more backwards priorities. This Republicancontrolled Congress is forcing on our families and communities. Thank you, senator murray. And to all of my colleagues, this year has made it very clear who the republicans are fighting for and who we as democrats are fighting for. They over and over again have talked about they have made the focus on the wealthy and the wellconnected. A tax giveaway for the top 1 . , democratser again are putting middleclass families first. That is what has been happening all year and as we go into next year and look at the budget fights we expect the same thing. The wealthy and the wellconnected being fought for by republicans. Families beingpublican fought for by democrats. From the white house on down they had made a lot of promises. I can tell you coming from michigan, they made a lot of promises in 2016 to the people i represent. They promised they would invest in our infrastructure, putting people back to work, rebuilding roads and bridges and water and sewer systems in michigan and beyond. And yet, middleclass families are still waiting. When i think of the huge, new deficit that they are willing to givee 1. 5 trillion to huge tax breaks to the wealthiest americans and that is ok with them. If they were going to take that 1. 5 trillion deficit, you could create 22 million jobs. Middleclass jobs. Rebuilding america. They promised they would end outsourcing and crackdown on countries like china that cheat on our trade laws and bring jobs home. I remember this president telling people in michigan, day one, i will label china as a currency manipulator. He did not do that day one. He did create new Business Opportunities for himself in china. And his family in china. But people in michigan and across the country are still waiting. We have lost 5 million jobs because of currency manipulation. And people are waiting because he has yet to do what he promised us. Are not talking about shipping jobs overseas. This tax bill does not close any loopholes. In fact, it creates a big new one. 4 billion for Oil Companies that was not there before. It would not even take up my bring jobs home act that says my workers lose their jobs because the country is shipping the factory overseas, they do not have to pay for it through the tax code. Somehow, republicans were ok with closing a loophole that says if somebody wants to move from the west coast to michigan for a new job, they cant write off their move anymore, but the company can. So, from taxes to jobs to peoples pensions, to fighting the opioid epidemic, republicans are great at making promises. And fortunately, middleclass. Families are still living for them to keep them. All families in michigan and across the nation deserve to know that somebody has their backs today and tomorrow and we are here to say, we do. Strongready with a infrastructure bill that was put on the president s desk in january. We are still waiting to get feedback. It would create 50 million jobs. We are ready to pass the legislation that would help Pension Funds get back on solid footing, so our country actually keeps his promise to people who have worked all of their lives. The just want to know their pension will be there. We are ready to give real help, not empty promises, to communities across the nation that have been devastated by the opioid epidemic, including allowing the government to be able to negotiate lower prices for nalaxone, which is critical. We are ready to help create good jobs here at home, instead of exporting our jobs overseas and in 2018, the democrats are renewing our promise to stand with middleclass families every day. Themiddle class built of country. It is time that america returned the favor. Questions . Repealing the gop tax b ill. Tax bill. There are probably a small number of provisions that would not repeal, but it certainly would be a drastic overhaul, aiming at the middle class and not the wealthy and powerful. So much of this year, the democrats [indiscernible] they have gotten a lot of things that you raised concerns around. First, we have been able to when donald trump swept into office with the Republican House and senate, they thought they would get huge amounts of things done. The only major thing they can point to is the tax bill. And even on that, the public doesnt like it. Why . Because we democrats have been relentless in letting people know what is really in the bill. I believe it will be an anchor around the ankles of every publican who voted for it or supports it. So, we are in the minority. We cannot control the agenda. We wished for bipartisanship, but given the situation, whice had a successful year. The way to look at it is, all the bad things we stop them from doing and more importantly, or just as importantly, the public knows how bad they are. Thats part of our job in the minority. Now that the tax bill is in place, can we talk about the impact on the dependent state. Top. s the paradigm of the and daca, if you could talk about that. And, terms of the state local deductibility the tax bill is the most antisuburban tax bill we have seen in a long time. Suburb after suburb has people who depend on that state and local deductibility. They tend to be republican suburbs. Whether they are the suburbs of seattle or detroit or the suburbs of chicago,. Or the suburbs of new york. So, i think it is a very bad move for them, in terms of the substance of america. We prize our suburbs. And in. Terms of the politics of america. Were not going to address any of those things until we see what the house is going to do. You talked about bipartisanship. Given how this year has gone, what is your assessment of whether you can find an area of bipartisan cooperation . We tried over and over again, even with the tax bill. Three democrats and three republicans sat down and came up with a better plan. K immediately, the Republican Leadership took the republicans away. Out. s an article the Republican Leadership, some people saydid, lets work with the democrats. The leadership said, no. Why . The hard right has such a hard rule over the Republican Party that any work in the middle splits their party. Politically, it is a disaster for them and substantively it is the americanr people. One year ago, we put infrastructure on the president s desk. Some days he said that publicprivate partnerships and other days he says publicprivate partnerships dont work. We hoped some of the money from bringing back from jobs overseas would go into infrastructure. They used it all to reduce taxes on the wealthiest corporations. Ope springs eternal, but there would have to be a real reversal from the way they have operated now. Why have they operated that way . The hard right has power over the Republican Party and scares their leadership, membership and pulls them in the direction that they are only helping the wealthy, the powerful corporations. Not the middle class. If they head in the direction as the theme to be, cutting medicare and medicaid in social security, every democrat will be united in fighting them tooth and nail. Senator schumer, all of you voted. Sen. Schumer we are not talking about that issue until we see with the house does. Iporter one of the things did not hear on your list was the failure to provide the longterm budget. Sen. Schumer we mentioned all the things they have not done because they are so busy on the taxes. Reporter what do you think it will take . Sen. Schumer we are waiting to see what the house does. We are not commenting on that right now. Reporter [indiscernible] hope we will we see that. Our view is the best place to get this done. If he can put something on the floor in the house put something on the floor and the president signs it, great. Best place tohe get this done is the caps view and the omnibus. Thank you, everybody. Reporter is there a part of the tax bill which you would appeal . Child tax credit. We proposed a bigger one. We would not repeal what they did. We would try to make it better. Christmas eve on cspan. The dedication for the museum of the bible in washington dc. Bowsers include muriel and the israeli ambassador to the u. S. 9 50 p. M. Eastern here on cspan. Vice president pence made a surprise visit to u. S. Troops in afghanistan. Due to technical difficulties, we join his remarks in progress. This is 15 minutes. From the safe haven of afghanistan, the terrorists struck the United States on september 11, 2001. We all remember the day. Saw 2977hen we innocent men and