Minority News Releases
Statement of Vice Chairman Leahy At The Meeting Of The Homeland Security Appropriations Conference
We are all glad that the senseless 35 day shutdown has come to an end, and that the Appropriations Committee can get to work and try to come up with something that makes sense for the American people. I believe we can reach a bipartisan agreement that funds the government and secures our country and our borders. But our choices about how to allocate American taxpayer dollars must be grounded in reality. We need to address problems with solutions rooted in facts, not merely rooted in campaign… Continue Reading
01.25.19
REAX of Vice Chairman Leahy To President Trump Proposing A Three-Week Continuing Resolution
For 35 days, President Trump has robbed hundreds of thousands of American families of their paychecks, forcing dedicated public servants to turn to foodbanks and unemployment benefits to feed and support their families. For 35 days, President Trump denied millions of taxpaying Americans access to public services. For 35 days, President Trump has inflicted pain on the American people and compromised our national security. And for what? All of this pain and suffering to end where we began.… Continue Reading
01.25.19
REAX Of Vice Chairman Leahy (D-Vt.) To Reports Of The FAA Delaying Flights Due To The Trump Shutdown
The rolling consequences of the Trump Shutdown will only become more severe the longer this madness is allowed to go on by President Trump and Republican Leadership. Hundreds of thousands of public servants and their families have been robbed of a month's pay only for the president to suggest these hardworking Americans "work along" with their local grocery stores to feed their families. Millions of Americans have been denied government services that they pay their taxes to receive. Now, the … Continue Reading
01.24.19
Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Statement On Day 34 Of The Trump Shutdown
It has been more than a month since the Trump Shutdown began - 34 days to be precise. I hear from people every day about the pain and suffering this shutdown has caused. Tomorrow hundreds of thousands of public servants will miss their second paycheck since the shutdown began, and many of these people have been on the job the entire time. They are angry and they are confused about why their paychecks are being held hostage by the President in what he appears to view as a political game. Man… Continue Reading
01.24.19
The McConnell-Trump “Compromise” Is Dead On Arrival
President Trump and Leader McConnell have held the government of the American people and hundreds of thousands of public servants and their families hostage for 34 days, demanding American taxpayers fund the President's ineffective wall and advance his extreme, anti-immigrant policies. The President cannot bargain with what he broke, and Republicans cannot make a deal among themselves and call it a "compromise." The Wall: The bill would provide $5.7 billion for President Trump's border wall. … Continue Reading
01.23.19
Senate Approps Vice Chairman Leahy Statement On Day 33 Of The Trump Shutdown
For a month now, much of the federal government has been closed for business while the President of the United States rants and raves about his personal obsession, the centerpiece of his extreme, anti-immigration agenda - a wall on our Southern border. For a month now, hundreds of thousands of dedicated public servants have gone without a paycheck, even while many of them remained on the job. Many can no longer pay their bills. They are worried about how they will put food on the table. Ma… Continue Reading
01.16.19
Appropriations Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) On Day 26 Of The Trump Shutdown
For 26 days, President Trump has held funding for our federal government hostage - using it as leverage to force Congress to provide $5.7 billion to build his ill-conceived, expensive, and ineffective wall on the southern border. For months during the campaign, he riled up his base with chants of "Build The Wall! Build The Wall!" He invented a crisis at the southern border and then told his supporters that only HE could solve it. And he said over and over again, that Mexico would pay for it… Continue Reading
01.14.19
Floor Statement Of Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy On The 24th Day Of The Trump Shutdown
We have entered the 24th day of the Trump Shutdown. For twenty-four days, hundreds of thousands of federal workers have lived with the uncertainty of when they will get their next paycheck. And for twenty-four days, nine federal departments and dozens of agencies have been closed for business-withholding vital services to millions of Americans who paid taxes to support those services. It has now become the longest government shutdown in history. We are the most powerful country in the world… Continue Reading
01.10.19
Floor Statement Of Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) On The 20th Day Of The Trump Shutdown
President Trump is right about one thing. Today, there is a crisis in America. But it is not fictitious hordes of illegal immigrants crashing against our southern border. That is nothing more than the imaginary invasion of a President obsessed with constructing a wasteful monument to himself. The obsession of a President who long before the Trump Shutdown began resorting to misinformation and stoking fear among the American people for political gain. There is a crisis in America, but it is … Continue Reading
01.09.19
Senate Democrats Urge Passage Of Legislation To End The Trump Shutdown
WASHINGTON (WEDNESDAY, Jan. 9, 2019) - Senate Democrats Wednesday urged passage of two bills to reopen the federal government and end the Trump Shutdown, which is now in its 19th day. The two bills received bipartisan support in the House last week. The first bill is a six bill minibus containing the bills that were either reported by the Senate Appropriations Committee or passed the full Senate with broad bipartisan support last year. Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said, "These bills ar… Continue Reading
01.08.19
REAX Of Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) To President Trump’s Primetime Address
President Trump has spent years as the host of a reality TV show, but unfortunately, reality has never been his strong suit. Even before the Trump Shutdown, the President resorted to misinformation and stoking fear among the American people in order to justify a wasteful monument to himself. His primetime address was simply fact-free fearmongering and data-distorting demagoguery. President Trump tried to make the case that there is crisis at our southern border that only a wall can solve. Bu… Continue Reading
01.08.19
Senate Appropriations Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) On The Trump Shutdown -- Day Eighteen
Today marks the eighteenth day of the Trump Shutdown. For more than two weeks now, the President has held the paychecks of over 800,000 Americans hostage in order to extort Congress into funding his border wall - a wall for which he promised the American taxpayers, over and over again, that Mexico would pay. For more than two weeks, the President has withheld vital government services to the American people in order to gain leverage to fulfill a divisive campaign promise and rally his ba… Continue Reading
01.04.19
REAX Of Appropriations Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) To President Trump’s Claim That The Military Can Build His Wall
The real national emergency is the President's senseless and costly shutdown. There is no national emergency on the southern border. Between 2000 and 2018, border apprehensions fell sharply from roughly 1.6 million in fiscal year 2000 to approximately 400,000 in fiscal year 2018 -- that's a 75 percent drop. The President stealing resources from the Defense Department for the construction of a wasteful border wall, at taxpayer expense, to defend against the President's imaginary invasion woul… Continue Reading
01.03.19
UPDATED IMPACTS OF THE TRUMP SHUTDOWN
More Than 450,000 Are Working Without Pay, Many Of Whom Are Veterans, Including: More than 41,000 Federal Law Enforcement and Correctional Officers Including: 2,614 ATF agents; 16,742 Bureau of Prisons correctional officers; 13,709 FBI agents; 3,600 deputy U.S. Marshals; and 4,399 DEA agents. Up To 88 Percent Of Department of Homeland Security Employees, Including: 54,000 Customs and Border Protection agents and customs officers; 42,000 Coast Guard employees. 6,503 staff … Continue Reading
01.03.19
Statement of Vice Chairman Leahy on The Second Week Of The Trump Shutdown
We are in the thirteenth day of the Trump Shutdown. Thirteen days that nine of fifteen federal departments and dozens of agencies have shut their doors. Thirteen days in which hundreds of thousands of Americans have been furloughed or are working without pay, and thirteen days that Americans have been denied government services on which they rely on and pay their taxes for. The President is holding federal government funding hostage in an attempt to force Congress to pay for an ineffective a… Continue Reading
01.03.19
Updated Impacts Of The Trump Shutdown
More Than 450,000 Are Working Without Pay, Many Of Whom Are Veterans, Including: More than 41,000 Federal Law Enforcement and Correctional Officers Including: 2,614 ATF agents; 16,742 Bureau of Prisons correctional officers; 13,709 FBI agents; 3,600 deputy U.S. Marshals; and 4,399 DEA agents. 54,000 Customs and Border Protection agents and customs officers; 42,000 Coast Guard employees. 6,503 staff from the State Department are currently working without pay; 35,000 Internal Reven… Continue Reading
12.31.18
Statement Of Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy On House Democrats Introducing Legislation To Reopen the Government
There is one reason and one reason only that much of our federal government is shut down through the holidays and countless Americans are living with uncertainty - and that reason is President Trump. For 10 days he has held the federal government hostage in an attempt to force us to pay for an ineffective and expensive wall on the southern border, a wall he promised that Mexico would pay for. It will not work. He does not have the votes. Today, House Democrats introduced a commonsense path… Continue Reading
12.22.18
Statement of Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) On The Trump Shutdown
Today nine of our 15 federal departments, and several dozen agencies have shuttered their doors, denying vital services to millions of American citizens. Since midnight last night, and just a few days before Christmas, more than 800,000 public servants and their families have been told not to expect their next paycheck for the foreseeable future. There is one reason and one reason only that our federal government has shut down today and countless Americans are living with uncertainty - and … Continue Reading
12.19.18
Statement of Senate Appropriations Vice Chairman Leahy On Passage Of The Third Continuing Resolution
Today we will pass a third Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the government operating through February 8th. I support this CR because a government shutdown is never good for our country - in fact it is a terrible idea - but this whole process has been a missed opportunity. For six of the seven appropriations bills covered under today's CR, we have a clear path forward. These bills - Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, Interior, Financial Services, Transportation-Housing and Urban Develop… Continue Reading
12.12.18
PROJECTED IMPACTS OF A TRUMP SHUTDOWN
More Than 420,000 Will Be Working Without Pay Including: More than 41,000 Federal Law Enforcement and Correctional Officers, Including: 2,614 ATF agents; 16,742 Bureau of Prisons correctional officers; 13,709 FBI agents; 3,600 deputy U.S. Marshals; and 4,399 DEA agents. Up To 88 Percent Of Department of Homeland Security Employees, Including: 53,000 TSA Employees; 54,000 Customs and Border Protection agents and customs offers; 42,000 Coast Guard employees As many as … Continue Reading