Senate Democrats’ Lack of Productivity Has Created a Major Backlog in the Senate

On the floor, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) called out the Democratic majority’s lack of productivity during the 118^th Congress and urged Majority Leader Schumer to quickly address the Senate’s top priorities. Excerpts of Sen. Cornyn’s remarks are below, and video can be found here.

“We’re a quarter of the way through the 118th Congress, and we frankly don't have a lot to show for it. Under our colleagues’ leadership, this chamber’s developed an embarrassingly short list of accomplishments.”

“Yesterday, I was interested to see that the Senator from New York, the Majority Leader, sent a letter to our Senate colleagues highlighting his plans for the next three weeks.”

“Senator Schumer mentioned his desire to move forward on bills relating to drug pricing, fentanyl, permitting reform, rail safety, marijuana banking, China competition, artificial intelligence, and a number of other topics in the next three weeks.”

“Now to be clear, I don't think the Majority Leader actually believes we’re going to produce legislation in these areas.”

“Maybe you’d call this a wish list, but it's only wishful thinking to believe that in the United States Senate you’re going to be able to get all of these necessary items addressed in the next 10 working days.”

“The Democratic-controlled Senate has been downright sleepy for the last six months, and I have no reason this letter – this wish list – will prompt some miraculous turnaround.”

“The lack of productivity in this Congress has created a major backlog of important bills, which must be our top focus.”