On Saturday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) employed a procedural maneuver requiring Senate clerks to read aloud the full text of the 940-page GOP-backed bill. The reading stretched well into Sunday, taking nearly 16 hours to complete, Fox News reported.
Ahead of the ultimately successful—though contentious—procedural vote, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced he would require clerks to read the entire bill aloud. After the nearly 16-hour reading concluded, Schumer posted on X, saying, “Republicans are squirming.”
“I know damn well they haven’t read the bill, so we’re going to make them,” he said, though Democrats rarely read their own lengthy bills, lending some to criticize Schumer’s action as a political stunt.
It’s a rarely used tactic that Schumer and Senate Democrats employed as part of their broader strategy to pressure Republicans, following the GOP’s continued refusal to seriously engage with much of President Trump’s legislative agenda.
