Senator Warren Calls on Democrats to Resist: 'Republicans Do Not Have Majority Support in This Country'

Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–November 29, 2016

Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Monday told Democrats to stiffen their spines, reminding them that “the majority of voters supported Democratic Senate candidates over Republicans ones, and the majority supported a Democratic presidential candidate over a Republican one.”

The remarks came as Warren took to the Senate floor to oppose a bill originally intended to spur medical innovation but which she now says has been “hijacked” by the pharmaceutical industry. The bill, known as the 21st Century Cures Act, has reportedly attracted the attention of “more than 1,455 lobbyists representing 400 companies.” That means lots of money is at stake.

“I do not care how many campaign contributions they dump into Congressional pockets,” Warren said in a spirited speech, “I do not care how painful they can make life for politicians who oppose them, I will not be their lackey.”

But Warren’s call to abandon the legislation was wrapped in a broader appeal to Democrats to gird for a fight as Republicans prepare to take full control of the government even though both the senate and the executive lack the support of a majority of American voters.

Republicans are taking over Congress. They are taking over the White House. But Republicans do not have majority support in this country. The majority of voters supported Democratic Senate candidates over Republicans ones, and the majority supported a Democratic Presidential candidate over a Republican one. (Emphasis added.)

The American people didn’t give Democrats majority support so we could come back to Washington and play dead. They didn’t send us here to whimper, whine, or grovel. They sent us here to say NO to efforts to sell Congress to the highest bidder. They sent us here to stand up for what’s right. Now, they are watching, waiting, and hoping – hoping we show some spine and start fighting back when Congress completely ignores the message of the American people and returns to all its same old ways.

Republicans will control this government – but they cannot hand over that control to big corporations unless Democrats roll over and allow them to do so.

It is time for Democrats – Democrats and Republicans who should be ashamed by this kind of corruption -to make it clear who exactly they work for. Does the Senate work for big pharma that hires the lobbyists and makes the campaign contributions or does the Senate work for American people who actually sent us here.

GOP Sen. John Cornyn had a telling response to the speech immediately after Warren left the floor, saying she had disobeyed the Senate’s “rules of decorum” and calling her speech “disturbing.” My takeaway—Republicans are a little rattled by the fact that they are now ruling a country in which most voters didn’t actually vote for them. Some five million more voters cast ballots for Democratic senators than Republican ones. Trump lost the popular vote by two million-plus votes. Cornyn suddenly wanted to appear imminently reasonable while shutting down any opposition force willing to remind American voters that most of them voted against the people who will actually be governing soon. Democrats should be raising that point at every turn.

Check out Warren’s speech below—the call to action picks up around 10:30.