Trump Executive Orders

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, first, I thank my friend from Rhode Island. He has been laser-like focused on corruption. Whether it is the Supreme Court, the executive branch, or anywhere else in the government, he has done a great job.

Mr. President, I just finished doing a little TV taping to the people of New York to tell them how evil, how horrible this plan that Trump has put into effect will be.

The plan will shut off billions of dollars, maybe trillions of dollars. For what? For things average working families need. They will be less safe because police will be cut and fire will be cut. Their kids will be less educated because schools will be cut. In places where there is a school tax, like Long Island and Westchester, it could make your taxes go up. They will be less safe because food inspectors who keep our food safe could be cut. It will go across the board. Housing will become more expensive. We desperately need housing. Everything. This is going to affect everything. The radius will expand and expand and expand of what Donald Trump can do.

Make no mistake about it, Project 2025 proposed slashing everything-- cut, cut, cut--all to give one thing: tax breaks to very wealthy people. This is Project 2025 by another name. It is the same stuff. They couldn't call it Project 2025 because when the public found out about that, they were outraged.

Well, make no mistake about this, President Trump. When the public finds out about this, they will be outraged.

I got on TV tonight and asked my constituents--particularly those in Republican House and Senate districts--to call their Congressmen and Senators and tell President Trump to drop this evil plan, which will hurt them so badly.

The fact that Mr. Vought will be head of OMB, which is the Agency that is in charge of all of this spending, is frightening. It is like putting the fox in the chicken house, and all the chickens, which are the average American taxpayers, are going to be susceptible to the sharp fangs of Mr. Vought.

By the way, speaking of chickens, here is another little reason-- there are so many. Right now, the price of eggs is through the roof-- $5, $6 a dozen. It was $2 a year ago. It was $4 in November. Why? Because there is something called bird flu that is killing off millions of chickens. When you have fewer chickens, you have fewer eggs--fewer hens, fewer eggs--and fewer eggs means prices go up.

But there is a program. We actually, when we were still in charge in November, put $300 million into the budget to help our farmers deal with bird flu, with avian flu. It helps them get the PPE they need. It helps them isolate the diseased chickens because you need to build different types of facilities. It helps them learn what to do. That could be cut. That could be cut, and the price of eggs will go up to $8 or $10.

All of these things have an effect in one way or another on average working people.

How about all the hundreds of thousands of workers who have now gotten jobs in clean energy? It is a great thing. For the first time-- good-paying jobs with a future for so many people could be gone out the window if this plan goes into effect.

Now, I know that a court has stayed this until Monday. America, don't be fooled.

Trump and his henchman Vought will keep at it and keep at it and keep at it until Project 2025 is implemented, even though they don't call it Project 2025. He will go to a different court, maybe in a very conservative, red district. They will do whatever they can to continue to squeeze the middle class, cut the things that the middle class needs, and then--and then--cut the taxes on the wealthiest people in America.

Any organization--we have heard--I have heard hospitals are worried in not providing the care that they need. Head Start is going to close. What do the parents do? The Agencies that deal with mental illness, they depend on government funding. So much--so much--is at stake.

In my State, we are getting thousands of calls: How is this going to affect us?

And even if the cut hasn't come through yet, people are worried. And they say: We better save money for a rainy day and cut back on this and cut back on that.

It has frightened people. Now, maybe that is what Trump likes doing: frightening average middle-class folks. But it is really a terrible thing to do.

Meals on Wheels--that is a hot meal every day for people who don't have food--in danger. Rural hospitals and community health--in danger. New York subway maintenance and mass transit throughout the country--in danger. Money for housing--in danger. Everything. Everything.

And so, Mr. President, we Senate Democrats are doing all we can to stop this--not just today, not just tomorrow, but in the long-range plan. But we are also urging Americans to call their Senators, call their Congressmen--particularly Republicans--and get them to tell President Trump to stop it--cut this out, cut out these cuts--because you are going to hurt us. The only people who will get hurt by this are average American middle-class families, and that is just about everybody.

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