Budget

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, now on the budget, we are not even 100 days into Donald Trump's second term, and his Presidency is already a dumpster fire. His tariffs were one of the largest tax hikes on American families in half a century since the Vietnam war. His bumbling trade war wiped trillions of dollars from American retirement savings.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk is crashing the Social Security website, shutting down local offices, and disconnecting phone services. All these closures and firings show his real desire is to decimate Social Security.

In March, employment for U.S. small businesses with 1 to 9 employees decreased by 98,000 jobs. Consumer confidence is at a 4-year low. Outlook for the economy is at a 12-year--a 12-year--low. The odds of a recession are at 60 percent. Some have argued--Larry Fink--that the recession has already started, according to the CEOs he has talked to.

What are Republicans in Congress doing about all this chaos, all this mess, all this severe harm to American families? Here is their answer: Cut taxes for billionaires. And why are they doing that? How are they going to pay for that? By taking away Americans' healthcare, making it harder for working families to put food on the table, slashing veterans' assistance and help for rural communities, kids, and Americans with disabilities.

With the threats of a recession on the rise because of these tariffs, do House Republicans really want to sign their name on a bill that adds $37 trillion to the deficit? They should tread carefully.

I said last Friday that for all the hand-wringing so far, the hard part for Republicans remains in front of them.

The Republican agenda suffers from a fatal flaw. Its various pieces are all unpopular on their own, but when pieced together, it is even worse. That is why the Republicans are having such trouble coming together. It is not even to deal with Democrats, the House and Senate Republicans are at loggerheads.

Members within each Republican caucus are at loggerheads. Why? Because the two policies are both unpopular. Slashing Medicaid, reducing taxes on billionaires--Americans don't like it so the Republicans are tying themselves in a knot in trying to get this done, against the will of the American people.

Republicans in Congress want to cut taxes for billionaires and pay for it by taking away Americans' healthcare, making it harder for working families to put food on the table. This is incredible.

With the threats of a recession on the rise because of these tariffs, do House Republicans really want to sign their name to this bill, as I said before?

The bottom line is, sooner or later, Republicans are going to have to face the music. There aren't enough procedural gimmicks in the world to change the reality. The Republican agenda on both sides--slashing programs like healthcare people need, tax cuts for billionaires, it is unpopular on both sides. It is not going to get any more popular moving forward, and the Republicans will have to tie themselves in lots of pretzel knots to even get a bill passed--such a highly unpopular bill passed.

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