Tariffs

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, Donald Trump's trade war has many casualties. Families will be hit with the largest tax hike in over half a century--$5,000 extra a year. Prices will go up for food and for medicine, for clothing and for furniture, for gasoline for cars, for travel, you name it.

The economy is in danger of a recession--60 percent odds. Yesterday, a leading person on Wall Street said the majority of CEOs he has spoken to believe the recession is already happening. A recession means small businesses will shutter, Main Streets will ossify, and all the progress we have made since COVID will disappear.

But one of the biggest casualties of Donald Trump's trade wars are American seniors and Americans planning retirement in the near future. If you were planning to retire this year or thinking about retiring soon, Donald Trump's tariffs are like a brick over the head.

This year, 4 million Americans will turn 65--that is a record. Another 80 million Americans are between 45 and 60 and thus approaching retirement and keeping their eyes on the future. And right now, Americans are watching helplessly as Donald Trump lights their retirement accounts and their dreams of a secure future on fire.

To put it in perspective, for Americans nearing retirement, Donald Trump's market crash has vaporized a whopping $104,000 from the average retirement account. That is when you factor in the 17-percent drop in the Standard and Poor's 500 since the middle of February.

Let me say that again. For Americans nearing retirement, Donald Trump's market crash has vaporized a whopping $104,000 from the average retirement account. That is years--sometimes decades--of people's savings gone in a flash. That is money retirees need to pay for healthcare, for prescription drugs, to see the grandkids, to buy groceries, and to live with a little bit of dignity--a little bit of dignity.

Meanwhile, as tariffs eat away at the 401(k)s, Elon Musk and DOGE are taking a blowtorch to people's Social Security--the last safety net for Americans in retirement. They are crashing the website. They are closing down local offices. They are disconnecting services done over the phone. It is a pincer.

Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and Vice President Vance continue lying about rampant fraud within Social Security without any evidence. Even DOGE's handpicked head of Social Security admitted that some of their claims--like saying checks are going to 150-year-olds--are wrong, dead wrong.

So Donald Trump is coming at American seniors from every direction. He is draining 401(k)s. He is sabotaging Social Security. He is gutting healthcare. He is driving up inflation. He is hitting seniors six ways from Sunday.

Even if you are not thinking about retirement right now, things are still awful. According to Bloomberg, the chaos of Donald Trump's tariffs has more and more Americans tapping into their 401(k)s early. Hardship withdrawals are about 15 to 20 percent above historical averages. That means eating into savings at the worst possible time.

The damage of the past few days will take a very long time to heal, but millions of seniors hoping to retire soon don't have that kind of time. They may not have enough to ride out a recession. They may never recover.

What makes this particular market crash especially painful is that it was wholly unnecessary. Donald Trump did not need to start a global trade war with no plan whatsoever. Donald Trump did not need to send the markets reeling. Of all the ways he could have gone about these tariffs, he picked perhaps the single dumbest, most destructive approach possible.

Americans wanted Donald Trump to focus on one thing when he became President: costs, inflation, keeping the economy whole. Donald Trump has spectacularly failed already at the one thing people wanted him to do. Instead of lowering inflation, he has made it much worse. Instead of strengthening the economy, he has singlehandedly teed us up for a recession. And few will suffer as much and as quickly as the millions of seniors who were planning to retire this year and in the years to come.

Retirement is supposed to be sacred in America. Part of the American dream is working hard all your life, chipping in, saving little by little, knowing that when you retire, there will be something there-- not to make you rich but so you can live a life with some degree of dignity. But Trump has stolen years from people's retirement with his boneheaded tariffs. For them, the damage could be permanent.

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