Terminating the National Emergency Declared to Impose Global Tariffs

Floor Speech

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Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, President Trump took a strong American economy and broke it in less than 100 days.

Right now, Republican Senators are at a crossroads. Will they vote to stop Trump's chaotic tariffs and save our economy, or will they continue bending the knee to Donald Trump? That is the vote that we are forcing tonight.

When he ran for office, Donald Trump promised, over and over and over, that he would lower costs on day one. Those were his words: Lower costs on day one. In fact, he said after he was elected that it was one of the main reasons that he won. But as soon as the election was over, he ignored that promise.

Instead of working to lower costs on day one, he has decided to start the dumbest trade war in U.S. history, which is already increasing costs for American households and damaging our economy.

So let's take a step back and talk about what has happened since Trump started this trade war.

The stock market took the biggest plunge since the early days of the pandemic, sinking millions of Americans' retirement accounts. Businesses have begun hiking prices and laying off workers. Americans are worried that they won't be able to survive a cratering economy. And, just today, Americans woke up to the news that Donald Trump single-handedly shrunk our economy in 3 months and raised the cost of their groceries.

The warning lights are all flashing red. We have seen this before, but this time our economy is teetering on the edge not because of a mortgage meltdown or a one-in-a-century virus but because of one man alone: the President of the United States.

Unless we reverse course quickly, many economists believe that a recession is inevitable. And like in all recessions, the pain will fall hardest on working families. Many Americans will face the one-two punch of job losses on top of overwhelming debt burdens. A cascade of defaults and foreclosures and personal bankruptcies could follow.

With so many indications that American families are in serious trouble, our government should be throwing them a lifeline. Instead, President Trump is throwing them an anchor, while he carves out exceptions for a few well-connected billionaires who have bent the knee.

This is the moment for Congress to step up. And where are the Senate Republicans? Watching? Waiting? Hoping it doesn't get worse? Hoping that maybe somebody else will step up?

Well, I am here to say: It is up to us in the U.S. Senate. No one else is coming to save us. We are the ones who have to act.

If Republicans care about the American people, they will vote yes on our resolution today and turn off the fake emergency that Donald Trump is using to impose his on-again, off-again red-light, green-light tariffs--the tariffs that are pushing our economy off a cliff.

Let me repeat: Congress can end this economic threat today. All we need are some Republican Senators to join us to vote down the President's abuse of emergency authorities.

Unless we take action now, millions of people will lose their jobs, families will be destroyed, and our economy will take years to recover. But this time, it will be the President of the United States who destroyed our economy, and it will be congressional Republicans who helped him do it because they didn't have the spine to stand up to Donald Trump.

So I say to my Republican colleagues: Let's get this done. You have a choice. You can either continue to enable Donald Trump's tariff chaos, or you could actually stand up for our constituents. It is truly that simple.

The chaos and corruption of Trump's first 100 days can be curbed. The President is no King, and he only has as much power as Congress is willing to let him keep.

It is time for us--Democrats, Republicans, and Independents--to step up and head off a crisis before millions more American families are hurt. We have the power. We just need the courage to use it.

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