Trump Administration
Floor Speech
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Mr. SCHUMER. Would my colleague yield for another question?
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Mr. SCHUMER. I thank my colleague from Delaware. Before I ask my question, I just want to thank the great Senator from Oregon for his strength, his fortitude, his integrity, and just shining a spotlight on this erosion of democracy under Trump in so many different ways.
I have been to the floor earlier, and we talked about it. But now I would like to ask a question about one of the most serious threats that our American people face, which is the healthcare crisis, a dramatic--a horrible--crisis that is going to leave millions without any health insurance at all, that is going to raise premiums to people from $500 to $1,000 a month--not a year--that will close rural hospitals, that will kick people out of nursing homes, where they will have nowhere to go.
And I remind my colleagues that this President, instead of negotiating a way out that addresses the crisis with Leader Jeffries and me, is going away for 6 days. It is outrageous for him to leave on a foreign trip while the American people are suffering and we get closer and closer and closer to the time, starting November 1, when people are going to have to make that awful decision: Do I leave my family with no healthcare at all because I can't afford it?
It is a horrible, horrible decision. And yet, this President--Leader Jeffries and I asked the President to meet with us before he left. He refused. The reporting is that Johnson and Thune and he were on the phone and agreed they wouldn't even talk to us. And, instead, he is going away while people are suffering. He ought not to do that.
And what is he spending his time on instead? Eroding our democracy, doing these faux ads, screwing up, forcing networks and TV stations and media to bow to his whim, using the Justice Department as an attack dog against his enemies, arresting people, as my good friend from Oregon has pointed out repeatedly, on the streets arresting people, whoever the hell they are. They have no identification, and the people are arrested without even being told why they are being arrested and who knows what the heck is going on. He is spending all his time on eroding democracy, taking away our rights.
The people expect him not to go on a foreign trip--this President who fancies himself a King--but, instead, to do the people's business and help us, sit down with us, negotiate a way out of this healthcare crisis.
We all know--I think, and I would ask my colleague, he knows, I believe--that before Donald Trump leaves the country, he should at the very least sit down and negotiate in a serious way and address the healthcare crisis that affects the American people.
Shouldn't we be working to lower people's premiums, to keep rural hospitals open, to prevent people from being kicked out of nursing homes, to ensure that research that saves lives continues? Shouldn't the President listen to the cares of the American people and their desperate need on healthcare rather than taking a foreign trip?
Jeffries and I asked him yesterday--we demanded, really--that he sit down and talk to us and negotiate, not just talk to us but negotiate a serious approach to avoid all the devastating things that will occur. And he said 4 hours later, after conferring with Thune and Johnson, no, he wouldn't.
Well, that is a disgrace. So I would ask my colleague--I would ask him: Shouldn't the President be spending time addressing the healthcare crisis rather than spending all this time eroding our democracy? If he negotiated a fair treatment of people with their healthcare, he would be doing some good. And when he erodes our democracy, he is doing something evil.
So his priorities are wacky and misplaced and awful and so detrimental to what the American people want.
So my question to my colleague is this--and one more thing, doesn't my colleague--and there are a bunch of questions here--agree that Trump is the focal point of this healthcare crisis, that Johnson is paralyzed because of the divisions in his caucus, that Thune just goes along, that the President--this Trump, this President Trump--is the person who could get the Republicans to pass a decent proposal, a fair proposal, a proposal that helps the American people out of this crisis, and the President is the focal point because he can get Jeffries and Thune to act, and there is probably no one else?
And yet, he is flying away, ignoring this issue facing the American people after he has eroded our democracy as the Senator from Oregon has pointed out? He is flying away and abandoning the American people.
Isn't it correct--does my friend from Oregon agree--that the President's priorities are so detrimental to the American people, are really perverse in that he seems to enjoy eroding democracy and doesn't even give a damn when the American people are suffering?
So I would ask my colleague to answer that series of questions.
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Mr. SCHUMER. Right.
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Mr. SCHUMER. So to renew my question succinctly: Does my friend from Oregon believe, as I believe, that before the President jets away on this foreign trip, shouldn't he sit down with Leader Jeffries and me, as we wanted him very much to do--demanded he do--and negotiate a solution that addresses this horrible crisis, which my colleague from Oregon has addressed in so many ways, whether it is ACA premiums or Medicaid or nursing homes or community health centers or scientific research? All of those need to be addressed, and this President is flying away. Isn't that appalling?
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Mr. SCHUMER. Let me thank my friend from Oregon for his amazing, strong, persistent efforts.
I yield back to the Senator from Oregon.
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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, let me express the profound gratitude of all of us for his amazing tour de force over these many hours.
Jeff Merkley has been the Paul Revere of 21st century America, literally, figuratively, riding from one corner of this country to the other, alerting people to the danger our democracy is in with the would-be King as President.
No one has done it better. No one has done it with more persistence. No one has done it with more passion. No one has done it with more effectiveness than Jeff Merkley, not only the Senate, but much more importantly, all of America owes you a tremendous, tremendous debt.
Thank you.
(Applause.)
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