Venezuela
Floor Speech
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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I just got back from an all-Senators briefing with senior administration officials about what is going on in Venezuela. Again, another briefing. Again, no answers.
As before, we walked out of the room with far more questions than answers. It is not just the Senators and Congressmen in the SCIF, a classified room, who deserve answers, it is the American people who deserve answers.
The American people want to know: How much is this going to cost us at a time when we are seeing our costs rise for things like housing and groceries and healthcare? They want to know what kind of troops--how many troops are going to be needed there?
It is clear that the leadership's succession plan that the administration envisions now that Maduro--the awful person that he is-- is gone, the people who are replacing him are just as untrustworthy, just as corrupt, just as bad as he is.
How is Trump going to run the country with these people as his underlings?
So the public deserves answers at this crucial moment because the American people are asking: What the hell is going on in Venezuela? And why is this President, who campaigned on ``America First,'' now spending all his time and energy on escapades overseas?
What is going to happen next? The public is totally in the dark.
We need to know how long an involvement in Venezuela is going to last. Trump has said it is going to take some time. What does that mean? Iraq was more than a decade.
How many troops are we talking about?
How much money and what guardrails are in place?
The American people want to know, is there a place where you say no more? Nobody knows. On something as risky and as different as this-- differently bad as this--people need real answers. That is how our system is set up, but this administration is totally--totally--opaque and, frankly, dishonest with the American people when it comes to Venezuela.
We discussed so many things in the room. And in the room, there was a bipartisan sense of concern with America simply plunging into other countries. I did not get adequate answers.
Are we planning on going into Greenland? Are we planning on going into Colombia? Mexico?
The answers were very unsatisfying.
So this escapade is fraught with huge peril that history teaches us we should avoid. There is chaos in the streets of Caracas right now. Organized gangs are patrolling the streets, oppressing the rights of citizens. At any moment, the interim government's grip on power could deteriorate. The Vice President--former Vice President under Maduro, who is now the President--is totally unreliable, is corrupt, and hates America. That is whom we are relying on. What kind of plan is this?
Again, it is not enough for Senators to walk into a classified briefing and hear the administration's sales pitch. The public has to hear it. I am certain that the public, once they hear it, is going to be as angry, as skeptical, as unconvinced as we are.
The American people need answers and facts presented in public.
My Republican colleagues: Don't you have an obligation to hold hearings--public hearings--and bring Hegseth and Rubio before you and ask these tough questions, not in the closed quarters of a SCIF, where no one is allowed to repeat what they say, but in public?
Where are our chairs of the relevant committees? Not to hold a hearing on something as momentous and potentially destructive as this-- where are our Republican colleagues?
We need administration officials to come testify and to answer the tough questions in public. That is what this Republic is all about. That is why we have three branches of government. That is why the Founding Fathers said the war power, as important a decision as going to war is, should be in the hands of the Congress, a public institution, not in the hands of just an Executive.
And yet, right now, it is in the hands of an Executive because our Republican colleagues are supine. They just aren't demanding hearings, aren't demanding that the President come clean in terms of talking to the American people.
Looming over all of this, the American people are asking: What the heck does this have to do with ``America First?'' How does spending years and potentially billions of taxpayer dollars in Venezuela help families pay their rent, their mortgages, their grocery bills, their electric bills, their healthcare bills?
It has nothing to do with it. In fact, it takes money; it takes attention away; it diverts attention away from the No. 1 thing the American people care about: affordability, costs of living, being able to pay the bills of things you very much need.
Bombing Caracas and bragging about oilfields are not going to lower people's rents. Even in this cockamamie plan they have, the money would go back to Venezuela. The American people are saying: That is ``America First?'' Spend all this time, effort, and dollars getting rid of Maduro and then sending all this oil money back to Venezuela when America needs help?
Threatening Greenland is not going to make groceries cheaper. Military threats against NATO are not going to help families pay the bills. The American people did not sign up for this kind of military adventurism when they voted for Donald Trump, and Republicans who go along will be betraying the American people.
Donald Trump doesn't realize any of this. Why? He is focused on his Big Oil buddies and personal vanity projects like renaming the Kennedy Center and choosing which marble armrests to install.
Just listen to what Donald Trump said yesterday at the Kennedy Center to House Republicans. Once again, he showed everyone he is trapped in a billionaire's bubble. Donald Trump told Republicans, ``I wish you could explain to me what the hell is going on with the mind of the public,'' because he can't understand why people are souring on his agenda. He can't understand that when you can't pay the groceries or your car breaks down and you can't afford to get it fixed and you can't get to work, that troubles people? He can't understand that?
He doesn't have a clue. He talks to his limited circle of rich friends. They don't have to worry about the things 95 percent of Americans worry about. He is in a bubble, and when Presidents are in bubbles, it is the American people who get hurt.
He cannot wrap his mind around the fact that his very own policies have made life worse for ordinary people. But the average citizen knows it. That is why his numbers are plummeting.
Again, yesterday morning, he slammed ``affordability'' as a buzzword and said no one knows what it means. Well, he doesn't know what it means because he has enough money to pay for all the things he needs.
Donald Trump, ``affordability'' is not a buzzword. It is not a con job, and it is not a mystery concept to most people. ``Affordability'' means you can afford to make trips to the doctor when you or your child is sick. It means you can go to the grocery store and not have to worry: Well, should I buy eggs or cheese or milk? I can't afford all of them.
It means you can pay the rent, pay your mortgage.
What ``affordability'' doesn't mean is sending helicopters over Caracas and saying we have the right to attack NATO allies. It doesn't mean bailing out Argentine farmers. It doesn't mean giving away critical chips to China so that they can use them against us.
Now, if Donald Trump and Republicans won't focus on lowering the cost of living, Democrats are happy to do it for them. Later today, I am joining with Senators Warren, Smith, and Klobuchar and housing experts from around the country to talk about this horrible housing crisis, one of the worst manifestations of rising costs.
Today's housing roundtable is a kickoff event for our Senate Democrats and our cost initiative, which will be our North Star for the year and beyond. We are going to be focused like a laser on the increased costs Americans face to pay the necessary bills that they must pay to live a decent life.
And just as we talked about for months, about helping people to afford healthcare, we are going to continue to focus on helping people pay the rent, keep up with their mortgage, and be able to afford a home for the first time.
In the coming weeks, Senate Democrats are going to lay out the many things Congress could do right now, if only the Republicans were serious about lowering costs, when it comes to food, childcare, energy, home ownership, healthcare, childcare, and more. These are things the American people care about: paying the bills, buying a new car, going on one vacation a year with your family--not invading Venezuela, not invading Colombia, not thinking about invading Greenland.
Donald Trump doesn't get it. He admits he doesn't get it. He doesn't understand why the American people are mad at him when it is as plain as could be.
But Democrats get it. We are going to focus like a laser on costs today, next week, next month, and all year long. The Republicans and Donald Trump will be hearing plenty more from us.
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