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Economy

Floor Speech

Date: June 1, 2026
Location: Washington, DC

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, now on costs. Last week we got new inflation numbers showing that prices are at their highest level in years. Families are saving less as they struggle to make ends meet. Americans are working harder, paying more, and getting less.

That is Trump's economy at work.

From Trump's mouth to the American people's ears, he said:

I don't think about Americans' financial situation.

All Trump thinks about is building his golden ballroom, putting his name on a massive arch, lining his pocket with taxpayer dollars, and slapping his face onto a $250 bill.

None of that lowers costs; none of that helps working families. All Trump's vanity projects do is waste time and money, and our Republican friends seem to go along with almost all of it--maybe even all of it.

Meanwhile, two-thirds of Americans--two-thirds--say they have had to cut back on groceries the past few months because of skyrocketing costs. This comes as new data shows household electricity prices have spiked by 18 percent since Trump took office. With the hottest months now upon us--summer season--rising energy costs will only further strain families' pocketbooks.

The average home cooling costs could reach nearly $800 this summer, an 8.5-percent increase over last year and 37 percent more than in 2020.

A poll over the weekend found that 53 percent of all Americans say the current cost of living is the worst they have ever seen. What happened to lowering costs on day one, which Trump so proudly proclaimed?

And, of course, where are the Senate Republicans? Instead of listening to the American people, working with Democrats to bring costs down, Republicans are working around the clock to aid and abet Trump's corruption, to build his vanity projects on the taxpayers' dime, and funnel tens of billions of dollars to his masked agents who are already flushed with cash.

Americans are screaming for relief, and all they hear back from Senate Republicans is silence--complete, complicit silence.

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