LIVE: Sen. Schumer Speaks About Budget Resolution, Tariffs

Let's see what the sign says. Ah, that's a familiar sign. Just pull it over a little. No, the other way. Yes, stay right here. Oh, okay. All right, thank you for coming and I'm happy to be joined by my colleagues Senators Wyden, Klobuchar, Cortez Masto, and Benrey Lujan. It's great to be here with all of you. Now, this week, Donald Trump made one of the dumbest decisions he's ever made as president, and that is saying a whole lot. Instead of fixing inflation, which he promised to do, Donald Trump unleashed a wave of tariffs that will make inflation much, much worse. It is estimated the average American family will pay $5,000 more a year because of these tariffs. It is believed that these tariffs will hurt our economy and families from one end of America to the other. Here's what the nonpartisan chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, just said. It will increase inflation and slow growth. So, I am introducing an amendment to the Senate budget resolution with Senator Klobuchar and many other Dems that says that the amendment will make sure that any tariff put in place after January 20th, 2025, will be rescinded if they have increased the costs of groceries, medicines, or other secondary goods. We leave in place the tariffs only on China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. Now, Trump promised to lower prices on day one. Remember that? Well, they've gone way up. And why is he doing these tariffs? Why would he do something like this? Because the Republican Party is in the vice grip of a group of very greedy billionaires. They have a billionaire bubble. And they say, yeah, all this money from tariffs could help make our taxes lower. It's a disgrace. It's an absolute disgrace. The amendment that we're doing calls for rescinding Trump's disastrous chaotic tariffs that are hurting Americans. Everything's going to go up. Groceries, medicines, cars, gasoline, furniture, clothing, you name it. It's going to go up. Because this is across the board, across the world. And by the way, businesses hate this. Not just big businesses, small businesses. They need certainty. And when they hear about all these tariffs coming in, they don't hire any new people. They don't expand any services. They don't build a new plant. They say, uh-oh, these tariffs are coming. I better keep my pocket. Increasing the chance of a recession significantly. The major banks have just increased the chances that we'd have a recession where it's harder to get a job, keep a job, pay the bills than under more normal circumstances. So we have here a pincer of pain. On the one hand, Trump and the Republicans are taking away vital services in health care and in housing and in food and in so many other things Americans need. And then at the same time, with the other side of the pincer, they're squeezing them by creating higher prices. So all day long, Democrats are going to come to the floor to expose the sheer destruction of the Republican agenda. People are learning. They're learning that the Republicans are, that Donald Trump, Musk, Doge and the Republicans are not on their side. They're learning that these people are doing things just for the billionaires. And they are learning that Donald Trump is not only breaking his promise to them, but he's betraying them. Senator Wyden. Thank you, Leader. So here's where... Oh, I mentioned, I forgot one point. This is one of my favorite points. I left it out. The tariffs are so poorly planned. Sorry. The tariffs are so poorly planned that he's taxing penguins, not Putin, because the tax is levied on the herd in McDonald Islands, where only penguins live, but he's leaving Russia alone. Thank you for that little addition. So here's where things are right now. It's a bloodbath in the markets again today. And what you have all over the country now is Americans wincing as they look at their retirement accounts. And people are petrified. We're getting the calls about their jobs, their own personal finances. So they're hurting. But the billionaires, on the other hand, have got an ace in the hole. And that's their friends in the United States Senate, the Republicans. So while the economy is burning, thanks to Donald Trump's reckless tariffs, the bill the Republicans are scrambling to pass is essentially a bailout for them and big corporations. And he is taking the United States back to economic policy that predates the nightbulb. He's driving up prices across the board. They did such an incompetent job. As you heard, they're talking about penguins. I guess as ranking Democrat on the Finance Committee, I got to be ready to maybe protect koala bears. Who knows what's next? Donald J. Hoover says he's not going to back down. And that is bad news for everybody who's counting on a steady paycheck to get by. But the well-connected billionaires who helped Donald Trump get back in power are safe in the knowledge that Senate Republicans have got their backs. The reality is, unless you're way up at the upper end of the income scale, any benefit you get from this Republican tax bill is going to get blown out of the water as the Trump tariffs continue to hike inflation. Trump, meanwhile, is completely out of touch. And as you have heard, they don't even really care about the harm they're causing. Donald Trump said so himself. He talked about auto manufacturing and said, I couldn't care less if they raise taxes. But what's even more striking is yesterday after the market crash, Donald Trump was asked about his tariffs, and he said, I think it's going very well. You walk into a coffee shop in my home state, and you said something like that, that response you would be getting from people would be devastating, starting with the fact that they would call him a hypocrite, because he said he was going to be concerned about the cost of living, and he's working on practically everything else. Thank you. Senator Klobuchar. Thank you, Senator Schumer. So while we debate this Republican budget on the floor, which clearly gives two-thirds of the benefits to the wealthiest people and big corporations, at the same time, he's hit us with these tariffs. And I call these the Trump tariff tax. That's what this is. It is a $4,000 tax increase on every single family in this country. That's the average, $4,000. So Elon Musk can afford this, right? He doesn't care. In fact, he's getting a $50 million benefit from this budget they're putting out there. That's his tax decrease. But for families, for small businesses, for small farmers in my state, this is devastating. They already are operating on a month-to-month budget. So it's really important to see this in that context, that the budget and these tariffs at the same time, the people that are going to most suffer, everyone on TV, Wall Street, they're all talking about, and I was on shows with some of them, and they're right. This is devastating for the street. They've never seen a market like this. It's really bad. But you got to take it from Wall Street to Main Street. And what these tariffs do is raise taxes on American families by nearly $4,000 a year. What do they do with cars? $3,000 increase for average family to buy a car. New homes for young people, $20,000 on average for a new home. It hits everyone in our economy, but perhaps those that are most scared right now are people who are depending on their savings. Not in the long term, but immediately. Seniors depending on their savings. This might not mean much to Elon Musk, but it means a lot to average families. It means a lot to the people I met within rural Minnesota on my 14-county tour, when they would come up, show up at these things, never gone to a political event before and say, because of what's happening with Canada now, I've lost a market. I don't think I can make it anymore. Our economy is a global economy, and he is cutting us off from the rest of the world. Just ask anyone of those 70% of Canadians that have canceled their trips to the U.S. It's not just manufacturing and farming. It is also our service industries. It is people in hospitality. It's those small cafes. It's those hotels. They are all going to suffer. That is the impact of the tariffs. And all we need is for our Republican colleagues to stand up. Four of them stood up when Senator Kaine and Senator Warner and I put forward the amendment and the resolution involving Canada. We passed that. So they need to stand up to all of this. If they truly believe in capitalism, they need to put their votes where capitalism is. And that is that competition works, our world relationships work, and Donald Trump is taking us backwards to the Great Depression. Thank you. Thank you, Leader Schumer. And I'm pleased to join my colleagues to talk about this. I think it is important we shine a light for the American public and our businesses and what's going on here. It's very simple. The fiscal policies of the Trump administration and the Republicans in charge are devastating American families and our small businesses, impacting negatively our economy. And I know and I see it in Nevada every day. And it's not just the tariffs. Let me get to those. But it is just recently we got from the JCT, the Senate Republicans, their idea to help American families, let's stick with them, help American families and small businesses, is to increase the deficit and the debt by $5.5 trillion so they can pass tax cuts for billionaires and wealthy individuals in this country. $5.5 trillion. That's not all, though. They've added another $1.5 trillion to those tax cuts. So now we're talking $7 trillion at the Senate Republicans. That's what they've pushed out there to pay for billionaires, give them the benefits, off the backs of hardworking Americans and our small businesses. That's exactly what's happening right here. And they are so bold about it that they're willing to even ignore past practices of the Senate and come up with some gimmick when it comes to math and say, oh, it's not really happening. It is outrageous. Because at the end of the day, the tariffs and what we are going to be voting against today, it is actually harming Americans across the country. I know in Nevada, and I want to talk about that, because I see it and I feel it every day. I get calls from Nevadans. I'm home with Nevadans. I'm talking with them. Let me just add one simple thing here and put it in perspective. Everybody knows Las Vegas. If you haven't been there, you're welcome to come. But everybody knows Las Vegas. You know, that's the main revenue generator for our state, tourism and travel. Tourism and travel. Do you know what happens when you impose high tariffs, reciprocal tariffs on some of our allies like Canada? That means we're not seeing people traveling, international traveling coming to Las Vegas and to this country. Do you know the United States? United States benefits $12 billion from international travelers. Over 20 billion annually in 2024. That's not happening now. I can tell you in my state, as I talk to folks in my hotels and casinos and I talk to individuals who are focused on travel and tourism, we are not seeing that. We are seeing a downturn in the types of travel coming to Las Vegas. It is having a negative impact, not just directly for those businesses, but indirectly for the small businesses. And by the way, Donald Trump may think this is a short-term hurt, but what he doesn't realize is 90% of American small businesses say trade is important function for their growth and they have a profit margin that is very slim. They are not going to be able to survive whatever Donald Trump thinks that this is some short-term hurt. Small businesses, which are the backbone of our economy, are getting crushed right now. I know it because I just heard from my small businesses. One of them lost a contract with a Canadian contractor. We're seeing it all the time. Any of my small businesses that directly or indirectly deal in tourism travel, they're getting crushed. The tariffs, the policies of the Senate Republicans thinking they can add to the deficit and the debt to pay for, to help billionaires and the wealthy in this country on the backs of the American people and small businesses, it's just disgusting and outrageous. What we should be doing and what the Democrats have always been focused on is how do we lower those household costs for our families? How do we help those small businesses keep their doors open? And you don't just have to listen to what we're saying. Look at our past policies. Everything that we have worked on has been how to help those families and make sure they can have a better life, make sure that their opportunities for them in this country still exist. So what we are doing today and will continue to do, and I am proud to stand with my Senate colleagues, is to shine a light on the failed fiscal policies of this administration and the Senate Republicans in control that are harming our economy and most importantly harming our families and small businesses. Senator Lujan. Thanks. Well, good afternoon everyone. It's good to be with colleagues today. Look, while we're here bringing a fact-based conversation with the American people about what's coming, what's been happening. Price is getting more and more expensive. Constituents visit with me when I'm at the grocery store asking when is Donald Trump going to keep his promise and lower prices because they don't see it. They see things getting more and more expensive. During the campaign, Donald Trump spent a little bit of time out in Detroit, Michigan and told the auto workers that he was going to fight for them, but we're now seeing because of the Trump tariffs, more and more auto workers that are being let go. Doesn't care about them. And while we're here doing all of this, it's my understanding that Donald Trump's down at a golf course. Now, I don't know if he's playing today or if he's caddying for somebody. I don't know if anyone trusts him to caddy, but that's what he's up to. When Donald Trump's out there putting the eraser to the scorecard and cheating on on his scores, people across the country are just trying to put a meal on the table. Trying to figure out if they're going to get to eat or not get to eat. It just shows the disconnect from this president and what we're seeing with these tariffs. Then you have another billionaire who's at commerce who, you know, somehow is trying to convince the American people that he gets it. He says that if his mom doesn't get a social security paycheck, that it's not going to matter. That the only people that complain are those folks that are up to no good. Well, he should travel to New Mexico and visit with my constituents. Visit with our families. Someone doesn't get that check, they may not have a roof over their head, they may not have a meal. It's just showing more and more the hypocrisy of what's happening here. The false promise that this president is going to lower prices when everything is going up and up and up. And while he's doing that, you also have this administration going after nutrition programs, food programs, the kind of programs that put a meal on a plate for a student going to school or for a senior citizen or for someone with a disability. And then to boot, this president fired all the people that are supposed to deliver the meals on wheels programs to our seniors. Folks that may not even be able to leave their home. He doesn't care if people are going to go hungry right now because he's making it harder and harder and harder. That's what these tariffs are doing. And then as I close, look, the guise of what's happening today and what's going to be on the floor here momentarily is under this false narrative from my Republican colleagues who once professed to be fiscal hawks, care about the economy, care about our debts and deficits. They say they want to lower them, but now they came up with this gimmick, which is essentially a lie to the American people that these Trump tax scams don't cost a penny anymore. 5 trillion bucks all of a sudden, poof, gone, zero. I guess the next thing we're going to hear from my Republican colleagues is the debt in America is now zero. No more annual deficits because of their new math. Let's see how that works for people back home who now have to put something on the credit card and that bill's coming up who have a mortgage or rent payment. Let's see what's going to happen to them. Do they get to say, nope, I'm using the Republican math and I don't know a penny anymore. That's the nonsense that's at play right now. After all of this, I hope I don't hear one of my Republican colleagues profess fiscal responsibility because they're about to throw it out the door. Thank you, Ben. Great job. And Ben gave me a good idea. If maybe we can show Donald Trump that the cost of golf balls is likely to go up under these tariffs, maybe he'd learn something. Questions? Yes. So you talked about how your amendment is calling on rescinded tariffs. Can you explain the mechanism? Does it end the emergency of the trade deficit? What does it do? It basically says tariffs are repealed if the cost of goods goes up based on familiar cost of price increases that we know regularly. It's automatic. It doesn't need the emergency. It's just done. So the CPI, when that comes out the next month, Correct. They're gone. That's correct. Yes. The amendment says if costs go up for American families because of tariffs, they'll automatically be repealed. It's not because of an emergency or anything else. And we know that costs are going to go up. And you said it would affect all countries except Russia, Korea, except for column two countries. Correct. Column two countries. That's correct. Yes. What do you make of the fact that a conspiracy theorist has an extreme conspiracy theorist who believes both 9-11 and January 6th were pre-cooked and prearranged? You know what it's like? It's liking the inmate run the asylum. Yes. My reaction is very simple. He knows what trouble he's in with tariffs. This is what he always does. He creates a diversion. All he did is extend the 75 days. He didn't make a decision one way or the other. But he is so he knows the people are so hostile to what he is doing that he always looks for a diversion. Sometimes it's Greenland. Sometimes it's the Gulf of Mexico. The diversion today was TikTok. Do you want to say something? I would just say he's so desperate. He's flailing around. He's just lurching from one thing to another. I mean, under normal circumstances, when you do something colossally bad, you try to fix that problem. I mean, this is somebody who said yesterday, after the market crash, and he's asked about the tariffs, I think it's going very well. So he is the all-time leader for somebody in politics being out of it. And I share the leader's view that he's flailing around, looking for a diversion. And that's where we are. One other thing we when we think about the bad news that he confronted this week was what happened in Wisconsin and what happened in those tightening in those Florida races and what happened the week before in Pennsylvania. This is not small ball stuff. In Wisconsin, 10 counties that went to him before, right, went to Judge Crawford. In the rural areas, and I was in some of them on Saturday, in the rural areas, there were counties sort of on the Minnesota border that are pretty conservative that flipped 15, 20 points. So it's not that hard to make the through line in an election that was very nationalized, right? It wasn't about which judge had the best qualification. I believe Judge Crawford did. But it was about Elon Musk. It was about what's happening out there. And in the rural areas, trust me on this, because I've seen them come out in our rural areas, it's just about the havoc, the chaos, the fact that they have nothing to depend on anymore. They are social security dependent, a number of them, but they are also dependent on a farm economy that works. And he has done literally everything he could to put that economy that's already difficult into turmoil with these tariffs. In rural, urban, or suburban counties, the American people are getting wise to him. Every day they see how bad he is for them. Every day he sees how he's broken their, they see how he's broken their promises, and he sees it on the side of the billionaires, not on them. Last question. Look, let me say this. What Senator Marino did is absolutely despicable. It's anti-Semitic, plain and simple. It's outrageous. I lost lots of people in the Holocaust to Hitler. And for him to use those words, first, we demand he apologize immediately, but we also demand that his Republican colleagues start denouncing him on something that is so blatantly anti-Semitic. Thank you.