Charles E. Schumer
Senator for New York · Democratic · United States
“There has already been some reporting from anonymous sources that Trump was personally involved in pushing these campaign ads on the taxpayers' dime. Let's be clear, these ads were anything but public service announcements. They were pure propaganda.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
“When Trump meets with various AI industry leaders at the White House today, he ought to stop resisting the growing consensus that we need real guardrails to mitigate AI's risk.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
“Instead of trying to score cheap political points with hollow proposals, Senate Republicans need to work with us to take meaningful action that will actually contain these existential risks. They are not doing that, and the American people are in real danger because of their failure to act. Stock Trading Mr.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
“President, on Trump propaganda, Donald Trump continues to cram his taxpayer-funded propaganda down the throats of the American people. In less than a single week, Trump has aired three campaign ads, costing at least $1.5 million, all paid for by--guess who--the American taxpayer.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
“I can sum up the shortcomings of the Republican data center bill with one word: optional. The bill is optional. America, do you hear that? Here, we need some real action on data centers. And what does the Republican Senator from Ohio come up with? Something that is optional. It is up to the companies to decide.”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. President, well, Donald Trump is asleep at the wheel when it comes to reining in unchecked AI. Right after news came out over the weekend about rogue AI agents infiltrating government websites in the United States, Australia, and at the U.N., do you know what Trump told FOX News?”
Senate29 September 2026Source ↗
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“It is immoral. Arrest a judge to try to threaten and scare judges, which he has done before, saying he is about impeachment and other things? Freedom of expression and the rule of law are under attack. Government has been weaponized against the free press, against academic and judicial independence, against anyone who might disagree with Donald Trump. Donald Trump doesn't want to be President of a democratic republic. He has said he wants to be a King or some kind of dictator. He said: Let me be a dictator for one day. But his actions show he wants to be one for much longer. Meanwhile--meanwhile--billionaires like Elon Musk have been handed the keys to the Federal Government with little accountability.”
Senate28 April 2025Source ↗
“We will expose his broken promises. We will expose his lies. We will expose the ways he is threatening democracy. So we will take to the floor and expose Donald Trump as a disastrous President in his first 100 days. We ask America to listen. On the day he became President, Donald Trump promised a golden age for America. Today, that seems laughable. Instead of a golden age, what Americans have gotten is one of the most chaotic, corrupt, and harmful starts to a Presidency in modern history. Before our very eyes, the man who occupies the Oval Office is destroying the foundations of our democracy. Federal law enforcement is arresting people with little due process, even going as far as arresting a judge in Wisconsin. At least four U.S. citizens--all of them children, two suffering from cancer--have been illegally deported. It is sickening.”
Senate28 April 2025Source ↗
“Mr. President, the first 100 days. Well, this week, President Trump marks 100 days as President. It has been 100 days of hell for American families, for our economy, and for our democracy. The start of Donald Trump's second term has been the worst start of any President's in modern times. He now has the lowest approvals any President has seen through his first 100 days since they started polling 80 years ago. Tomorrow night, Senate Democrats will take to the floor to highlight the disaster of Donald Trump's first 100 days.”
Senate28 April 2025Source ↗
“He has been a champion for justice and helped Senate Democrats confirm a record number of Federal judges last Congress. He has been a tireless advocate for Illinois families and people in need, and he has been a close and trusted member of my leadership team. I know Senator Durbin will spend every remaining minute of his term fighting for Illinois and America and fighting for justice. I look forward to fighting alongside him, as we always have together. ____________________”
Senate28 April 2025Source ↗
“Mr. President, last week, our dear friend, the senior Senator from Illinois and the Senate Democratic whip, announced he will not seek reelection next year. I will have a lot more to say about Dick Durbin--one of my close, close friends and someone I roomed with for close to two decades--before he departs, but for now, let me say just this: Senator Durbin has left an indelible mark on the Senate, on our caucus, on Illinois, and on all of America.”
Senate28 April 2025Source ↗
“Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.”
Senate28 April 2025Source ↗
“I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Welch), are necessarily absent.”
Senate9 April 2025Source ↗
“Donald Trump has spectacularly failed already at the one thing people wanted him to do. Instead of lowering inflation, he has made it much worse. Instead of strengthening the economy, he has singlehandedly teed us up for a recession. And few will suffer as much and as quickly as the millions of seniors who were planning to retire this year and in the years to come. Retirement is supposed to be sacred in America. Part of the American dream is working hard all your life, chipping in, saving little by little, knowing that when you retire, there will be something there-- not to make you rich but so you can live a life with some degree of dignity. But Trump has stolen years from people's retirement with his boneheaded tariffs. For them, the damage could be permanent. I yield the floor.”
Senate9 April 2025Source ↗
“To put it in perspective, for Americans nearing retirement, Donald Trump's market crash has vaporized a whopping $104,000 from the average retirement account. That is when you factor in the 17-percent drop in the Standard and Poor's 500 since the middle of February. Let me say that again. For Americans nearing retirement, Donald Trump's market crash has vaporized a whopping $104,000 from the average retirement account. That is years--sometimes decades--of people's savings gone in a flash. That is money retirees need to pay for healthcare, for prescription drugs, to see the grandkids, to buy groceries, and to live with a little bit of dignity--a little bit of dignity. Meanwhile, as tariffs eat away at the 401(k)s, Elon Musk and DOGE are taking a blowtorch to people's Social Security--the last safety net for Americans in retirement.”
Senate9 April 2025Source ↗
“A recession means small businesses will shutter, Main Streets will ossify, and all the progress we have made since COVID will disappear. But one of the biggest casualties of Donald Trump's trade wars are American seniors and Americans planning retirement in the near future. If you were planning to retire this year or thinking about retiring soon, Donald Trump's tariffs are like a brick over the head. This year, 4 million Americans will turn 65--that is a record. Another 80 million Americans are between 45 and 60 and thus approaching retirement and keeping their eyes on the future. And right now, Americans are watching helplessly as Donald Trump lights their retirement accounts and their dreams of a secure future on fire.”
Senate9 April 2025Source ↗
“Mr. President, Donald Trump's trade war has many casualties. Families will be hit with the largest tax hike in over half a century--$5,000 extra a year. Prices will go up for food and for medicine, for clothing and for furniture, for gasoline for cars, for travel, you name it. The economy is in danger of a recession--60 percent odds. Yesterday, a leading person on Wall Street said the majority of CEOs he has spoken to believe the recession is already happening.”
Senate9 April 2025Source ↗
“I suggest the absence of a quorum.”
Senate8 April 2025Source ↗
“Donald Trump and his inner circle are howling about fraud with the hopes of discrediting Social Security entirely. Never mind there is no rampant fraud within Social Security; they just want to cut people's benefits. Never mind that it is popular--overwhelmingly popular--with Democrats, Republicans, liberals, conservatives, rural people, suburban people, urban people. Why are they doing this, then? Why are they going after something that has been as sacred as Social Security since Franklin Roosevelt put the program together? Why? It is simple: So they can cut taxes for the rich. This is a heist. If JD Vance had any intellectual honesty, he would acknowledge he was wrong when he said ``40 percent of the people who are calling are actually committing fraud,'' but I am not holding my breath. I yield the floor.”
Senate8 April 2025Source ↗
“Mr. President, on Social Security, a few days ago, Vice President JD Vance claimed that 40 percent of people calling to get their Social Security ``are committing fraud''--40 percent. First, it was Elon Musk calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme. Then Donald Trump spent 10 minutes in his congressional address talking about checks to 150-year-olds, which we all know is a lie. And now the Vice President has picked up the ax and is coming for Social Security too. We need to be very clear: What the Vice President said was malicious disinformation. His statement is factually incorrect. In the words of the Washington Post, it is ``absurdity on its face--the kind of twisted logic that turns up at the end of a long game of telephone tag.'' Well, we all know what game they are playing.”
Senate8 April 2025Source ↗
“Slashing Medicaid, reducing taxes on billionaires--Americans don't like it so the Republicans are tying themselves in a knot in trying to get this done, against the will of the American people. Republicans in Congress want to cut taxes for billionaires and pay for it by taking away Americans' healthcare, making it harder for working families to put food on the table. This is incredible. With the threats of a recession on the rise because of these tariffs, do House Republicans really want to sign their name to this bill, as I said before? The bottom line is, sooner or later, Republicans are going to have to face the music. There aren't enough procedural gimmicks in the world to change the reality. The Republican agenda on both sides--slashing programs like healthcare people need, tax cuts for billionaires, it is unpopular on both sides.”
Senate8 April 2025Source ↗
“With the threats of a recession on the rise because of these tariffs, do House Republicans really want to sign their name on a bill that adds $37 trillion to the deficit? They should tread carefully. I said last Friday that for all the hand-wringing so far, the hard part for Republicans remains in front of them. The Republican agenda suffers from a fatal flaw. Its various pieces are all unpopular on their own, but when pieced together, it is even worse. That is why the Republicans are having such trouble coming together. It is not even to deal with Democrats, the House and Senate Republicans are at loggerheads. Members within each Republican caucus are at loggerheads. Why? Because the two policies are both unpopular.”
Senate8 April 2025Source ↗
“Mr. President, now on the budget, we are not even 100 days into Donald Trump's second term, and his Presidency is already a dumpster fire. His tariffs were one of the largest tax hikes on American families in half a century since the Vietnam war. His bumbling trade war wiped trillions of dollars from American retirement savings. Meanwhile, Elon Musk is crashing the Social Security website, shutting down local offices, and disconnecting phone services. All these closures and firings show his real desire is to decimate Social Security. In March, employment for U.S.”
Senate8 April 2025Source ↗
“As you know, the previous resolution by Senator Kaine got four Republican votes here in the Senate. Our resolution, this resolution, would terminate the emergency that Donald Trump has declared in order to slap tariffs on 49 percent of products Americans buy from other countries. It would terminate that. Again, instead of picking a fight with the entire world, Donald Trump should be focused on going after America's actual adversaries. The Senate has the power and authority to stop Donald Trump's tariff madness. We Senate Democrats intend on making sure the Senate gets the chance to exercise that power. Senator Wyden's resolution is privileged and will be able to go to the floor of the Senate. ____________________”
Senate8 April 2025Source ↗
“Mr. President, in an additional matter, this morning, I am proud to be joining Senators Wyden, Kaine, as well as Senators Shaheen, Welch, and Senator Paul to introduce another resolution that would put a halt on all of Donald Trump's global policies. The resolution we passed dealt with Canada. This deals with all of the global tariffs. I am very proud to cosponsor this legislation. The Senate has the power and authority to stop this madness, and we have a duty to act in a bipartisan way to repeal these tariffs.”
Senate8 April 2025Source ↗
“Now the Speaker must act if he cares about avoiding a recession, if he cares about American families. I am confident that if Speaker Johnson were to put the Senate's Canada resolution on the floor, the bipartisan resolution we passed, that it would pass the House as well. ____________________”
Senate8 April 2025Source ↗
“The chaos within the Trump administration was shown a few minutes ago, when Elon Musk called Peter Navarro--the chief architect of these tariffs--a moron. That is Musk's word. He called him a ``moron.'' Their plan is so crazy, so controversial that this administration cannot get its act together--with them calling each other names--regarding this tariff plan. This is perhaps the most significant task for the Republican congressional leadership since Donald Trump became President. The choice in front of Leader Thune and Speaker Johnson is simple: Choose Donald Trump or choose American families. Stand up to Donald Trump or watch him trigger a recession. So this morning, I am writing to Speaker Johnson, urging him to put the Senate-passed resolution undoing Donald Trump's tariffs for a vote in the House.”
Senate8 April 2025Source ↗
“The damage of Donald Trump's tariff tax has already been done. And regardless of what the markets say from one hour to the next, there are no signs that the chaos is changing at any time soon. Americans are anxious. Nobody, looking at their retirement accounts today is feeling anything close to liberated. It has been a hellacious few days for people worried about their 401(k)s and their savings and their kids' future. And that is not changing anytime soon. Before things get worse, Donald Trump should immediately reverse his reckless trade war. He should halt his tariff tax at once, and he should start focusing more on America's actual trade adversaries, like China, instead of picking a fight with the entire world and causing chaos and steering us toward a recession in the process.”
Senate8 April 2025Source ↗
“Mr. President, I would like to begin by reading a quote from Bill Ackman, the billionaire well known for his support of Donald Trump. He said: We are headed for a self-induced, economic nuclear winter, and we should start hunkering down. Preston Caldwell, a senior economist from Morningstar Research, likewise, said: If they're maintained, the tariff hikes announced April 2 represents a self-inflicted economic catastrophe for the United States. Meanwhile, Larry Fink of BlackRock says, most CEOs he has spoken to would say we have already entered a recession.”
Senate8 April 2025Source ↗
“Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.”
Senate8 April 2025Source ↗
“Mr. President, that is the third thing I want to talk about, the Republican billionaire tax breaks. In less than 3 months, Donald Trump has unleashed more chaos upon the American people than any previous President. His tariffs have hit families with the largest tax hike in half a century. Elon Musk and DOGE are sabotaging Social Security and Medicaid and Medicare from within with massive layoffs, funding cuts, and crashing websites. The market is having its worst day since the COVID crisis, sending 401(k)s reeling. And what are Republicans in Congress doing? They are cutting taxes for billionaires and paying for it by cutting Medicaid. Now the billionaire tax breaks will add $37 trillion to the debt. Adding $37 trillion to the debt was bad enough without having to take into account President Trump's tariffs.”
Senate7 April 2025Source ↗
“It is horrible, horrible for our seniors and for all Americans, including the millions who have been putting money in week after week, month after month so they might have a decent retirement. Last week, Senate Republicans voted against three amendments by Democrats to protect Social Security from DOGE, including an amendment by Senator Ossoff reversing the mass layoffs and office closures. What did Republicans do? They said no. Shameful. Social Security is the greatest crisis ever. Senate Republicans are now complicit. The longer Republicans allow Elon Musk to threaten people's benefits, the greater the political blowback is going to be. And with these issues--the tariffs, the Trump tariff tax--destroying so much of Social Security, the American people are learning that Donald Trump is betraying them.”
Senate7 April 2025Source ↗
“Mr. President, on Social Security, while markets plunge and retirement accounts reel from Donald Trump's tariffs, Elon Musk and DOGE are taking a blowtorch to Social Security. This morning, the Washington Post reported that the Social Security website is facing widespread and repeated outages. People can't log on and see their benefits. Millions of low-income Americans even received messages saying they are ``not receiving payments'' at all, causing widespread panic. First, DOGE shut down local Social Security offices. Then it shut down phone services.”
Senate7 April 2025Source ↗
“And maybe worst of all, Donald Trump's tariff tax is the largest tax hike since before the Vietnam war. Families will pay $5,000 extra a year for groceries, appliances, for drugs, for clothes, for cars, for gasoline, and so, so much more. Everywhere they look, Americans are going to see prices going up, going up. Donald Trump campaigned on the fact there was too much inflation, and yet he is going to cause--he is causing already--a ton of it. So let me say it again: Donald Trump is teeing up a nationwide recession. If a recession does happen, it will be known as the Trump recession. I urge the President to back off from his disastrous tariffs immediately. He should put down the golf clubs and pick up the papers because the disaster he has created is anything but great.”
Senate7 April 2025Source ↗
“That is the conservative, cautious JPMorgan--60-percent chance of a recession. Barclays, meanwhile, said Donald Trump's tariffs will cause inflation to nearly double as America enters a recession. HSBC, Deutsche Bank, and Bank of America all said the same thing--the tariffs have made a recession more likely. And now, today, Goldman Sachs is the one saying ``danger.'' Some analysts say the damage is already done; $6 trillion of value has been wiped out. Any community in America that relies on trade or tourism or farming or energy or any wide range of industries is at risk of a recession. My State of New York, my city of New York, certainly, are at that risk and heading right in that direction, unfortunately. Consumer activity is going to go down. Demand is going to suffer. Unemployment is going up.”
Senate7 April 2025Source ↗
“Mr. President, make no mistake about it, Donald Trump is teeing up a nationwide recession. Less than a week after Donald Trump started the largest, dumbest trade war in American history, all the signs say America is heading toward calamity. A report by JPMorgan entitled ``There Will Be Blood,'' warned these policies, if sustained, would likely push the United States and possibly the global economy into a recession this year. An update of our probability scenario tree makes this point, raising the risk of a recession this year to 60 percent.”
Senate7 April 2025Source ↗
“I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.”
Senate7 April 2025Source ↗
“Democrats are fighting every day in every way against these attacks against American families, against this plan, which says billionaires win; families lose. Democrats stand united. We are unified in fighting this awful bill. We will fight the Republican anti-family agenda. We will shine a light on these terrible cuts that Republicans are trying to pass. The American people will be horrified at what they see. I yield the floor.”
Senate3 April 2025Source ↗
“Every American in a similar position to those I spoke to should do the same. Call your Congressman. Call your Senator. Tell them you don't want Medicaid to be slashed. Tell them you don't want nutrition assistance to be eliminated. Tell them you don't want our seniors to be abandoned. Tell them you don't want to see these cuts--these cruel, heartless cuts--just so the wealthiest Americans can get another break they don't need. That is what the next few days are about: fighting these awful cuts done to help the wealthiest Americans get a tax break. That is the fight Democrats will have here on the Senate floor. That is the fight we will have tonight. That is the fight we will have tomorrow and beyond.”
Senate3 April 2025Source ↗
“I told everyone I encountered in these two nursing homes and in many other places in New York. I went to a hospital in the Bronx--one of the biggest hospitals. It serves 1.3 million people in the Bronx. It is the only cancer care treatment for all of those 1.3 million. The leaders of that hospital told me the hospital would probably close if there were a 20-percent cut to Medicaid, and the Republicans are proposing a deeper cut than that in this budget bill. Close. The only hospital. One of the biggest employers. It employees 18,000 people itself. This story could be repeated. The Bronx has poorer communities. Staten Island and Long Island have more middle-class communities. But every one of them will be affected terribly by these cuts. So I told them to call. I tell everyone: We have to stop this. Public sentiment is everything.”
Senate3 April 2025Source ↗
“There, I told every patient, every doctor, every nurse, every employee who works in these institutions to call their Congress Member and tell them that their jobs are at risk and, if they are a resident, to tell them their healthcare is at risk. If they are a child of a parent in one of these nursing homes, call. I told them to make it clear to their Congressmen that the Republican Congressmen and Senators have the power in their hands to stop these cuts because there are narrow margins in both the Senate and the House. A handful of Senators and a handful of Congressmen, if they have the courage to do the right thing--and most of them--or some of them, at least, know that it is the right thing even though they are afraid to vote yes--they are afraid to vote no and stop this, but they should have the courage to do it. So I told them.”
Senate3 April 2025Source ↗
“It is infuriating that something so wrong, so callous, so detrimental to America could be right here on the Senate floor with the support of so many Republican Senators. I say to the Republican Senators: Listen to your constituents. Listen to your constituents. They don't want this. You know that. Are you going to get up on the floor and make a speech that says you are cutting Medicaid because you want to give tax breaks to billionaires? That is what you are doing. Get up and have the courage to say it. Get up and have the courage to say it. The senior centers I visited were represented, actually, by Republican Members of Congress on both Staten Island and Long Island.”
Senate3 April 2025Source ↗
“For any of you--of the millions of Americans who have a parent who has struggled with dementia or physical disabilities--to those people, we know that our parents need the help of medical professionals to care for them properly. That is why Medicaid is so vital, so important, such a lifeline to tens of millions of families across America. The Republican Medicaid cuts would be a gut punch to these families. It was the same story on Long Island. Senior citizens are scared, nervous, angry about what these budget cuts would do to them that the Republicans are proposing, that Trump and Musk are proposing. Workers worried they might lose their jobs--and they have worked so hard in these facilities because they care about the patients they are caring for--are told ``No, no more funding'' for no reason. They are doing a great job.”
Senate3 April 2025Source ↗
“Staten Island is a middle-class community, and so is Long Island--the two places I visited--but their kids would not be able to care for most of them. Most of them need more healthcare than just going back to their kids' homes. It is not adequate healthcare for so many of them. Others said their children had no extra room for them. What are even the kids going to do? On both Staten Island and Long Island, these are middle-class communities. They are going to be devastated by these cuts. Some of the residents said their children might be able to take care of them, but the burden would be immense. These families don't have the financial means to take care of their parents in their advanced ages. They don't have space at home. They don't have the medical know-how to meet the needs like a nursing home does.”
Senate3 April 2025Source ↗
“We have the heads of major hospitals there--many of them not the same party as mine--telling us what would happen if these devastating cuts to Medicaid went through. On Staten Island, we estimated 18,000 people would lose their jobs. Tens of thousands would no longer get healthcare. It would cause a recession on Staten Island--like that. Seniors at the centers--new seniors who are getting out of hospitals or have a new illness that they are just encountering--would be turned away. There would be no funding. There would be no beds. There would be no place for them to go. It is not just the residents at these nursing homes; it is their children who now can breathe easy for their parents who helped raise them and worked so hard through the years to provide for them.”
Senate3 April 2025Source ↗
“They help seniors with dementia, with postsurgical rehab, with physical disability support, and so much more. My visit to these communities was clouded by a shadow of fear and anger. I talked to senior citizens who knew that if Medicaid were cut, they would lose their healthcare. In fact, the owner of Silver Lake-- one of the most esteemed healthcare facilities on Staten Island--told me that if the cut were even half what the Republicans are proposing, his home would close. Hundreds of senior citizens would have no healthcare, and 300 people would lose their jobs. They were frightened. They were scared. They were angry. There is no question about it: Even if Republicans pass a fraction of the cuts they are pushing, it will devastate these communities.”
Senate3 April 2025Source ↗
“Seventy million--seventy million--people rely on Medicaid in one way or another to provide medical care, and tens of millions more are their families and friends. That includes not just seniors who are within the 70 million but also newborns, parents, Americans with disabilities, rural communities that have access, perhaps, to a single hospital or clinic if they are fortunate. Medicaid--Medicaid--makes all these things possible. I want to focus on a truly sobering experience I had earlier this week when visiting two nursing homes in New York: the Silver Lake Specialized Care and Rehab Center on Staten Island and the Carillon Nursing and Rehab Center on Long Island. These institutions alone-- there are just 2 of them--serve over 600 residents together and employ 600 people. They are the lifeline to local communities.”
Senate3 April 2025Source ↗
“The investments that unlock America's future now stand on the edge of a knife. Why? Why? Why are Republicans doing this? Why are they being so cruel? so callous? so thoughtless? Why are those in the billionaire bubble who seem to run Donald Trump and Elon Musk--why are they doing this? It is very simple. They are trying to give the ultrarich another tax break. The Republicans are enthralled with these very wealthy, very greedy people, and all they want is a tax break. When Donald Trump became President, they got control of the Republican Party, and Elon Musk and Donald Trump are in the billionaire bubble. And when Democrats expose all of these cuts to healthcare and veterans' aid and benefits for the American people to see, the American people will think it is sickening. So, tonight, let us begin with Medicaid.”
Senate3 April 2025Source ↗
“Tomorrow, we will be focused, likewise, as we debate this bill, on Republicans' morally bankrupt tax breaks for billionaires and on Donald Trump's dumb and costly tariffs, on the need to stand up for our veterans and our national security, on the unprecedented corruption Donald Trump has unleashed in our government, and finally on the existential fight to protect Social Security from the chain saw of Elon Musk. These are the themes we will cover today and tomorrow. This is the fight the American people need to see because people's lives and livelihoods are at stake. The healthcare that protects our kids is in danger--our children. Their healthcare is in danger. The benefits that keep our seniors whole are at risk. Senior citizens, in their golden era, could have Medicaid--the rug--pulled out from under them, leaving them in dire straits.”
Senate3 April 2025Source ↗
“It is my honor to join my fellow Democrats to lay the case before the American people for how Republicans plan to destroy Medicaid as we know it and harm millions and millions and millions of Americans. We will share the stories of people back home. We will illustrate the full scale of the destruction these cuts would do. And we will make it clear to the American people that while Republicans work like hell to eliminate Medicaid to cut taxes for the rich, Democrats are fighting to protect the healthcare the American people deserve and need. Medicaid will be the first--the first--of six different themes that we will focus on here on the floor.”
Senate3 April 2025Source ↗
“Well, if Republicans won't be straight with the American people about their agenda, Senate Democrats are glad to do it for them. Tonight, my colleagues and I will begin to put the Republican agenda on trial before the court of public opinion here on the floor of the Senate. It is going to be a long few days for Senate Republicans. Democrats will expose the dark corners of the Republican plan. We will explain the devastating consequences, highlight the many injustices that Republicans will inflict on people's healthcare, on their financial security, on their children's futures, and on the very future of the American dream itself. We begin tonight with a topic close to home for all of us: Medicaid.”
Senate3 April 2025Source ↗
“Madam President, a few minutes ago, for the second time this year, Senate Republicans began the process to pass legislation eviscerating Medicaid, abandoning our kids, failing our veterans, and squandering our future--all for the sake of tax cuts for the ultrarich. This is the Republican agenda: Billionaires win; American families lose. Billionaires win; American families lose in the Republican plan. Republicans have failed to be honest with the country about the true nature of their plans. They have tried to hide their Medicaid cuts. They have tried to hide their billionaire tax giveaways with budgetary gimmicks and distractions. They are tying themselves in knots. They don't want the American people to know what their agenda is.”
Senate3 April 2025Source ↗
“And far worse than that, these billionaire tax breaks and the gargantuan deficit that they will create will haunt our children and our grandchildren with sky-high interest rates, a hobbled economy, and rampant inequality. It is not the world I want my grandchildren to grow up in. House Republicans must not go along with this dangerous plan by Senate Republicans. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.”
Senate3 April 2025Source ↗
“So Republicans in essence want to pretend like their trillion-dollar tax cuts are free, like magic, or, as Chip Roy, one of the most conservative Republicans around here, said, like ``fairy dust.'' A middle school math student could tell you this is ridiculous. House Republicans must tread carefully. I say that to them over there, particularly the ones on the hard right. If they go along with this dangerous gimmick hatched by Senate Republicans, they will pave the way to add $37 trillion to the debt. Republicans will forever incinerate any credibility they have to complain about debt and deficits. When you go home, Senate Republicans, don't tell your constituents that you want to cut the debt--$37 trillion.”
Senate3 April 2025Source ↗
“Senate Republicans are so hell-bent on cutting taxes for billionaires, they seem ready to detonate the rules of the Senate and break their word to get it done. Republicans spent years preaching about preserving Senate rules and protecting regular order, but now that their billionaire tax cuts are on the line, the rules don't seem to matter for them. We all know what is going on here. We know. Senate Republicans don't want to admit that their plan to make these tax cuts permanent will add $37 trillion to the debt--$37 trillion. That more than doubles the totality of our national debt today--more than doubles it. It is reckless, and it is dangerous.”
Senate3 April 2025Source ↗
“It is a brutal Republican pincer move, with American families trapped in the middle. Trump's tariffs raise costs and pick people's pockets on one side, and Trump's budget cuts are taking away healthcare and benefits and veterans' care on the other side. If Republicans pass their agenda, 80 million Americans will be at risk of losing coverage. Rural hospitals, community health centers, and nursing homes will be at the risk of closure. If Republicans proceed this week, Senate Democrats will expose their agenda for the American people to see. We will pick their bill apart. We will put them on record. We will force Republicans to explain in multiple ways again and again and again why they want to cut taxes for the rich at the expense of working people.”
Senate3 April 2025Source ↗