Cory Booker

Mr. BOOKER

Mr. BOOKER. Whom I suspect, like my cousin and my brother in the Galleries, that my mom is watching--

Mr. BOOKER.--from Las Vegas.

Mr. BOOKER. I want to answer your question, but first I want to just say what you already know. You represent my mom. You represent one of her best friends, Lou. You represent my Aunt Shirley. You represent my Uncle Butch. You represent my Aunt Marilyn. You represent so much of my family. This is the place where my father died, and when Harry Reid came to his bedside when he was sick and I was still running for this office and he showed me the extraordinary kindness of Senators from Nevada-- that tradition has continued. I am so grateful for you. My family is grateful for you. I am grateful that we were founders of the Black Jewish Caucus, and, in fact, I am going to--

Mr. BOOKER. Our Juneteenth seder is coming up. I am going to put this on as you have it on. I think about Edan Alexander and all those who are suffering. I am just so grateful for our friendship and what we have done against anti- Semitism, about what we have done for the Abraham Accords. You and I are those who find a lot of ways to work with people. The best thing I saw in you was on January 6. Sitting in this row were me, you, and Mark Kelly, and I always say that often in the most difficult of circumstances, you see the best of people. I don't know if you remember this, but staffers started coming in. They rushed in. Usually, you have to have special identification. Then some of them stood behind us. They were crying, they were upset, and they were frightened. I just watched you go from Senator to mother, and I watched you comforting people in their times of fear--when they thought they were going to be killed, literally--and you were this voice of comfort, this voice of calm. I saw you in one of our country's worst crises. I saw your light. I saw your love. I saw the Jewish mom, and I benefited from that. I just feel that Trump mocks us. What does his liberation day mean to the people who are shackled to debt? They are shackled with medical debt and they are shackled with student debt so that they can't afford the rising costs of groceries. What does his liberation mean to people who are chained by fear, who are right now waiting with bated breath to see if the Medicaid Programs they rely on are going to be cut? What does his liberation mean to people who are literally in jails right now because they were disappeared from our streets? What does his liberation mean to people who can't afford homes because of his tariffs or to people who dreamed of a new car but that is going to go up as well? I don't know what he means by ``liberation.'' I honestly don't. I wish he could explain it to the American people. Who is liberated? In these financial times, who is liberated? I don't think the law firms feel liberated. They are so threatened by you that they felt the only way they could get out from under the threat of you is to come to you and beg and offer and say ``We will do this'' and say ``We will give you millions of dollars of pro bono work.'' I don't think they feel liberated. What about the people who are banned from the press corps because they won't call it the Gulf of America? The idea of the freedom of the press--do they feel his liberty? What does his liberty mean? What does Donald Trump's liberty day tomorrow mean in a nation where I read in letter after letter of people who feel like their liberty is gone, that they are losing sleep at night, worried about Social Security? What does liberty mean to the veteran who was laid off who fought for my liberty? What does Donald Trump's liberty mean? What is he talking about? What does his liberty mean to Canada, who fought next to us, who died next to Americans who were fighting for our own causes? What does his liberty mean to them? I don't understand Donald Trump. I really don't. There are going to be Ph.D. students writing about him for generations. He will love that in Heaven. He will look down and say: I am so happy that people are talking about me. But I will tell you this: I love great Presidents. I love that Lincoln said: With malice toward none, with charity [toward] all. But I hear Donald Trump say with malice toward everybody who does not tell him how great he is, and charity--I don't know if he understands that, what it means to have sympathy and compassion and empathy and to help people whether they like you or not. I love great Presidents. I love FDR: ``You have nothing to fear but fear itself.'' But in letter after letter after letter was the word ``fear'' and the word ``terror.'' I was reading from voices from my State and across the country. It says: If Donald Trump is saying be afraid, be afraid of me, the big man with the power. Be afraid. Be afraid. Be afraid. There was another President who said, ``Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.'' Yet Ukrainian-Americans are watching their President go not ``Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall''; they are saying ``Hey, Mr. Putin, come in and take the Donbas. I am going to start the negotiations--not with Zelenskyy at the table. I am going to call him a dictator. I am going to start the negotiations from a position of giving Putin what he wants--Ukrainian sovereign land--and that is where we will start the negotiation.'' I love John F. Kennedy. Quoting a poet: ``Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.'' With Donald Trump, it is not ``Ask not what your country can do for you''; it is ``Ask what can you do for Donald Trump because I will threaten you until you kowtow. I will threaten to run primaries against you if you don't fall in line and vote for things you know are wrong. I will terrorize your law firm unless you come to me and kiss my ring. I will make political your applications for your merger. I will drop cases against you. I will pardon you if,'' as he said in a recent pardon--he was a pro-Trump guy. I don't understand this. I really don't. I don't understand why he tries to divide Americans. I got on a plane once. I am on a plane, and I am juggling to put my carryon up. I get lots of reactions in airports, I have to say on the whole part, good, but occasionally--I think my colleagues next month, next May, should send me a Mother's Day card because occasionally I get called ``you mother'' with something following it. So here I am putting up my overhead baggage, and I sit down next to two people--the Presiding Officer before this, my friend from Alabama-- two Alabamians, one 80 years old and one 60 years old, mother and a daughter. They saw people paying attention to me, and they said: Who are you? Are you a professional athlete? As a middle-age, overweight, Black guy, my ego wasn't insulted. I wanted to say: Well, I could be, but I chose to serve the people. But no. I go: No, ma'am, I am not. Well, who are you then? Well, I am a Senator. And we are so conditioned in America. If we meet a Congress person out and about, the first thing we want to know is, whose team are you on--my team or their team? It is us versus them. We have a horrible dynamic of tribalism in our country. I took a deep breath, and I looked at these two great American women and said: Ma'am, I am a Democrat. The woman next to me looks at me, suddenly sour, and she said: I should have brought my Trump hat. And she wheeled away from me. Immediately, I said: Do you know what, I am not going to dance to this tune. I am going to scratch this record. I am going to scratch this record. I looked at her, and I go: Oh, my gosh. Donald Trump signed two of the biggest bills I wrote in Congress into law--the FIRST STEP Act, which we passed in this body with 87 votes. We would have gotten 88 if one of my dear friends and colleagues was not off trying to do whatever in the world and he wasn't here to vote on it. I talked about opportunity zones and working with Tim Scott to get billions of dollars invested into some of our country's poorest rural and urban areas. Now they were confused, but by the end of that flight, Donald Trump didn't divide us, though. By the end of that flight, I was talking to them like fellow Americans, and we found so many points of connection, so much common humanity, and so much common cause. These outrage machines--TV and these devices--I want to say to America that their financial interest is to keep your eyes on the screen as much as you possibly can. Do you know what sells? Division. Divide. Moral indignation. I will tell you this: I have this great friend who is part of the bald club--Van Jones. He told me this story that he was on ``Crossfire'' on CNN. Van Jones got on with Newt Gingrich. Van Jones--the green activist guy I met in law school--is an extraordinary man. He speaks like a poet to me. He worked in the Obama White House. Then Newt Gingrich is a very known Republican. The two of them sit down. But Brene Brown writes something extraordinary. She writes: It is hard to hate up close, so pull people in. So they get on this show called ``Crossfire,'' and they found out that with all the differences they have, they also have commonality, things they agree on, and they actually kind of like each other. So they go to the producers, and they say: Hey, could you let us do a final segment called ``Cease-Fire''? Can you let us do a final segment called ``Cease-Fire''? The producer said: Yes. Go ahead. Go ahead. So they do this last segment talking about the areas where they agreed, but the producer comes running in after a few segments, saying: Stop them. Can't do it. Why? Ratings are going down. There are a lot of legitimate differences in places where I am going to stand my ground and fight for people's healthcare, for people's Social Security. I am going to fight. But I am never going to get in a position where anybody in this country can make me hate another American because this is the age where we have to figure out how to live up to those words up there, ``e pluribus unum.'' That is the call of our ancestors, to put more ``indivisible'' into this ``one nation under God.'' That is the challenge. There are enough things that we agree on in America, especially when we stop and talk about things--like the child tax credit. Most Americans are for that.

Mr. BOOKER. Oh, gosh, I have been waiting for you. For crying out loud, why didn't you stop me earlier?

Mr. BOOKER. Oh, come on. Come on, Senator.

Mr. BOOKER. I yield for a question while retaining the floor.

Mr. BOOKER. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. This is my veterans book. This is what I was reading from earlier. And everything you are saying is right, and it is such an insult. I read stories from our veterans. It is such an insult to the highest calling of our country, to stand and serve, as you did--as you did-- injured veterans, disabled veterans. I read an article about thousands of disabled veterans who want to serve their country, love this Nation so much that they want to serve in humble jobs doing noble things. And how do we treat them? I will say 83,000 people being laid off. A quarter of them are our veterans from the VA itself, including veterans who do things for the Park Service in our national parks, veterans who do things for us in the Defense Department, veterans who do things for us across this country. I find in my State that some of the greatest leaders I have met in my State are veterans who are still serving veterans. And then veteran entrepreneurs--you know the data--they are incredibly successful. They add to our economy. The government is cutting not just veteran jobs; they are cutting contracts with veteran-owned businesses. I don't understand how you can say out of one side of your mouth that you honor and respect our veterans, which is not what our President has always said--dear God, what he said about John McCain. I still remember John McCain was in a townhall with Barack Obama, fighting fiercely to be the President of the United States, and somebody gets up and says that Barack Obama--as if it is an insult; it is not--is a Muslim or something, and he grabs the mike back and corrects her. One of his voters--he corrects her on national TV: This is wrong. He is a guy who loves his wife, a Christian, loves his family. I mean, that is character and honor. Can you ever see that from our President now? And this is how wrong I was. I want to admit I have made mistakes. I have been wrong. I remember where I was when he said in his campaign that he is no hero, that people who are captured are not heroes. I said to the people who were with me: There goes his 15 minutes of fame. I thought that was the end of Trump. But somehow you can become President of the United States when you insult the veterans who serve. I know you have another question, but can I read you--John Lewis and John McCain--the two Johns--are coming up a lot so far in my 20 hours. But I want to read you this. I want to read this when you are here. This is John McCain writing: Let me [all] tell you what I think about our Pledge of Allegiance, our flag, and our country. I want to tell you a story about when I was a prisoner of war. I spent 5 . . . years at the Hanoi Hilton. In the early years of our imprisonment, the North Vietnamese kept us in solitary confinement or two or three to a cell. In 1971 the [North Vietnamese] moved us from these conditions of isolation into large rooms with as many as 30 or 40 men to a room. This was, as you can imagine, a wonderful change and was a direct result of the efforts of millions of Americans [led by people like Nancy and Ronald Reagan] on behalf of a few hundred POWs, 10,000 miles from home. One of the men who moved into my cell was Mike Christian. Mike came from a small town [near] Selma, Alabama. [He] didn't wear a pair of shoes until he was 13 years old. At 17, he enlisted in the US Navy. He later earned a commission. . . . [H]e became a Naval Flight Officer, and was shot down and captured in 1967. Mike had a keen and deep appreciation of the opportunities this country and our military provide for people who want to work and want to succeed. The uniforms we wore in prison consisted of a blue, short- sleeve shirt, trousers that looked like pajama trousers, and rubber sandals that were made out of automobile tires. I recommend them highly. My pair lasted my entire stay. As a part of the change in treatment, the Vietnamese allowed some prisoners to receive packages from home, and some of these packages were handkerchiefs, scarfs, and other items of clothing. Mike got himself a piece of white cloth and a piece of red cloth and fashioned himself a bamboo needle. Over a period of a couple of months, he sewed the American flag on the inside of his shirt. Every afternoon, before we had a bowl of soup, we would hang Mike's shirt on the wall of our cell, and say the Pledge of Allegiance. I know that saying the Pledge of Allegiance may not seem the most important or meaningful part of our day now-- Our day in the Senate-- but I can assure you that for those men in that stark prison cell, it was indeed the most important and meaningful event of our day. One day, the Vietnamese searched our cell and discovered Mike's shirt with the flag sewn inside, and removed it. That evening they returned, opened the door of the cell, called for Mike Christian to come out, closed the door of the cell, and for the benefit of all of us, beat Mike Christian severely for the next couple of hours. Then they opened the door of the cell and threw him back inside. He was not in good shape. We tried to comfort and take care of him as well as we could. The cell in which we lived had a concrete slab in the middle on which we slept. Four naked light bulbs hung in each corner of the room. After things quieted down, I went to lie down to go to sleep. As I did, I happened to look in the corner of the room. Sitting there beneath that dim light bulb, with a piece of white cloth, a piece of red cloth, another shirt and his bamboo needle, was my friend Mike Christian, sitting there, with his eyes almost shut from his beating, making another American flag. He was not making that flag because it made Mike Christian feel better. He was making that flag because he knew how important it was for us to be able to pledge our allegiance to our flag and our country. Duty, honor, country--we must never forget those thousands of Americans who, with their courage, with their sacrifice, with their lives, made those words alive for all of us. That is our veterans. That is you. That is you, my friend. And Trump is coming after them. DOGE is coming after them. They are firing them right now. And are we silent, America? Are we silent when the bravest amongst us, the most honorable amongst us, the most noble amongst us are losing their jobs? Did you speak up when they came for American veterans? When they fired them for no good reason, what did you do? What did you say? I say no.

Mr. BOOKER. I yield for a question while retaining the floor.

Mr. BOOKER. Oh, God, I am very moved by your comments. I want to say that, from David McCormick to Jack Reed, the Senate has a good number of people who served this Nation, who answered the call. They should all get our honor and respect. Senator Blumenthal served, and he has a son, a Navy SEAL. We should have a reverence for those people because a lot of them didn't make it back. A lot of people didn't make it back. And a lot of people who came home came home with horrible wounds, visible and invisible. We should all be ashamed of the veterans that are committing suicide. We should all be ashamed of veteran homelessness. We have the capacity--we are a great enough nation--to help them. But the ones that didn't come back, they watch over us. They look down upon this Nation. I want to read you one more thing because I have--I was raised by parents who could not--they seemed really worried, raising me in an affluent town in a beautiful home, that I would not recognize how extraordinarily privileged I was. My dad used to say to me: Boy, don't walk around this house like you hit a triple. You were born on third base. My dad used to say things to me like: Boy, don't sit at this table and not realize that you drink deeply from wells of freedom and liberty that you did not dig. You eat from banquet tables of blessings prepared for you by your ancestors. You must metabolize those blessings, not so that you can pay your ancestors back but so you can pay it forward. My dad, when I got degrees from Stanford, Oxford, and Yale, said: Boy, you got more degrees than the month of July, but you ain't hot. Life ain't about the degrees you get; it is about the service you give. So McCormick and Reed and Tammy--I am here because of people that died for this country, that stormed beaches in Normandy for this country, they were at Iwo Jima for this country, they liberated Nazi concentration camps for this country. They are buried--I have seen their burials in Thailand, in fields full of American soldiers who never made it home. And every time I see one of those, I get overcome with emotion. I can't think about--when I look at their ages: 18, 19, 20, 21. So let me read this. And I am going to compose myself because you got me all emotional, Tammy. I thought you were my friend. This is a poem written by Billy Rose. You know it, probably. It is called ``The Unknown Soldier.'' And just listen to the words, and let them echo and see if we are living up to them, if our President lives up to them. The most powerful person in the world or the richest man in the world, are they respecting? There's a graveyard near the White House Where the Unknown Soldier lies, And the flowers there are sprinkled With the tears from mother's eyes. I stood there not so long ago With roses for the brave, And suddenly I heard a voice Speak from out the grave: ``I am the Unknown Soldier, The spirit voice began ``And I think I have the right To ask some questions man to man. ``Are my buddies taken care of? Was their victory so sweet? Is that big reward you offered Selling pencils on the street? ``Did they really win the freedom They battled to achieve? Do you still respect that Croix de Guerre Above that empty sleeve? ``Does a gold star in the window Now mean anything at all? I wonder how my old girl feels When she hears a bugle call. ``And that baby who sang `Hello, Central, give me no man's land' Can they replace her daddy With a military band? ``I wonder if the profiteers Have satisfied their greed? I wonder if a soldier's mother Ever is in need? ``I wonder if the kings, who planned it all Are really satisfied? They played their game of checkers And eleven million died. ``I am the Unknown Soldier And maybe I died in vain, But if I were alive and my country called, I'd do it all over again. Thank you, Senator. Every time I see you, I have such reverence and gratitude that I get to serve alongside of you. I didn't serve in the military alongside of you like those courageous soldiers, like those people who carried you, at risk to themselves, the people who saved your life, the people who helped you in rehab, the people that empowered you to get back on your feet and run for one of the highest offices in the land. And then you serve here with distinction because you don't forget who helped you get here.

Mr. BOOKER. Exactly. And my dad, who is in heaven with a lot of the other good folks from American history, I don't know what he would think of his son, but I know he would be proud of you. All right. Let's talk about the economy.

Mr. BOOKER. Oh, Christopher Coons.

Mr. BOOKER. I yield for a question while retaining the floor.

Mr. BOOKER. So every time you ask me the question, we have to go through the same thing. I am slightly familiar, yes, because you talked about it, but I would be really happy if you ask me another question and you filled in some gaps.

Mr. BOOKER. Then I yield for a question. If you want to ask me a question, I yield for a question while retaining the floor, with the recognition that I have to do it because I am standing between two Delawareans, and I am a little nervous. A New Jerseyan never wants to be between two Delawareans.

Mr. BOOKER. I thank you, Senator Coons, by your strength of voice, by your tone, by the colleague and citizen that you invoke. You are saying the answer with strength, my friend. How do we judge our Nation? What measure do we judge America? Is it by how tall our buildings are? Well, those are great marvels, but other countries have taller buildings. God, maybe Ezra Klein has got me so focused now on making our Nation do bold and build great things. But does the speed of our rails, as an Amtrak guy, speak to the greatness of our Nation? No. Other nations have faster rail. Does the wealth of our people--we have more billionaires than any other country--does that speak to the greatness of our Nation? No. I think the things that speak to the greatness of a nation is: How do we take care of each other? How do we take care of our elders who deserve our respect and our reverence and gratitude for building America, for sustaining America, for doing the hard jobs to raise families to set the next generation on their way. I think we should be judged by how we treat our children. They are the only true hope we have of seeing tomorrows that we will never live through. I think we should be judged by how we treat the sick. Whether it is people with the disease of alcoholism or mental health or crippling cancers or chronic diseases, what do we do? I think we should be judged by how we nurture our families. God, we put American families under crazy stress. Affordable childcare, paid family leave, other nations--our competitors--have these things. I think we should judge the greatness of our Nation by how we treat our veterans, these honorable men and women, some of them who gave their last measure--last measure of their devotion on fields across the world from Thailand to Gettysburg and gave their lives. Those who came home--those who came home, how they--the America they experienced will speak to the truth of who we are. So I am in this place like you are in this place. We have been friends for a long time. I am blaming you a little bit because you are one of those people I called and said: Hey, I am thinking about running for Governor. I am thinking about running for Senator. You told me to come here, man. I am joking. I love you for it. I am honored and blessed that New Jerseyans sent me here. I know that you and I are working to--and let's talk like we talk when we are not on the floor of the Senate. We both are deeply devoted Christians. You told me one of my favorite stories in the Senate, which I won't tell right now. I have been asking you to tell that story. I hope you will tell it, but it is just about your parents. James Baldwin said: Children are never good at listening to their elders, but they never fail to imitate them. You are a great reflection of the stories of your parents you told me, and you and I grapple with this faith of ours, which demands the most radical love--radical love. What does the Bible say about immigrants? I mean, come on. What does the Bible say about the poor? What does the Bible say about the hated, the prostitute, the leper, the people who are looked down upon? What is the story of the Prodigal Son? What does Matthew 25 say about how we should live? ``Even as the least of these you did unto me.'' How many times does the Bible mention poverty. How many?

Mr. BOOKER. I am abiding by it. I will not yield to you. But I knew you would know it. Two thousand times it mentions poverty. Does it say we should scorn the poor? Does it say we should ignore the poor? No. It calls us to love our neighbor. No exceptions to that.

Mr. BOOKER. Thank you, man. I have been waiting for that question. The prayers of the righteous and vails. You are a righteous man. I have a lot of work to do. I yield for a question, but I am retaining the floor. I tried to instigate you, Chris. I tried to throw out Jesus bait.

Mr. BOOKER. Good. Thank God. I yield for a question about whatever you want to ask me for, but I am retaining the floor.

Mr. BOOKER. Yes, I am aware. I said it earlier that he calls it Liberation Day, and I am not sure what he means by that because Americans will not, by this move, be liberated from high prices. They won't be liberated from watching their 401(k)s dwindle in value as the stock market goes down. They won't be liberated from the high cost of groceries. They won't be liberated from the high cost and hard availability of housing. He calls it Liberation Day, but Americans won't be liberated from crushing debt, from medical debt, from student loan debt, parents who are struggling to take care of their parents and their children who rely on Medicaid because a parent has Alzheimer's and a child has a disability and they are trying to make it all work. But yet they are shackled in fear because they see that recommended to a House Committee on Energy and Commerce was to find $880 billion of cuts to the programs that they are relying on as a lifeline to keep their family together. Who is liberated? Who is liberated by the tariffs that he is going to come and bring onto a country where half this Nation is dealing with a tough, tough economic reality, where half of the renters in this country--you and I were both local leaders. We know it is technically the definition of housing insecurity if you are paying more than a third of your income on rent. Chris Coons, you love people. You know people. You traveled Delaware. It is a much smaller State. I do say that with some little bit of twisted non-Christian arrogance from New Jersey looking down, but you know people in your State. I have been with you in your State. You are connected to your communities. So you know people that are struggling just to make ends meet. You know people that are one emergency away like a car accident or a sickness that forces them to miss a week of work and a paycheck, that that will throw their lives in financial ruin. Is this President doing his promises to make their lives better? President Trump is calling his tariffs Liberation Day. Do you think Canada feels liberated from the bully neighbor that is Donald Trump? You think Greenland feels liberated from the bullying nature? Do you think Panama feels liberated? What about universities that are cutting NIH funding, that are cutting the scientific research that will cure the diseases in the future and will alleviate suffering? They now are not allowing postdocs to come to their school. They are not hiring. They are slashing the number of engineering students that they are allowing in because they are terrified this President is menacing indirect costs. Is that liberation? Seventy-one days in--now 72 days. I ask you: Are you better off than you were 72 days ago economically? I ask that question. Ask it to your friends. Are they better off economically? Well, I don't see how they could be because prices are up. The stock market is down. The risk of recession is climbing. Consumer confidence is in the gutter. And 401(k) plans are losing value. Are you better off than you were 72 days ago under this President's leadership on the verge of his so-called Liberation Day that is going to drive prices up even more? He is doubling down on tax cuts for the rich. He wants an economy that works for him, his billionaire donors, his powerful special interests, and it is coming at the expense of working people who are struggling to get by and a lot of programs that they rely on like for their healthcare, like for their Social Security. He wants an economy where the richest people get the biggest tax cuts with the largest corporations. Heck, they may get to skip out on taxes altogether and where hard-working Americans are getting crushed by rising food prices and rising rents. This idea that that might trickle down, but we know it doesn't work. He is continuing the same reckless economic approach he used in his first term: massive tax cuts that inure mostly to the wealthy, unchecked spending, rapacious spending, big, big, big holes in our national debt, trillions of dollars in more debt, and no serious plan on how to pay for any of the things that he is doing, from Social Security to public health to the education that supports children with disabilities and scientific research, the safety nets that millions of people depend upon. Here is a New York Times: ``Trump's policies have shaken a once-solid economic outlook.'' This is from March 7. President Trump inherited an economy that was, by most conventional measures, firing on all cylinders. Wages, consumer spending and corporate profits were rising. Unemployment was low. The inflation rate, though higher than normal, was falling. Just weeks into Mr. Trump's term, the outlook is gloomier. Measures of business and consumer confidence have plunged. The stock market has been on a roller-coaster ride. Layoffs are picking up. And by the way, this is March 7. We just finished March, the worst performing quarter in years in the stock market. Back to the article: Layoffs are picking up, according to some data. And forecasters are cutting their estimates for economic growth this year, with some even predicting that the U.S. gross domestic product could shrink in the first quarter. Some commentators have gone further, arguing that the economy could be headed for a recession, a sharp rebound in inflation or even the dreaded combination of the two, ``stagflation.'' Most economists consider that unlikely, saying growth is more likely to slow than to give way to a decline. Still, the sudden deterioration in the outlook is striking, especially because it is almost entirely a result of Mr. Trump's policies and the resulting uncertainty. Tariffs, and the inevitable retaliation from trading partners, will increase prices and slow down growth. Federal job cuts will push up unemployment, and could lead government employees and contractors to pull back on spending while they wait to learn their fate. Deportations could drive up costs for industries like construction and hospitality-- And the agricultural sector-- that depend on immigrant labor. ``If the economy was starting out in quite good shape, it's probably in less good shape after what we've seen the last few weeks,'' said Donald Rissmiller, chief economist at Strategas, a research firm. The U.S. economy has repeatedly shown its resilience in recent years, and there are parts of Mr. Trump's agenda that could foster growth. Business groups have responded enthusiastically to Republican plans to cut taxes and reduce regulation. A streamlined government could, in theory, make the overall economy more productive. So far, however, the Trump administration's approach to economic policy has been characterized more by chaos--tariffs that are announced and then delayed, government workers who are fired and rehired--than by careful planning. Michael R. Strain, an economist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute-- I know AEI well-- said Mr. Trump's policies on trade and immigration, and his slash-and-burn approach to federal job cuts, would have a damaging effect. This is a conservative think tank. ``What President Trump has proposed will not cause a recession,'' he continued. ``But it will slow economic growth. It will take money out of people's pockets. It will increase the unemployment rate. It will cost people jobs. It will make American businesses less competitive.'' That is AEI, folks. It is certainly possible for Mr. Trump's policies to come together in a way that causes a recession. His tariffs alone could shave a full percentage point off growth in gross domestic product this year, according to some economic models--enough to cut in half the 2 percent growth rate that economists expected going into this year. Many economists contend that deporting millions of immigrants--as Mr. Trump promised to do on the campaign trail last year--could be even more harmful than tariffs, given the U.S. economy's need for workers, particularly in industries like construction and health care. And the administration's push to shrink the federal government, an effort led by Elon Musk, could leave hundreds of thousands of federal workers and government contractors looking for jobs when hiring has slowed. That could set off a chain reaction: Workers who lose jobs, or worry they might, would pull back on spending, which would force businesses to cut costs, leading to more layoffs and further reductions in spending. Ordinarily, that would prompt the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates and shore up the economy. But that could be difficult if tariffs are also pushing up prices, making policymakers nervous that cutting interest rates could spur inflation. ``It's a death by a thousand paper cuts,'' said Jay Bryson, chief economist for Wells Fargo. ``All these things individually aren't enough to cause a recession, but if you layer them on top of one another, it might be.'' Most economists think such an outcome is relatively unlikely, however. Mr. Trump has repeatedly delayed full enforcement of his promised tariffs. For example, on Thursday-- This article is from March 7-- he suspended tariffs on most imports from Mexico and Canada until April. What month are we in? April. His deportation efforts have likewise gotten off to a slow start. And some of the cuts to the federal workforce have been tied up in court. As they should be. Such delays and reversals will help blunt the impact of Mr. Trump's policies, and could make a recession less likely, at least in the short term. But the prolonged uncertainty could have its own costs, leading businesses to delay investment and hiring decisions. ``If we don't get clarity by the back half of this year, economic uncertainty can be like a deer in the headlights,'' said Nancy Lazar, chief global economist at the investment bank Piper Sandler. ``Things just stop. Business confidence is muted, employment is muted, and capital spending is put on hold.'' Even if Mr. Trump's policies don't cause a recession, they could do long-term damage. Lower immigration will leave the country with a smaller labor force as the native-born population is aging. Trade barriers will be a relatively modest drag on growth while in place--a chronic condition, rather than an acute one. ``It's less like the economy is in a car wreck, and it's more like the economy has decided to start smoking a pack a day,'' said Michael Madowitz, an economist at the Roosevelt Institute, a progressive group. In certain places and for certain groups, the consequences could be harder to ignore. Veterans, who make up a disproportionate share of federal workers, could be particularly hard-hit by government layoffs. So could parts of the country that depend heavily on federal jobs: Already, there are signs that home prices in the Washington metropolitan area are falling. ``It's going to be substantial for certain communities.'' ``When you look at the aggregate,'' it is going to be challenging.

Mr. BOOKER. I talked or texted with this person who asked me to yield the floor. I have been letting this power go to my head. I have never in the Senate had the ability to hold the floor and leave the person in a little bit of limbo. I just want to say that Tim Kaine is one of the friends. Honestly, he is more like a pastor to me. He is one of the more honorable men I have met in my life and struggles, like me, about faith and public service. I read your book. I really hope more people read your book. I didn't think it was going to be as beautiful as it was. I laughed, I wept. When you were attacked by spiders and things like that, I am sorry, I was laughing at your misfortune, sir. It is a book about you going through your whole State by walking the Appalachian Trail, canoeing. Every story you told moved me. It is a great book. I have read a lot of my colleagues' books, this one really touched me. You have a beautiful view of America, and I want people to read your book, I really want people to read your book. So if I should yield, I will yield only if you will tell people the name of your book and maybe tell something about it. This is extortion on the Senate floor. I am going to hold on to the floor unless you agree to that. Shake your head up and down if you agree. All right. Then, of course, to my dear friend and somebody that I probably wouldn't be standing here, we had some discussions about procedural opportunities and things like that, he had to make some concessions to me, I won't give details, but he is an honorable man, and in the crux before I came here, he really helped to clear the pathway for me to stand here now. I owe you a lot of my 12 years. You are like a big brother to me. And I yield for a question while retaining the floor.

Mr. BOOKER. God bless you.

Mr. BOOKER. Not a colloquy. That is not allowed. It was a question.

Mr. BOOKER. Wow.

Mr. BOOKER. Is this a question? I yield for a question while retaining the floor. Let's make it a 7-minute question.