Chuck Schumer

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, we have discussed already how this budget has such horrible effects on American families by slashing Medicaid--we did that last night--giving tax cuts to the rich--we did that earlier this morning--and now how the tariffs are such a huge Trump tariff tax on American families. We continue to show how bad this budget is for American families--in this case, veterans, led by Senator Blumenthal.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, Senators have just come to the floor to show how the Republican agenda would be a gut punch to our Nation's veterans and so dangerous to our national security, as the Senator from Colorado so eloquently outlined. I thank them for speaking passionately. Our next topic that we will be speaking about--each one is so dangerous to America, and each one is Donald Trump betraying America and just totally going back on what he said when he ran the campaign. And now, again, he is with those bubble of billionaires and doesn't care about the middle class and how he is hurting them. Now Senators will turn to an issue especially alarming to so many people--the deep, deep corruption that Donald Trump and Elon Musk and DOGE have unleashed on their watch. The amazing amount of self-deals as they are trying to enrich themselves on the backs of the government, which mean on the backs of the American people. One of our great experts in this area who has been talking about this a very long time is Senator Whitehouse. I yield to him.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, for the past 2 days, Democrats have turned the Senate into a tribunal, and Donald Trump's agenda is on trial. I thank the close to 40 of my colleagues who came to the floor and made so many points about that. So now, Donald Trump's agenda is on trial. It is time now for Republicans to answer. Tonight, Democrats will bring amendment after amendment to the floor, one right after the other, again and again and again. Our amendments will give Republicans the chance to join us in hitting the kill switch on Donald Trump's tariffs, on DOGE, on the attacks against Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid. Now, Republicans are in the majority. The choice is theirs. They see what Americans see: Donald Trump's policies are a disaster. DOGE is a horror. Republicans could snuff it out instantly, tonight, if they wanted. Will Republicans join us tonight and stand up to Donald Trump before he craters the economy? Or will Republicans spend all night trying to defend the mess Donald Trump is making? And he made a lot more of it today. Will Republicans defend Donald Trump's tariff tax--the Trump tariff tax--which would cost families $5,000 a year? Will they defend Elon Musk as he takes a blowtorch to Social Security? Will they defend cutting Medicaid and imperil the healthcare of 70 million Americans, from newborn kids to seniors to rural communities and veterans? Will Republicans spend all night--all night long--trying to explain to the American people why billionaires deserve a massive tax break, but working people don't deserve basic healthcare? The choice is theirs. Donald Trump has betrayed the American people. Will Senate Republicans join him in this betrayal? I yield the floor.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I call up my amendment No. 1884, and ask that it be reported by number.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, President Trump's tariff tax is one of the dumbest things he has done as President, and that is saying something. Markets are plummeting. Six trillion dollars in values gone. The odds of a recession, JPMorgan says is 60 percent. The dumbest most avoidable recession in American history, but the Trump recession is headed our way, and Donald Trump, meanwhile, is golfing. The families are panicking. Their costs for food and drugs and clothing and cars and gas, $5,000. So my amendment would stop President Trump's tariffs from crushing families financially. It would rescind any tariffs put in place after January 20 that have increased the cost of groceries, medicines, and everyday goods, and it would leave in place tariffs on adversaries like China, Russia, and North Korea. On behalf of Ms. Klobuchar and myself, we are for this. And one other thing: How stupid they are the way they did it, to set tariffs to tax penguins but not Putin. Yes. The Heard and McDonald Islands, which only have penguins on them, are taxed. Russia is not. This is the worst, worst tariff imposition we have ever seen. It is going to create a recession. If you vote for it, it is going to be on your hands.

Mr. SCHUMER. Do I have any time remaining?

Mr. SCHUMER. A ``yes'' vote means a recession, folks. Vote on Amendment No. 1884

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, Donald Trump has betrayed the American people. Tonight, Senate Republicans joined him in that betrayal. In voting for this bill, Senate Republicans sided with billionaires against the middle class in total obeisance to Donald Trump. The odds of a recession in America are surging because of Donald Trump's tariffs, and Senate Republicans have gone along. In fact, they are aiding and abetting it. It is a brutal Republican pincer move: Donald Trump's tariffs raise costs on the one side, and Senate Republicans are cutting Medicaid and pushing billionaire tax breaks on the other. Tonight, Senate Democrats gave Senate Republicans the chance to hit the kill switch on Donald Trump's tariffs, on DOGE, on the attacks against Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid. At each opportunity, Republicans refused. If Republicans ever chose to snap out of their Trump hypnosis for even a minute, they could immediately use this Senate procedure to halt the tariffs, halt DOGE, halt all of Donald Trump's chaos. They know deep down his policies are a disaster. Instead, Senate Republicans are chaining themselves to the MAGA anchor and leaping into the ocean. But for all their difficulty in passing this bill over the past week, the hardest part for Republicans is still in front of them. They are going to even have more trouble in the weeks ahead. Republicans' obeisance to Donald Trump's increasingly unpopular agenda will cost them dearly in the future. Madam President, I would like to thank the staffs for the great jobs they have done, all the incredible staff for making this possible. Thank you to the floor staff who has been with us many hours. Thank you to the cloakrooms. Thank you to the doorkeepers, the Capitol Police, the pages, the custodian and maintenance staff and everyone else. I want to thank, particularly, Nate Oursler in the Democratic cloakroom who has been the hero of the past couple of days, working relentlessly to keep things moving for Senate Democrats from the moment we gaveled in to the moment we have adjourned. And a particular thank-you to my great staff. They have done an amazing, amazing job and made this very difficult effort run smoothly as our Members depart at an earlier hour than they are used to, and we accommodated as many amendments as we possibly could. I would like to thank them all and a particular shout-out. It is a great staff. I could name so many, but to Meghan Taira because she is the chief cook and bottle washer on our side who gets this all done so smoothly and so effortlessly. This will be--and I am sure she is happy about this--her last reconciliation, her last budget reconciliation--but we know what a great job she has done not just for me, not just for Senate Democrats, not just for the whole Senate but for the country over the decades. So, Meghan, we wish you the best. I yield the floor.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, yesterday, Donald Trump made one of the dumbest decisions he has ever made as President, and that is saying something. The tariffs Donald Trump approved yesterday are far, far worse than we thought. It is the largest tax hike on families since World War II. Yesterday was not ``Liberation Day''; it was tax day. ``Middle class, pay more taxes,'' Donald Trump is telling you. That is what the day is all about. This morning, naturally, the markets are plunging. The Dow is down 800 points, and the S&P is already on track for its worst day in years. Donald Trump has singlehandedly created a financial forest fire. Trump called yesterday ``Liberation Day.'' Nobody was feeling even close to liberated--quite the opposite. American families are learning the hard way that Donald Trump has them right in the middle of a pincer and is squeezing them on both sides. On the one side, Donald Trump is pushing tariffs that will cost working families an extra $5,000 a year, and by his own admission, he ``could not care less.'' On the other side, Donald Trump is working with Republicans to gut vital programs working families rely on, like Medicaid, Social Security, veterans programs. So there is a pincer: Trump's tariffs raise costs and pick people's pockets on one side, and Trump's budget and his budget cuts are taking away healthcare and benefits and veterans' care on the other side. Now, there are smart ways to use tariffs, and there are dumb ways to use tariffs. Donald Trump is using tariffs in the dumbest way imaginable. In fact, Donald Trump slapped tariffs on penguins and not on Putin. Trump sanctioned the Heard and McDonald Islands, only inhabited by penguins. That is what happens when you don't have a clue as to what you are doing. You fire air traffic controllers, dismantle disease-outbreak monitoring, sabotage Social Security and VA operations, censor climate data, defund public schools, and declare a trade war on penguins. What is going on? Prices on groceries, prices on electronics, appliances, metal, beer, furniture, fertilizer, and so much more will go up. People's retirements are in peril as markets are in turmoil across the globe. And Donald Trump says, ``I couldn't care less.'' That is his quote, America. You are getting squeezed on both sides by his tariffs and his budget, and he says, ``I couldn't care less.'' The American people are learning quickly that Donald Trump is breaking all the promises he made in the campaign and he is not on their side. He couldn't care less. It is truly unbelievable to watch the sheer destruction Republicans are inflicting on Americans. We aren't even 100 days into President Trump's second term, and the Republicans this week will plow ahead to take away people's Medicaid. They are letting Elon Musk sabotage Social Security. He says it is a Ponzi scheme. He says he is OK if it is eliminated. What do these rich people know about how middle-class people struggle? It is a little coterie of billionaires that is running policy. As I said, the middle class is getting squeezed by the pincers on both sides. What are they doing firing tens of thousands of epidemic responders, healthcare workers, food inspectors, abandoning veterans? And now, on top of all of that--it has been bad enough before ``Liberation Day,'' which is tax day--Americans are going to pay $5,000 a year through his tariffs. For what? Why are they doing all this? Why would they do all this? Why would they hurt people, so many people in so many ways? Why would they have that pincer squeeze them? I will tell you why. One thing. One reason. Tax breaks for the billionaires. As I said, this is a coterie of billionaires running the government--Trump and Musk and Lutnick and so many others. You heard the net worth of his Cabinet; it is incredible. Cutting taxes for billionaires makes them squeeze the American people. It is utterly disgusting. President Trump should reverse course on his disastrous tariffs immediately--immediately--or else he risks plunging America into a recession. Some of the leading banks, the leading financial analysts with no ax to grind, have greatly increased the odds that we will have a recession because of what Trump is doing. What President walks mindlessly into a recession, which means it is harder to get a job, harder to keep a job, harder to pay the bills? What President does that? So I am calling on the House and Speaker Johnson, given how bad Trump's tariffs are--they now know it--to come back into session and vote on the Senate's bipartisan bill undoing the tariffs on Canada, the bill we passed yesterday with bipartisan support because a few Republicans had the courage of their convictions and voted against the President and for Senator Kaine's very, very timely and needed bill. If the Speaker really cares about the American people and the costs they would bear by these tariffs, he should call back the House and take up the Senate bill immediately. The American people care about one thing above all--and they care about a lot of things, but at the top of the list is inflation. That is the No. 1 thing on people's minds. We heard that over and over again on last November's election day and ever since. And Donald Trump said in his campaign that he would reduce prices on day one when he got elected. He is doing just the opposite. He is not reducing prices; he is dramatically raising them $5,000 a year on the average American family. And by his own omission, Donald Trump said ``I couldn't care less.'' Government Funding Mr. President, on the budget, this week, Donald Trump and the Republican Party are hitting Americans with a brutal one-two punch. On one side, Trump has hit Americans with a massive tax hike through his extremely dumb tariffs. On the other side--they are unfocused, just unfocused. On the other side, Senate Republicans are getting ready to take away vital programs, throw people off Medicaid--all so they can give massive tax breaks to billionaires. 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. 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. 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. 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.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. It is the same on Long Island as on Staten Island, and it is the same across all of America in poor communities, which, of course, depend on Medicaid. For so many people, Medicaid is their only lifeline to healthcare-- for middle-class communities and even well-to-do communities. All of them are nervous, scared, angry, furious at what these cuts would do to them. Why? people ask. Why are they doing this? Why are they being so mean? Why are they being so cruel? Why are they being so callous? We have to answer: For one reason--they want to give billionaires a tax cut. They want to take the money away from working families. They want to take things that working families need. They want to take them away so there are more tax cuts for the billionaires. It angers me. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, there are a lot of topics I wish to discuss today on the Senate floor, including the news from Wisconsin, Donald Trump's tariffs, Republicans' awful attack on the Senate rules, and, of course, the ghastly undercutting by RFK on 9/11 families.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. I announce that the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin) and the Senator from Washington (Mrs. Murray) are necessarily absent.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I thank my friend from Connecticut for his excellent words. Much of what he said could be applied to New York. I want to thank Senator Kaine for his seeing around the curve, seeing how important this was months ago and persisting and persisting and persisting in getting us to this place. Now, Mr. President, President Trump just announced his new tariff package a few hours ago, and it is even worse than we thought. In addition to the tariffs that he has already imposed, he now has a 10- percent across-the-board tariff on all products. What is this going to do to American families? It is going to clobber them. It is estimated that the Trump tariff will add about $5,000 to the average family's costs. And why is he doing it? To reduce taxes on the billionaires. They have said that. Navarro and he have said it over and over again, that they want to reduce those taxes. It is outrageous. It is outrageous. The average family, sitting at the kitchen table on Friday night, is saying to themselves: Whoa, boy. We had better cut back on our purchases. Maybe we ought to not go out to the restaurant. Maybe we ought not take that vacation we have been saving up for for a year. Maybe we ought not to buy that new car. Consumer confidence is lower than it has been in many, many years. The average business, because of the chaotic nature--Trump says one thing one day and another thing the next day--are holding back. Businesses, small and large, need certainty, but there is no certainty here with the chaos Donald Trump has created. Listen to this. When told that it would raise the costs on the American family, Trump himself said he ``couldn't care less'' if prices go up. What kind of bubble is he living in? These billionaires who are running the country--Trump, Musk, Lutnick--they are in such a bubble, they don't know how the average family is hurting. Yeah, they are billionaires. God bless them. They made a lot of money. But don't think that average people are in the same boat. The cost of groceries, the cost of prescription drugs, the cost of gasoline, the cost of buying a car, the cost of buying a house, the cost of furniture, the cost of clothing--everything people buy--is going to go up. Donald Trump said he would reduce prices on day one when he got elected. He is doing just the opposite with these tariffs. He is raising prices through the roof and strangling American families. My colleague in Connecticut alluded to Smoot-Hawley. The new Smoot- Hawley is Trump-Musk. These taxes could create a global trade war. Our allies--previous allies--are aligned together at how they are going to get back at Trump and what he has done to the country. This is not ``Liberation Day,'' as Trump called it. This has made a few-weeks-earlier, in effect, tax day--huge taxes through tariffs on American families. It is a gut punch. It is a gut punch to the average American. So right now, I know Donald Trump is pressuring Senate Republicans to vote this resolution down. He is treating this like a loyalty test. But my plea to my Senate Republican colleagues: Stand with the American people. You know how bad this is. A few of you have already said you can't vote for this. Please don't be intimidated by Donald Trump, who said he couldn't care less if prices go up on your constituents, my Republican colleagues. Don't listen to him. This is a disaster--a disaster for working families, a disaster for the Nation's economy, a disaster for our alliances and relationships around the world--all doing so much to hurt America for one darn reason: cutting taxes for the billionaires. This is a government by the billionaires. Everything they do--whether it is this budget they came out with today or this tariff bill--is in obeisance to the very few wealthy people who seem to control the Republican Party and want another tax cut. I urge everybody to vote against these horrible, horrible tariffs. Tariffs on Canada have very little to do with fentanyl; we know that. Tariffs on Canada and all the other countries he has now added to the list have everything to do with more tax breaks for billionaires. I strongly, strongly urge a ``yes'' vote. This is worse than what we had thought. He made it worse when he announced what he was doing a few hours ago. I yield the floor.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, this week, Donald Trump is preparing to take a sledgehammer to the American economy by preparing a tsunami of tariffs on all sorts of goods Americans purchase every day--a tsunami of tariffs. Let's be clear. Donald Trump's tariffs are a tax hike on American families. The average costs families will have to pay for groceries, gas, everyday goods, et cetera, will go up by thousands--thousands of dollars a year out of hard-working people's pockets to pay for these tariffs. And Donald Trump has the gall to call his trade war ``Liberation Day.'' That makes as much sense as calling a layoff notice a promotion letter. The Trump administration clearly has no strategy or goal behind their tariffs. One minute, they say the tariffs will lead to more people buying American-made goods, but Peter Navarro said yesterday that tariffs will also raise trillions in revenue. This is a total contradiction. You can't use tariffs to both raise revenue and bring jobs back. The only way you raise that much in revenue is if Americans pay that much for goods made abroad, and that means consumers will hurt most. Donald Trump knows his plan will send costs surging. He said he ``hopes'' automakers raise their prices--spoken like a true billionaire. Donald Trump saying, I hope automakers will raise their prices? OK, Mr. and Mrs. Consumer, Mr. and Mrs. Average American Family, Donald Trump wants you to pay more while he is giving tax cuts to billionaires. Senate Republicans--where are they? Always, they just go along with whatever Trump wants no matter how idiotic. Senate Republicans should be shouting from the rooftops to get the President to reverse course on tariffs. People in red States will be especially impacted, from farmers to small businesses. Republicans should be swarming the Senate floor with statements calling on the President to change his mind. But their response has been so feeble, so weak--almost nonexistent--that Americans are right to question which side they are really on. The worst part is that nobody knows what the tariffs will look like-- perhaps not even Donald Trump. On a slow day, he changes his mind about them only once a day. He seems to change his mind about them almost every hour. This is not what the American people want. Americans and American businesses detest the chaos and unpredictability that Trump brings. No surprise--more and more Americans now disprove of his handling of the economy. Meanwhile, the S&P is on track for its worst quarter compared to the rest of the world since the 1980s. Consumer confidence is at its worst since Donald Trump's first term. Outlook for the economy is at a 12-year low. Household debt is on the rise. Donald Trump's trade war is playing Russian roulette with the American economy, and it will be households, retirees, consumers, and average families that pay the price. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Would my colleague yield for a question?

Mr. SCHUMER. Thank you. I first want to thank my colleague for taking the floor and showing the American people how horrible this administration is treating average families--working families--in so many ways, and I know he intends to hold the floor for a long time to make sure that that is the case in letting America know how bad this is. Now, our healthcare is the main focus right now, and it is amazing, I would say to my colleague: Isn't it incredible that all of these cuts they are proposing in healthcare are done with a purpose in mind, and that is to reduce the taxes on billionaires? Doesn't it bother my colleague that these people whom he has been documenting who so desperately need healthcare are going to lose that if our Republican colleagues have their way simply to cut taxes for the very wealthy? That is my question.

Mr. SCHUMER. Would my colleague continue to yield for another question?

Mr. SCHUMER. From what I understand--and tell me if this is correct-- if they did this tricky thing that even our Republican colleagues are calling fakery and hocus-pocus, our conservative Republican colleagues, it might increase the deficit by $30 trillion; is that accurate?

Mr. SCHUMER. Would the Senator yield for another question?

Mr. SCHUMER. Despite this fiscal hocus-pocus, this fakery, this trickery which my colleague has alluded to, when they cut Medicaid, when they cut Social Security, when they cut Medicare, those cuts remain just as devastating--is that accurate?--no matter what kind of bunk they put on their balance sheets to say it doesn't matter.