Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Trump’s Reckless Tariff Plan And Middle-Class Tax Hike

Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor following Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day,” where he unveiled a reckless and misguided new tariff plan that is the largest tax hike on middle-class families since World War II, forcing working families to pay an average of $5,000 more each year. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Yesterday, Donald Trump made one of the dumbest decisions he has ever made as president, and that’s 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 families, pay more taxes, Donald Trump is telling you. That's what the day was all about.

This morning, naturally, the markets are plunging. The Dow was down 800 points. The S&P 500 is already on track for its worst day in years. Donald Trump has singlehandedly created a financial forest fire.

Donald Trump called yesterday liberation day, but 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 “couldn’t 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 cuts are taking away health care 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.

And that is what happens when you have no clue what you’re doing. You fire air traffic controllers, dismantle disease outbreak monitoring, sabotage Social Security and VA operations, censor climate data, defund public schools, and declare trade wars on penguins.

What is going on?

Prices on groceries, prices on electronics, appliances, metals, 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's his quote, America.

You're 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's 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’re letting Elon Musk sabotage Social Security. He says it's a Ponzi scheme. He says it's okay if it's eliminated.

What do these rich people know about how middle class people struggle? It’s a little coterie of billionaires who are running policy, and 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, health care workers, food inspectors, abandoning veterans?

And now on top of all that – it’s been bad enough before the so-called liberation day, which is tax day –Americans are going to pay $5,000 a year through his tariffs.

And 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’ll tell you why, 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’ve heard the net worth of his cabinet. It’s incredible. Cutting taxes for billionaires makes them squeeze the American people, it’s 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 President Trump is doing.

What president walks mindlessly into a recession, which means it's 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.

We passed this bill 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’s the number one thing on people’s minds.

We’ve heard that over and over again on last November’s election day, and ever since Donald Trump said in his campaign he'd reduce prices on day one when he got elected. He's doing just the opposite. He’s not just reducing prices, he’s raising them by $5,000 a year. And Donald Trump said, “I couldn’t not care less.”

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