Transcript: Leader Schumer And Senator Booker Colloquy On The Disastrous Policies Of The Trump Administration
Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) joined Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) today on the Senate floor to denounce the horrendous policies of the Trump administration, explaining how they will increase costs for American families and cut vital programs such as Medicaid and Social Security. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:
Leader Schumer: I have two questions. One on Medicaid cuts, which we talked about last night, and one on tariffs. First, let me say before I get to this question: your strength, your fortitude, your clarity has been nothing short of amazing. All of America is paying attention to what you're saying. All of America needs to know that so many problems—the disastrous actions of this administration, in terms of how they're helping only the billionaires and hurting average families—you have brought that forth with such clarity. People from one end of America to the other admire you. Our whole caucus is behind you, and we admire your stamina, your strength, your passion, your intelligence. The list of adjectives could go on.
My question first relates to the Medicaid cuts. As we talked about last night, yesterday I visited three Republican districts, one in Staten Island, one right on the border of two Republican districts in Long Island, to talk about Medicaid cuts. I went to nursing homes, and it was clear that the Medicaid cuts that are proposed in this proposal, $880 billion in the House, would be devastating. On Staten Island, the nursing home we visited, they love it, Silver Lake Nursing Home, would close. Three hundred people would lose their jobs, hundreds would be thrown out. And most of them said their children can't take care of them. Their needs are more advanced. And even some who said their children might be able to take care of them didn't have room in the house. Staten Island is middle-class, voted for Trump, but we made a plea to their congresswoman to not vote for any bill that had these Medicaid cuts and the tax breaks for billionaires. And a lot of people there were bipartisan, both parties there. We estimated that about 18,000 people total would lose their jobs with these Medicaid cuts, creating a recession on Staten Island. We estimated the harm that would be caused. And so, this was devastating. Same thing on Long Island. Again: these are Republican areas with Republican congresspeople who hold the balance. If those three congresspeople alone would say I'm not voting for a bill that cuts Medicaid to give tax breaks for the billionaires, the bill would fail. And I know that you in New Jersey, and my colleagues in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and elsewhere are doing the same thing. Congressmen and senators, and I talked to Leader Jeffries. He's doing the same with his folks. So my question to you is very simple. If these people in New Jersey, in New York, across America are kicked out of nursing homes, of assisted living facilities, of health care facilities, what would they do? How does the senator, with his passion, and everything else, feel when the only reason they're doing this is to give tax breaks to the wealthiest of Americans? Would you please answer my question, sir?
Senator Cory Booker: Yes, I will, Leader Schumer. I earlier, or late last night rather, I read dozens and dozens and dozens of letters from terrified people. The stories were heartbreaking as people rendered their pride and gave us insights into the more painful aspects of their lives. I got emotional over one, about a person talking about being diagnosed with Parkinson's, and to know that the disease is more and more debilitating – like my father – and wanted more help. And she was paranoid that the burden on her family, that they couldn't afford it. I had one amazing letter about a person who said they were a sandwich generation, two 90-something parents they were taking care of and two adult men, children with disabilities. And for all of these people—like you saw in the nursing homes—Medicaid wasn't a plus, or some kind of abundance heaped upon their lives. It helped them keep the fragile financial world they were living in stable. And not just an $880 billion cut, Senator Schumer, but even just a half of that or a quarter of that would cut services that would pull apart their whole lives, their ability to care for loved ones, their ability to still work. One person said the transportation we get through Medicaid for my disabled child is the link that holds it all together. And callously and cruelly, they're talking about this not in any kind of insightful way, not any kind of well, we can make it more efficient and help keep – none of that thought or logic or bringing in experts, because we read page after page after page of rural hospital leaders, of urban hospital leaders and more and more and more. So your question is clearly that it is this crazy scheme right now to expand the Trump tax cuts that overwhelmingly, disproportionately go to the wealthiest of us in America who need not our help, that would still yet expand the deficit by trillions of dollars, which means your children – and I know how proud of a grandfather you are – your grandchildren would have to pay for that debt. They're stealing from your grandchildren so that the wealthiest amongst us can get bigger tax cuts, and at the same time taking away medical coverage from the most vulnerable. What is that? It's not who we are. It's not who we are, America. And as much as people, thousands descended on us to save the ACA, Medicaid affects millions and millions of more people. Wake up. They're coming after a vital program for American expectant mothers, for American children, for American disabled, for seniors like the ones you visited. I have one more thing to get off my chest. This is a little lighter. You heaped so many kind things on me. But never before in the history of America has a man from Brooklyn said so many complimentary things about a man in Newark.
Schumer: But I would remind my colleague that we are both New York Giants fans.
Booker: Who play where? In New Jersey. This not a colloquy. I hold the floor. I do not yield. Brooklyn stole the Nets. It's an injustice – from Newark. They stole the Nets. I do not yield the floor for a rebuttal. And the Giants and the Jets play in New Jersey. There is only one football team in New York, and that's the Bills. I do not yield, but I do love and respect – I got the floor. I don't have to yield. This is the one time in my life I get the last word with my much more senior, much wiser friend and senator.
Schumer: My colleague, I do have another question on an unrelated subject. On an unrelated subject, but I will say go Bills.
Booker: As long as he gives me that commitment I yield for a question while retaining the floor.
Schumer: First let me say before I ask my question, go Bills. Second, given the 15 hours which you've shown such amazing strength, of an all-American athlete who could probably, given what you've shown tonight, be a star on our Giants, so I will not even try to rebut where the Giants are. But I will ask you this question, second. Before I get to tariffs, one of the leading hospitals in New York told me if there were only a 20% cut in Medicaid, less deep than they show, that they would close. They are the only cancer care place in the Bronx, 1.3 million people. And they give great care. They are the only one, they would close. So the devastation of these cuts, the American people should realize, is enormous from one end of the country to other, in middle-class communities, in upper middle-class communities like Long Island, middle class like Staten Island, poor communities like the Bronx. But on tariffs, let me ask a question. Here we are on the edge of April 2. Today is April Fool's Day, but the tariffs that the President is proposing, unfortunately, are not part of an April Fool's trick. They're real, and they're devastating. And my question to my colleague: with these tariffs, which are estimated would cost the American family $6,000 more on average, would raise costs on everything across the board, and would throw devastation into our economy—look at the stock market. It goes down when Trump is serious about tariffs, and it goes up when he says maybe he's not so serious. And with the chaos that is caused—which businesses, which love certainty, small businesses, medium-size businesses, large businesses—need certainty. So my questions are these: does the great senator and great Giants fan from New Jersey agree that prices could go way up, all the way up to as much as $6,000? And does he agree that the chaos from Trump's tariffs is discombobulating the economy in serious ways? And, again, does he agree that the reason they seem to be doing this is they count the revenues? This guy Navarro seems to have no sense of reality, and yet he seems to be in charge, and they count the revenues to help them get more tax cuts for the wealthy. Almost everything they do, including tariffs, it seems to me, is aimed at getting those tax cuts for the wealthy. Which—God bless the wealthy, as I heard you say last night when we spoke—we're not against people who make a lot of money. God bless them, but they don't need a tax break. They should realize the beauty of America helped them become and stay billionaires. The money we invested in education, in roads, in schools, in helping kids get food makes a better workforce. So my question to my colleague on these tariffs: does he agree that it could raise the price on an average family thousands of dollars? It's estimated at $6,000. Does he agree that the chaos caused by Trump's on-again, off-again—this country, that country, this much, that much, this product, that product—is hurting the economy and hurting businesspeople trying to do their jobs? And does he agree that it seems the motivation is tax breaks for the wealthiest people? Will you please answer my questions?
Booker: I will, Leader Schumer. You and I both know that in 72 days now—it's the next day—the 72 days that Trump has been in office, he has caused havoc on the American economy. Inflation is up. Prices are up. Consumer confidence is down. The stock market and people's 401ks and retirement plans are down. He continues to do things to rattle confidence, to raise prices, and to hurt—not the billionaires, the people that can afford these things—but to hurt average Americans who find housing prices too high and difficult to make ends meet. Every time, and I have looked at the tariffs throughout history—one of my friends sent me a funny clip I hope somebody will put up for me, I think it was from Ferris Bueller's Day Off where he was talking about tariffs and was like —"Bueller, Bueller?” The reality is, or maybe it was another movie and I'm mixing it up... But, the tariffs haven't worked out for Republican presidents who tried them during The Depression. The evidence is here. Learn from our history.
Schumer: Does my colleague remember the names of Smoot and Hawley?
Booker: Smoot and Hawley, yes sir. I definitely remember those names from high school history. So yes, what he's going to do tomorrow is going to rattle the stock markets. What he's going to do tomorrow is raise prices for Americans. What he's going to do tomorrow is lie to folks and say this is something that China will pay or whoever will pay, when actually it is the American consumers who will pay with higher prices and more economic insecurity. I'll tell you this quote that Frederick Douglass said. He said, "the limits of tyranny is prescribed by the endurance of those who are oppressed." How much more will we take of this —how much more will we, as America, say: cut our Medicaid to give tax cuts to the billionaires? Take the Affordable Care Act and take away tax credits and enrollment support. Hey, come after Social Security and cut thousands of people and make customer service get worse, as said in The Wall Street Journal. How much more of these indignities will we take as he turns his back on our allies? How much more of a person that is doing tyrannical things—as he takes our Constitution and continues to trash it, as he's running into judge after judge after judge that's trying to stop him? But we've already seen he wants to ignore judges, or if he doesn't get rulings he likes, he trashes the judges. Even the Chief Justice, appointed by a Republican, said, no, no, this is not right. This is not who we are or how we do things in America. How much more can we endure before we, as a collective voice, say enough is enough? Enough is enough. You're not going to get away with this.
Schumer: I thank the gentleman for his fortitude and strength, and the crystalline brilliance by which he has shown the American people the huge dangers that face them with this Trump-DOGE-Musk administration.
###