TRANSCRIPT: Leader Schumer On CNN Inside Politics With Dana Bash

Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) appeared on CNN Inside Politics with Dana Bash. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks:

Dana Bash: All right. Joining me now with a response to all of this from Capitol Hill is the Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. Senator Schumer, thank you so much for being here. We are seeing a historic rout on Wall Street. The Fed chair just warned that these tariffs could drive inflation back up, hurt growth. How worried are you that all of this could push the U.S. economy into a recession?

Leader Schumer: I'm very worried about it, Dana. This is one of the most disastrous and poorly thought-out policies that the Trump administration has done thus far. And that's saying a lot. First, the disaster to American families is dramatic. It's estimated that the average family, it will cost them $5,000 more a year. And that means that's the price of everything. Whether it's groceries or drugs or food or clothing or cars or gas or building a home, it goes way up. And what does that mean? There's less money for the economy, and that's what makes a recession so much more likely than it was before Trump did this. Now the estimates are as high as 30 to 40% by the financial institutions. Second, what it does is it makes everybody just worry about spending money. Businesses like certainty. And when there's no certainty because Donald Trump has been so erratic, businesses hold back on spending, on training, on hiring people. Consumers say, "Hey, I'm not gonna be able to afford that one trip we've been saving for—to visit grandma or buy the new car." And it's so poorly done. Do you know, Dana? This policy taxes penguins, but not Putin because the Heard and McDonald Islands are in the tax. All they have is penguins. He leaves Putin alone. It's crazy. It's poorly thought out. But most of all, it's disastrous. One more point—why is he doing this? To give tax breaks to his billionaire friends. They are all in that billionaire bubble. They just talk to themselves, and they don't know how badly they're hurting average American families.

Bash: Well, let me sort of ask a follow-up on that, because what Donald Trump has argued for decades is that it's about fairness and it's about helping American manufacturing in particular, helping blue-collar jobs and workers and American businesses in the U.S. This is what he says. And he actually has support right now in this current climate in this current policy from the UAW. They called his auto tariffs, quote, "Return to policies that prioritize workers who build this country rather than the greed of ruthless corporations." The UAW obviously is historically a key Democratic constituency. Are they wrong here?

Schumer: No. Look, there are certain tariffs that pinpointed carefully aimed at things that other countries are doing badly to us, make sense. This is not that; this is across the board—10% on everything in addition to what other tariffs he's put.

Bash: What about the auto tariffs in particular?

Schumer: Well, look, you have to look at it in the whole context of things. When there's such chaos in America, I think fewer Americans are going to buy cars, American cars or otherwise, because it's so chaotically done. So I think it hurts everybody.

Bash: So this big union organization, UAW on this, they just don't have it right?

Schumer: Look, I respect them, but the tariffs, if they wanted to do something about auto, should have been much more pinpointed and isolated than this massive assault on American families, all to help the billionaires. That's why he's using this tariff money to further cut taxes on billionaires. And that's what we're talking about on the floor of the Senate right now.

Bash: The veteran Republican Senator Chuck Grassley and Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell have introduced a bipartisan bill to require congressional approval for any new tariffs. And I'm sure you saw that Grassley said it's necessary to reassert Congress's constitutional role and ensure Congress has a voice in trade policy. Is that going to pass?

Schumer: Look, it has good bipartisan support. I think it's a very good bill. It's the first time we have seen some Republicans buck Donald Trump. They've all too often gone along with him, even when they know his policies are dead wrong. So I welcome it, and I hope it could pass. It's a bipartisan bill, and it shows you how bad these tariffs are when even Republicans who have been so afraid to break with Trump, some of the leading Republicans are, and they deserve some credit for that on this bill.

Bash: I want to take a step back and play a moment from your colleague Cory Booker and one of the many, many things he said during his marathon floor speech this week.

[Clip of Senator Booker: I confess that I've been inadequate to the moment. I confess that the Democratic Party has made terrible mistakes, that have given lane to this demagogue. I confess we all must look in the mirror and say we will do better.]

Bash: Senator, I don't need to tell you that some in the Democratic base, some rank and file voters, are still concerned about your leadership. They're still kind of sore about you voting for the government staying open, voting with Republicans, including, you know, supporting the president on that. Have you taken the criticisms to heart? And if so, how are you changing your approach now and going forward?

Schumer: Well, first, what Cory did was incredible and deserves huge credit. Not only the stamina he showed the 25 hours, and I talked to him and worked with him before the preparation. But what he said was great. Yes, of course, Democrats, we are now focused on the future, and we are focused on showing how awful this administration is. So on the floor today, you're going to see a whole series of amendments that talk about how devastating the cuts would be on Medicaid, how devastating on Social Security, how devastating on food, how devastating on [national] security. We're going to talk about all their self-dealing, and you're going to find all of us, Cory, myself, and the whole Democratic party united on what to do and going forward and going after Trump day in, day out, showing the American people that Trump has betrayed them, that he's broken his promises and that we're on the side of working people and he's on the side of the billionaire. So yes, we are all united and moving forward in that regard. And Cory's speech pointed us in that direction. It's great.

Bash: I do, before I let you go, I want to ask about a report in the Columbus Dispatch that says Ohio Republican Senator Bernie Moreno told people that Democrats are "monolithic sheep that follow the Führer Schumer's orders." What's your reaction to being called a Führer by a fellow senator?

Schumer: This is vicious, nasty, and anti-Semitic, plain and simple. You know, I'm the highest-ranking Jewish official in America, and I lost people, lots of people, to the Holocaust—to this vicious man, Hitler, who killed six million Jews. It is outrageous what he did. It is anti-Semitic what he did. He ought to renounce his own comments. But where are the Republicans denouncing this vicious anti-Semitism? It is so brutal, especially to those of us who have lost someone—many in my family—to that horrible man, Hitler.

Bash: Senator, thank you so much. I believe in the control room—tell me, do we have time? Okay, we do have a little bit more time. And before I let you go, I just want to ask, as a member of the so-called Gang of Eight, how you feel about the fact that Laura Loomer, she's a right-wing activist, got into the Oval Office with a list of names and asked the president to fire people, and he apparently has done so, including top people at the National Security Agency.

Schumer: It's like the inmate running the asylum. Laura Loomer is one of the most extreme MAGA conspiracy theorists there is. She says that 9/11—that rather January 6th—was an inside job, and he's listening to her. This shows how low this administration goes, and it's all catching up with them. As we saw in Wisconsin, it's all catching up with them.

Bash: Senator, thank you so much for being here. Appreciate it. I know you're gonna have a very long night.

Schumer: Thank you. Thank you. Good to be with you, Dana.

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