Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On President Trump's Malicious Federal Aid Freeze Creating Chaos For Firefighters, Schools, Veterans, Farmers, Seniors, And American Families
Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor to condemn President Trump's recent decision to freeze federal grants and loans, warning of severe consequences for middle-class families, essential services, and the broader economy. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks:
So, I just finished doing a little TV taping to the people of New York to tell them how evil — how horrible — this plan that President Trump has put into effect will be. The plan will shut off billions of dollars, maybe trillions of dollars, for what? For things average working families need.
They'll be less safe because funding for police will be cut. Funding for firefighters will be cut. Their kids will be less educated because funding for schools will be cut. And in places where there is a school tax like Long Island and Westchester, you could have your taxes go up.
It will be less safe because food inspectors who keep our food safe could be cut. It will go across the board. Housing will become more expensive. We desperately need housing.
Everything – this is going to affect everything – the radius will expand and expand and expand of what Donald Trump can do. And make no mistake about it— Project 2025, which proposed slashing everything — all cut, cut, cut, cut – to give one thing: tax breaks to the very wealthy people. This is Project 2025 by another name. It is the same stuff. They couldn't call it Project 2025 because when the public found out about that, they were outraged.
Well, make no mistake about this, President Trump: when the public finds out about this, they will be outraged.
And I got on the TV tonight and asked my constituents, particularly those in Republican House and Senate districts, to call their congress members and senators and tell President Trump to drop this evil plan, which will hurt them so badly.
The fact that Mr. Vought will be head of OMB, which is the agency which is in charge of all of this spending, is frightening. It's like putting the fox in the chicken house. And all the chickens, which are the American average taxpayers, are going to be susceptible to the sharp fangs of Mr. Vought.
And, by the way, speaking of chickens, here is another little reason, there's so many right now, the price of eggs is through the roof. $5, $6 a dozen. It was $2 a year ago. It was $4 in November. Why? Because there's something called bird flu that’s killing off millions of chickens. When you have fewer chickens, you have fewer eggs. Fewer hens, fewer eggs. And fewer eggs means prices go up. But there’s a program we actually — when we were in still in charge in November — put $300 million into in the budget to help our farmers deal with bird flu, with avian flu. It helps them get the PPE they need.
It helps them isolate the diseased chickens because you need to build different types of facilities. It helps them learn what to do. That could be cut. That could be cut, and the price of eggs will go up to $8 or $10. All of these things have an effect in one way or another on average working people. How about all the hundreds of thousands of workers who have now gotten jobs in clean energy? It is a great thing—for the first time, good-paying jobs with a future for so many people could be gone out the window if this plan goes into effect.
Now, I know that the court has stayed this til Monday. America, don't be fooled. President Trump and his henchman, Mr. Vought, will keep at it and keep at it and keep at it until Project 2025 is implemented, even though they don't call it Project 2025. They'll go to a different court, maybe in a very conservative red district. They’ll do whatever they can to continue to squeeze the middle class, cut the things that the middle class needs, and then cut the taxes on the wealthiest people in America.
I've heard hospitals are worried and not providing the care that they need. Head Start is going to close. What do the parents do? The agencies that deal with mental illness depend on government funding. So much is at stake. In my state, we're getting thousands of calls, ‘how is this going to affect us?’ Even if the cut hasn't come through yet, people are worried. They say we better save for a rainy day, cut back on this and cut back on that. It has frightened people.
Now, maybe that's what President Trump likes doing—frightening middle-class folks—but it's really a terrible thing to do. Meals on Wheels, a hot meal for people who don't have food, in danger. Rural hospitals and community health, in danger. New York subway maintenance and mass transportation throughout the country, in danger. Money for housing, in danger. Everything, everything.
And so, we here, we Senate Democrats, are doing all we can to stop this. Not just today, not just tomorrow, but with a long-range plan. But we're also urging Americans to call their senators, call their congress members, particularly Republicans, and get them to tell President Trump to stop it. Cut this out. Cut out these cuts. Because you're going to hurt us. The only people who will get hurt by this are average American middle-class families, and that's just about everybody.
###