Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Tomorrow’s Joint Address, Where Donald Trump Will Continue To Push His Cruel And Chaotic Agenda That Favors The Ultra-Rich At The Expense Of Working Americans

Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on President Trump’s upcoming Joint Address to Congress, decrying Trump’s agenda which has thus far included tax breaks for the rich at the expense of working Americans, slashes to essential government programs, looming tariffs that will lead to higher costs, and dangerous foreign policy decisions that put American national security at risk. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Tomorrow, Americans can expect Donald Trump to say many things that are false, including, perhaps, Russian misinformation.

What we will not hear from Donald Trump, however, is the truth.

So today, let us speak the truth about Donald Trump’s agenda.

In a little over one month, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Republicans have set in motion the greatest transfer of wealth in favor of billionaires we have seen in modern times.

On the one hand, you have Elon Musk calling Social Security the greatest Ponzi scheme of all time.

You have DOGE firing over 7,000 staffers from the Social Security Administration.

You have Donald Trump threatening trade wars with our own allies.

And you have Republicans cutting $880 billion from Medicaid to pay for their billionaire tax cuts. Money that funds things like community health centers, money that funds people who desperately need health care, money that funds parents, elderly parents of middle-age couples whose parents are in nursing homes – all of that is at grave risk.

Together, these actions will mean diminished wealth for working and middle Americans, and more money in the pockets of the billionaires.

Because after all, when the wealthiest man on Earth calls Social Security a scam, and DOGE fires 7,000 Social security staffers, that is a clear sign Social Security benefits are in danger.

Donald Trump just said a few minutes ago that he was going to keep the tariffs against Canada and Mexico.

When Donald Trump starts a trade war with Canada and Mexico, it means rising costs for produce, for groceries, for cars, even for ordering takeout and happy hour. It is unbelievable what they're doing with these tariffs.

It could mean that restaurant owners in states like mine could be forced to close down as food prices go up.

It means that building new homes will be more expensive, and those cost will be passed down to would-be homebuyers.

The bottom line is very simple: one of the greatest things Americans worried about in the past election was the high costs of so many different kinds of goods and products, and now Donald Trump is making it worse because he just [ended] the pause on Canada and Mexico's tariffs, but would let them go into effect.

Please, Mr. Trump, rethink your plans to start a trade war when the average family will get slapped with an average $2,000 extra in costs.

You said you'd bring down costs on day one, Donald Trump.

Yet here, one month in, you're doing something that would raise costs significantly for the American people.

And when Republicans cut Medicaid, it means health care costs will go soaring for tens of millions of kids, seniors, people with disabilities, rural communities.

Why are Republicans doing all this? Why are they creating all this havoc, this cruelty, and this harm to the American people? Simple: to cut taxes for billionaires and have the American people pick up the tab.

Make no mistake about it: this is what a transfer of wealth looks like, away from working Americans and into the bank accounts of the billionaire club.

Meanwhile, it's not much better in terms of foreign policy and our own security. Our allies across the world will look at American and see a country in decline under Donald Trump.

They will watch in horror an American President continues to curry favor with war criminals like Vladimir Putin, while publicly berating friends – brave, valiant people who have risked their lives and have seen so many of their countrymen die in a valiant fight for freedom – like President Zelenskyy.  He gets berated, Putin gets praised. What is going on?

Rest assured that nobody on Earth was happier with what happened last Friday in the Oval Office than Vladimir Putin.

Our allies will also watch in horror as Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth make America less safe – and the world less safe. There's no other way you can look at it, giving Putin a free pass to launch cyber-attacks against the U.S. while we disarm our own cyber operations against Russia.

Can you believe that? Letting Putin attack us, and we're saying we won't attack him in terms of cyber warfare? What is going on? The world has turned inside out and upside down, all to the detriment of the safety and security of America and its people.

Tomorrow, as Donald Trump addresses our nation, our western allies will wonder about the future of NATO.

So, these are difficult and dangerous times. And Donald Trump is taking America, our democracy, and the world down a dark and deeply troubling path.

But finally, and most importantly, the American people will not take Donald Trump’s agenda lying down.

You can see frustration boil over in town halls in Georgia, in Kansas, in Oregon, and everywhere in between. Republican leaders are now telling their members to cancel town hall meetings. They’re running away from the people because they know how badly the people have been hurt. Maybe they don't want to do it, but they're forced to because President Trump wants tax breaks for billionaires.

You can see the frustration in the polls too. A majority of Americans believe that Donald Trump has ignored the number one issue they care about: inflation, rising costs.

You see the frustration online. Last week, I joined a Zoom and over three thousand New Yorkers got on, ready to mobilize against the Republican attacks against Medicaid – and many of my colleagues had similar meetings, with similarly strong responses. People are ready. They are energized.

You can also see it in the courts.

The American people can rest assured that whenever the Administration breaks the law we will take them to court. It will be one of our best tools to protect our country and putting a stop to the worst abuses of Donald Trump’s agenda. And for the most part, the courts are rejecting much of what Donald Trump has tried to do.

The more Donald Trump pushes our democracy to the limit, the more Americans will push back. Organizing is never easy, but it works.

That is what we will continue to do – we shall organize here in the Congress, organize in the public square, organize in court to protect the country we all know and love.

Nothing Donald Trump says tomorrow will change that fact.

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