Schumer Floor Remarks on the President's Upcoming Joint Address to Congress
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today delivered remarks on the Senate floor describing the dissonance between President Trump’s populist rhetoric and his administration’s hard-right agenda. Below are his remarks:
Mr. President, this evening, the President will give his first address to a joint session of the House and Senate. We look forward to hearing from him.
But, Mr. President, tonight’s speech from the President will be far less important than past Presidential addresses for one very simple reason: this President has shown, throughout his campaign for the Presidency and now his first month in office as President, that there is a yawning gap between what he says and what his Administration actually does for working Americans.
He talks like a populist, but governs like a pro-corporate, pro-elite, hard right ideologue.
He promised to be a champion for working people in his inauguration and then, an hour later, signed an executive order to make it harder for working people to afford a mortgage.
He told raucous crowds that he would tear down the power structure in Washington and drain the swamp, but he’s spent his first month in office appointing bankers and billionaires and titans of Wall Street to fill his Administration.
He ran a campaign against the elites, promising to stand up to Wall Street; but as soon as he’s in office, he has started to try to roll back Wall Street reform and consumer protections designed to prevent another economic crisis and protect the interests of hardworking Americans.
In his inauguration he said that Washington and the special interests have enriched themselves while “the people did not share in its wealth,” but then one of the first bills he signed made it easier for large oil, gas and mining companies to hide payments (potentially bribes) they make to foreign governments.
That’s the swamp. He’s not cleaning it. It’s getting worse.
Despite all his talk, he seems to be full steam ahead on a program to help big business, the special interests, and Wall Street.
Meanwhile, a massive infrastructure proposal, a centerpiece of his pitch to working America, is nowhere to be found.
A program to stop jobs from moving overseas – not just tweeting about a few hundred jobs at the Carrier plant staying in the US – is nowhere to be found.
President Trump ran as a populist and still talks like one, but his first month has been a boon for corporations, the wealthy, and the elite in America, and provided absolutely no relief to folks who are struggling to make ends meet.
No relief to the middle class, and those struggling to get there.
In fact, many of his proposals shift the burden off the backs of the special interests and heap it on the backs of working families.
And he likely isn’t finished yet.
Tonight, the President might discuss his tax plan. He’s said that “every decision” on taxes would be made to “benefit American workers and American families.” It’s another grandiose promise.
But every indication we’ve gotten about the Administration’s plan is that it would give tax breaks to the wealthy and shift the burden onto the middle class and the working class. So no matter what the President says tonight, we’ll have to look at the details of his proposal and see who it really helps. Every American should as well too.
Tonight, if past is prologue, the President will use populist rhetoric in his speech, but he won’t back it up with real actions.
He’ll use populist rhetoric in his speech to hide what he is actually doing, which is helping the special interests and making it harder to stay in the middle class.
He talks like he favors working people, but his actions ultimately desert them. He’ll present himself as a President for the forgotten man, but he’ll forget him the moment it comes to governing.
So while I hope the President offers a message of inclusivity and talks about some issues where Republicans and Democrats can perhaps find common ground, his speech tonight will mean nothing the very instant after it’s delivered unless he backs up his words with real actions.
His speech tonight will mean nothing if he, and his cabinet of billionaires and vice president, his main advisers who seem to favor the wealthy and an agenda far away from what America wants, bankers, continue to govern from the hard right – which is very far from the American mainstream and even the Republican mainstream.
His speech tonight will mean nothing if he continues to do as he’s done these first few months since being elected: breaking promises to working people and putting an even greater burden on their backs, while making it even easier to be wealthy and well-connected in America.
