Dick Durbin Warns: 'The President Is Risking A Recession' With Tariffs

4/2/2025

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill.

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Transcript

00:00Speaker's historic speech last night.

00:02It was amazing.

00:03I'm glad I was there for a major part of it.

00:06I've never seen that kind of reaction from the Senate

00:09chamber gallery either.

00:11The place was packed and very vocal in their support.

00:15It was an amazing performance, but much more than that.

00:19America needed to see that kind of determination

00:22stand up for those values.

00:26Some lawmakers in the House have suggested

00:28using the appropriations process to push

00:30through language that would curtail universal injunctions.

00:35Is that something that you've seen on the Senate side?

00:37And how would you respond?

00:38No, I don't believe that's practical.

00:41I think this hearing is going to spell out

00:43some of the challenges.

00:45And the important thing is that this not become

00:48a totally partisan battle.

00:50There are some legal principles to be discussed,

00:52and they will be.

00:54But the notion that we would raise this

00:56with a Republican president but look the other way

00:59when we had a Democratic president is not acceptable.

01:02And on Senate Republicans, we're going

01:04to be meeting with President Trump today

01:07on their reconciliation bill.

01:10How do Democrats put the pressure on them

01:15to stop this from eventually passing?

01:17Because they can't lose that many votes in the House

01:20or even the Senate.

01:21The American people have to understand what's going on

01:23here, what's been suggested, and we'll

01:25see if it plays out, is that the Republicans in the Senate,

01:28at least, are going to ignore President,

01:31ignore the law that we've all followed in the past when

01:33it comes to reconciliation, and set out

01:37on a course that is literally going

01:39to double the national debt to create tax breaks for the

01:42wealthiest people in this country.

01:44Some of the things they're talking about cutting,

01:46like Medicaid, for example, would be devastating

01:50to my state of Illinois, both red and blue areas of the state.

01:54And today's what Trump's called Liberation Day,

01:57where he's landing additional tariffs on Canada and Mexico.

02:02What's your sense about the vote later today on-

02:05The president is risking a recession

02:07with this national sales tax he calls tariffs.

02:10When families across the United States

02:13see what this does to the price of goods

02:15that they want to buy, for example, a car, which

02:19is now beyond their reach because of the tariff,

02:21it's going to create an economic force, a negative force

02:24in this country, and cost a lot of American jobs.

02:27It is a process the president seems enamored with,

02:30but he's going to have a heck of a time

02:32explaining how this is going to help reduce the cost of living

02:35for Americans.

02:35Is there a better way to deal with the trade

02:37imbalance than tariffs?

02:38One person.

02:39Is there a better way to deal with the trade imbalance

02:41than tariffs?

02:42Well, certainly.

02:43If there's unfair trade practices,

02:45we should attempt to negotiate a solution.

02:48In many cases, we can't.

02:49Sometimes it takes a little patience for that to occur.

02:52But to think that Canada is now one of our targets

02:56is almost laughable in most parts of the United States.

03:00And deal with trade issues as they arise.

03:03Don't try to establish a standard of tariffs

03:06against all countries in the world.

03:08It can backfire.

03:09Do you think there are enough GOP votes for the Kaine

03:13resolution to pass today?

03:14There'll be a few.

03:15I don't know how many.

03:17We're going to lose at least one Democrat.

03:19So I can't say.

03:21But I think it's quite possible.

03:23OK?

Dick Durbin Warns: 'The President Is Risking A Recession' With Tariffs

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