In remarks on the Senate floor Friday, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) spoke about President Trump's tariffs and the Republican budget resolution.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Mr. President, before she leaves the floor, let me thank Senator Klobuchar for her outstanding
00:06remarks.
00:07She and Senator Van Hollen have really made the case that we want a tax bill that gives
00:12everybody in America the chance to get ahead, not just the people at the top, and I want
00:17to commend her for it.
00:18Mr. President, around the country this morning, Americans turned on the news and they saw
00:25panic.
00:28Americans are wincing this morning as they look at their retirement accounts.
00:33Their savings are down.
00:35The cost of their morning coffee and eggs are up.
00:40The markets are looking bloody and people are afraid for their jobs and their own personal
00:47finances.
00:49Not so for the ultra-wealthy.
00:51They may not like what they're seeing, but they don't have anything to worry about because
00:56they've got an ace in the hole, their Republican allies here in the Senate.
01:02While Donald Trump torches what used to be the world's strongest economy, Republicans
01:08scramble to pass a bailout for billionaires and big corporations.
01:13While typical families panic, the billionaires can go shopping for luxuries, for real estate,
01:20for yachts, safe in the knowledge that Senate Republicans have their back.
01:26This is what the debate is all about.
01:29Donald Trump is taking the United States back to economic policy that predates the light
01:36bulb.
01:37He's slapping random taxes on imports from all over the world, tariffs that are effectively
01:42huge tax increases on products American families and businesses use every day.
01:48Donald J. Hoover says he's not going to back down, and that's terrible news for everybody
01:55who counts on a steady paycheck to be able to get by.
02:00Everything from cars and machinery right down to t-shirts and your morning cup of coffee.
02:05It's all going to cost a whole lot more because of what Donald Trump is doing.
02:10Small businesses are going to get clobbered.
02:12Parents are going to need to take out second mortgages just to take their kids back to
02:17school shopping.
02:18They're facing an increase in the cost of living by thousands of dollars each year.
02:23And big businesses are panicking, too.
02:26They're worried about the prospect of a full trade war.
02:29The only thing preventing an even larger panic and collapse is the faint hope that somebody,
02:35somebody may be able to convince Trump to back down.
02:38Personally, I wouldn't wager on it.
02:41That's the economic carnage Trump is creating around the country.
02:45Here on Capitol Hill, Senate Republicans are charging forward with a bailout for billionaires
02:50and corporations that, according to the Joint Tax Committee, could cost $7 trillion.
02:59People following along at home are going to hear a lot of sweet-sounding promises from
03:03Republicans about what they're trying to accomplish.
03:06They claim their tax bill is just all unicorns and rainbows.
03:11They'll say everybody's going to benefit from a tax cut and typical families will get the
03:16help they need.
03:17People promise rising wages and a booming economy.
03:21It's just not true.
03:24The reality is, unless you're way out at the upper end of the income scale, any benefit
03:29you get from this Republican bill is going to get blown out of the water as the Trump
03:34tariffs continue to hike inflation.
03:37If you're somebody who punches a time clock or keeps an eye on the bills every month to
03:41make sure you can get by, there is no good news for you in what the Republicans are trying
03:47to accomplish.
03:49So they move ahead with their $7 trillion tax agenda, but there's no way to cover that
03:54cost without taking a wrecking ball to the Medicaid program, and that is their plan.
04:02It'll be devastating for tens of millions of Americans with seniors and kids bearing
04:06the brunt.
04:07I remember this, Mr. President, from my days as director of the Gray Panthers, but I can
04:12tell you Medicaid pays for two out of three nursing home beds in the nation.
04:17If Republicans move forward with their nearly $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid, countless
04:22families will have to make impossible choices between keeping an aging parent or grandparent
04:28in a nursing home they can barely afford or bringing them home to try and care for them
04:33on their own.
04:35Medicaid covers nearly 38 million kids in America.
04:39That includes half of all American kids with special health care needs.
04:44These cuts to Medicaid will set those kids back for the rest of their lives.
04:50Millions of parents will be left wondering how they'll pay for the home-based care their
04:53children rely on to go to school every morning.
04:57And let's be clear, these cuts may be partisan in Congress, but their consequences will transcend
05:03party lines.
05:05Medicaid cuts are going to hit red and rural parts of America the hardest.
05:10Hospitals, nursing homes, and other providers in rural communities all over the country
05:16right now are barely hanging on.
05:19They depend on Medicaid.
05:21If these Republican cuts go through, rural America will become even more of a health
05:26care desert.
05:27So I, Mr. President, and colleagues will be offering an amendment to block these Republican
05:33Medicaid cuts and the damage they're going to do to millions of vulnerable Americans.
05:38And it's not only Medicaid that Republicans target.
05:41Countless other lifelines that seniors and families rely on are on the chopping block.
05:48Meals on Wheels, which helps seniors get a hot meal.
05:51Head Start, which helps seniors get set up for, excuse me, Head Start, which helps kids
05:57get set up for success in the future with early learning and development.
06:03Food assistance that's going to help millions of families stay out of hunger.
06:07Donald Trump even wants to gut the technology-neutral clean energy tax credits I authored, which
06:16would increase costs for consumers, wipe out potentially hundreds of thousands of jobs,
06:21and devastate energy security.
06:24This is the hardship Republicans inflict on America, and particularly on people who struggle
06:29to get by.
06:31And this is how Donald Trump is going to protect his ultra-wealthy political donors from chaos.
06:38It's a one-two punch.
06:40Not only are typical American families facing economic ruin as Trump hikes tariffs and increases
06:46the cost of living, not only are they panicking as the market crashes and their retirement
06:51savings shrink, now they've got Republicans here in this Senate coming after their pocketbooks,
06:58their health care, the food on their dinner table.
07:01As I began, it's clear Donald Trump is completely out of touch.
07:08He and his advisers don't give a whit about the harm that they're causing to typical Americans.
07:15And Mr. President, you don't have to take it from me, Donald Trump literally says it
07:21himself.
07:22Talking about auto manufacturers, he says, and I quote, I couldn't care less if they
07:27raised prices.
07:30After yesterday's market crash, Donald Trump was asked about the tariffs and said, and
07:35I quote, I think it's going very well.
07:40Let me repeat that, Mr. President.
07:43Yesterday, after the crash, Donald Trump was asked about the tariffs, that this morning
07:49is hitting so many working people.
07:52And Donald Trump said, I think it's going very well.
07:57The secretary of treasury is on his own all as well media tour recently said, and I quote,
08:03access to cheap goods is not the essence of the American dream.
08:07I don't know about this billionaire's interpretation, but I'll tell you what's not part of the American
08:12dream.
08:13Getting charged 10 bucks for a cup of black coffee because the Trump administration is
08:17too incompetent to figure out a smart approach to tariffs.
08:22A few days ago with concerns bubbling up over what tariffs would do, the secretary of treasury
08:27said, and I quote, the reason stocks are a safe and great investment is because you're
08:32looking over the longterm.
08:34The longterm spin is as dismissive as it gets.
08:38Try telling that to a 65 year old who scrimped and saved and was planning on retiring this
08:42month only to see their 401k deflate like an old balloon.
08:49Nothing can illustrate how out of touch these guys are more clearly than what Trump said
08:54this week during his rambling press conference announcing his tariffs.
08:59Listen to this, Mr. President, talking about shopping for food, food, Donald Trump actually
09:04said it's an old fashioned term that we use quote groceries.
09:10I used it on the campaign.
09:13It's such an old fashioned term, but a beautiful term groceries.
09:17It says a bag with different things in it, end quote.
09:21So in closing, Mr. President is obvious that Donald Trump has not got the first clue of
09:27how the vast majority of Americans live or the hardship they face in the months and years
09:31ahead as he wrecks the economy.
09:35What's he doing now?
09:36He's hobnobbing down in Florida at his private country club resort where the Saudi government
09:41is helping financially with a splashy golf tournament.
09:47All the Trump administration is focused on, and this is what he's apparently dealing with
09:51at his golf tournament along with Republicans here in Congress is passing this bailout for
09:57billionaires and corporations while everybody else fears for what tomorrow will bring.
10:02As the debate goes forward, Democrats are going to offer a whole host of amendments
10:07to put what I believe is a morally bankrupt bargain on full display for the American people.
10:14It's going to be a long debate, but it's an important one.
10:17Mr. President, I yield the floor.