Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The Failures And Dangers Of Trump’s Presidency; Sends Message To Senate Republicans: Will You Join Senate Dems In Trying To Lower Costs, Rebuild[...]

Washington, D.C. - Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on the consistent chaos and harm caused by President Trump's lies and failed leadership, and called on Senate Republicans to stop enabling him and instead join Democrats in fighting for American families. Below are Senator Schumer's remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Today, we are starting an important work period in the Senate.

Every work period is important, but this one especially so, because this month Congress needs to step up and fix all the disasters that Donald Trump has created since he became president.

Donald Trump has been president for 225 days. And each one has been worse than the last.

Every time Trump creates a new crisis, each new controversy, each new lie, every time he sends armed troops to U.S. cities, each new attack on the courts, on the rule of law, and on the Constitution is a disgrace to the presidency.

And that is what Donald Trump's presidency has been: a disgrace, a failure, an exercise in pathetic leadership.

I just spent a month traveling from one corner of New York to the other, talking to families, businesspeople, Democrats, Republicans, Independents. And the trend is clear.

American families are poorer because of President Trump.

American businesses are less optimistic because of President Trump.

American communities are less safe because of President Trump.

America is more isolated, less respected, and wields less influence over world affairs because of President Trump.

The picture of Modi and Putin and Xi standing there together as allies - it was Donald Trump who ended up making that happen.

In fact, a recent study showed that the United States is now the only country - the only country - among 184 countries that show a drop in international visitors.

People don't want to come to America anymore because Donald Trump has so tarnished what our country is all about and what had made our country so great.

And it's not just about reputation: it's going to cost our economy billions that come from tourism and kill jobs.

It'll freeze entire communities.

I was just in Niagara Falls, in the Finger Lakes. There, around 20%-25% of our tourists each summer are usually Canadian. But not this year.

Canadians don't want to come here. And they're angry - the people, not just government. The people are angry about what Trump is saying about their country and about them.

And when folks as friendly as the Canadian people suddenly don't want anything to do with America, that's when you know Donald Trump is like a disease to America's greatness.

It is incumbent upon Republicans in Congress to join us to fix these disasters - through the appropriations process, through commonsense legislation.

The question is: will Senate Republicans keep bowing to Donald Trump and enabling his lies every step of the way?

When will they have the guts to stand up to him, because they know he is lying.

Because that is what Donald Trump is - Donald Trump is a liar through and through.

It's been his M.O. his whole life. I've seen that in New York.

He's lied to the American people.

He's lied about the economy, about fixing inflation, about peace in Europe and the Middle East, about the Epstein files, about the elections, about Social Security and Medicaid.

One lie after another and another.

Let's start with the economy and Donald Trump's tariffs.

Donald Trump said his tariffs would bring "liberation" to America.

But this has turned out to be one big fat lie.

Companies are losing revenue, shedding jobs, and raising costs.

Just look at companies - great American companies - like John Deere and Caterpillar.

These are strong companies. They're solid. They've always been a rock of America.

But last month, they reported losses in the hundreds of millions and layoffs in the hundreds. Why?

Donald Trump did it. It has nothing to do with farm conditions; the tariffs did it.

Or look at retailers like Target and Walmart - not to mention practically every grocery chain in America.

They're all raising prices.

Hormel, they are raising the price of pork and beef.

JM Smucker - which runs Folgers and Dunkin' Donuts and other coffee brands - said prices for its products will keep going up. Why?

Trump's tariffs. Plain and simple. No ands, ifs, or buts.

But of course, Donald Trump will lie to the American people about his failures.

As we've said, that's his M.O. all along.

Here's what he said on Monday: he tweeted that "Prices are 'way down' in the USA, with virtually no inflation."

Every single person in America knows that's a lie. Anyone who buys anything knows it's a lie.

Every one of the seventy-seven million Americans who voted for Trump, they know he's lying.

They know it when they go to the supermarket or try to buy something.

They see the higher prices at the grocery store and when paying their electric bills.

They see higher prices when buying school supplies.

And yet, the MAGA bots and the Fox News propagandists, who always seem to want to cover up for Donald Trump, will pretend he's right, just so they can keep sucking up to him.

It's pathological. It's delusional. It's more lies.

And nowhere else is the Trump psychosis more evident than in gas prices.

Listen to this: President Trump claims that gas prices are under $2, when every single American driver knows that's a lie.

Maybe for MAGA extremists, this is the point unfortunately. Maybe this is their idea of success. Maybe MAGA radicals are perfectly fine having Americans pay more for produce, for meat, for gas, so long as masked agents can arrest Uber drivers right off our streets, so long as billionaires get their tax cuts, so long as Medicaid recipients lose their coverage and Social Security gets privatized.

Maybe that's MAGA's idea of a golden age. But for the rest of America, this is chaos.

And when Donald Trump is not running America's economy to the ground, he's been busy incinerating America's reputation on the world stage.

He's rolling out the red carpet for Vladimir Putin.

He brags about stopping wars that still rage on.

He has failed to stop the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, failed to end the war, and failed bring the hostages held by Hamas home.

He creates problems so he can pretend to solve them. That's what he does. He creates a problem. He creates a real mess, and then he says, he has solved it, even when nothing like that has ever happened.

The only foreign policy "accomplishment" Donald Trump has under his belt is bringing India, China, and Russia closer together, thanks to his unbelievably stupid tariffs and his lack of understanding of how diplomacy works and how to get along with people in different countries.

Listen to this: he's even obsessed - for some strange reason - with winning the Nobel Prize and he has phoned foreign leaders asking them to recommend him for the award.

Have we ever had a President so pathetic?

Frankly, does this sound like someone who is firing on all cylinders?

I think we all know the answer to that.

Everyone listening today knows the answer to that, deep down in their hearts.

That includes my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, even if they won't dare say it aloud. They're afraid of him because they know he threatens them and brandishes everything over them.

Egos are often part of the territory in politics, but I have never seen a bully in the Oval Office with such a nakedly fragile ego.

Earlier today, I got to see that ego in all its ugly glory while driving to the Capitol.

Driving past the Department of Labor, I got to see - as many others have - the massive banners that have Donald Trump's face airbrushed on them.

A number of these banners are going up all across Washington. For generations, Americans have looked at these kinds of images and laughed at them, and snickered at them, because they're such obvious signs of deep insecurity.

Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Putin, Kim Jong-Un and other bullies throughout history have depended on these images because they were desperate to seem powerful, important, and untouchable.

Yet here we are in America in 2025, and we have an insecure bully in the Oval Office who orders his sycophantic cabinet secretaries to grovel to him at Cabinet meetings.

Have you ever watched one of these meetings? It is embarrassing. It's all about who can suck up more to Donald Trump as he beams, even though what they are saying has very little truth.

And adorning the face of buildings in our city with his picture? It's laughable that Donald Trump says he wants to make Washington more beautiful, and yet at the same time plasters his face all over our buildings. These beautiful buildings have been built for so long and have stood for so much to so many.

And you know what else is more pathetic about this president?

He is pulling a power grab in red states and trying to redraw maps.

Why is he doing it? Because he knows the American people reject his agenda. He knows that the American people are ready to punish his party at the ballot box because his proposals are so harmful to people.

No president - no president - who thinks he can win by virtue of his ideas alone would feel like he must rig the rules and pick his own voters instead of the other way around, the voters picking him.

That is what Donald Trump is doing right now, pushing Republicans in Texas and other red states across the country to gerrymander their way into power, to rig the game because they can't win the game fair and square.

I ask again: have we ever had a president so pathetic, so pathological as Donald Trump?

Finally, no discussion of Donald Trump's incompetence and lies would be complete without talking about healthcare.

Now, what is Donald Trump's signature domestic accomplishment?

Tell me. He would say it is undoubtedly the so-called, "Big, Beautiful Bill."

But Americans are learning - every day, more and more -that it is nothing more than a big betrayal.

The biggest cuts to healthcare and food assistance and good paying jobs in American history.

Donald Trump's signature feat in office is throwing people off Medicaid. Can you imagine? All to make life better for those at the very, very top.

He's destroying the ACA marketplaces, sending costs skyrocketing for millions of Americans. They're going to learn about this as early as next month.

And who are we kidding - we know that Medicare is next. We all know his Treasury Secretary gloated that they found a way to hurt Medicare in the so-called, "Big, Beautiful Bill."

I was in New York last month and I spoke with countless New Yorkers, doctors, hospital managers, and nurses and parents and patients who are frustrated and worried that hospitals will close, costs will go up, and people who need coverage won't be able to get it. People like the mom who has a daughter with cancer and can no longer get help and watches that child suffer, and the mom suffers, too.

Thanks to Donald Trump and Senate Republicans, healthcare costs are going to increase for every American in the country.

And even if you say, "Well, I'm not on Medicaid" or "I'm not on Medicare," or the ACA, this includes people with private insurance, too. They will see their costs go up and go up significantly.

Rural Americans will see their only hospitals close.

It's already happening in states like Nebraska and Maine.

This isn't theoretical, it's real.

And meanwhile, while all this devastation is going on, we have an HHS Secretary who, instead of looking out for the healthcare of American people, is firing thousands of federal health workers, cancelling medical research, and promoting cod liver oil supplements to treat diseases like measles.

This is crackpot nonsense!

My Senate colleagues know that what RFK Jr. is doing is dangerous.

The damage RFK Jr. is causing right now will be felt for generations.

So many of our kids and grandkids will suffer.

More of our kids will die from preventable diseases.

The damage will be long-lasting.

Donald Trump should fire RFK Jr. immediately.

Senate Republicans should come out of hiding and demand Trump fire RFK, too.

They see the damage. They read the insane things he says day after day after day. They know the immense harm RFK poses to our kids the longer he stays in place.

Every second that RFK is running our healthcare system is a healthcare crisis of its own and he cannot be allowed to continue to lead the agency.

So in conclusion, the challenges I've mentioned today are just a few that plague America.

They are the result of Donald Trump's pathetic leadership and his incessant lies.

And I lay all this at the feet of my Republican colleagues. Make it stop.

I ask my Republican colleagues: will you join us in making things right, in putting a stop to Donald Trump's madness, in protecting our kids, lowering costs, setting America on the right track, making our neighborhoods safe?

Or will you keep bowing down before the throne of Donald Trump, the erstwhile king?

I ask you not to turn your back on the vision of our founders, not to let America slide down the road of autocracy - and an expensive autocracy for that matter - where Americans pay more and more and more for rent and electricity and groceries, and things like that.

Senate Republicans can't pretend they're helpless against Donald Trump.

The majority in this chamber could very easily undo what he does. They have the power to rein in his worst impulses.

Republicans just need to make the decision for themselves to act, to stand up, to put the needs of people back home ahead of Donald Trump's narcissistic wishes.

We have an opportunity this month to start setting things right by advancing commonsense legislation to protect our healthcare, to hold the line against Donald Trump's abuses, and to reverse the immense harmful Medicaid cuts that Trump and Republicans pushed in the summer.

Will Senate Republicans continue to kowtow to a leader they know is dragging the country down? That they know is a pathological liar?

Or will they, as the Founding Fathers intended, stand up to him?

Will they help us fight America's slide into authoritarianism? Will they help us give the American people some hope in the future and prevent their costs from continuing to rise?

This month will tell us which direction they chose.

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