Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On President Trump’s False Claims On The Economy During His State Of Delusion

Washington, D.C. - Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) today spoke on the Senate floor slamming President Trump for his lies to the American people on the state of the economy during the State of the Union on Tuesday night. Below are Senator Schumer's remarks, which can also be viewed here:

There has never been a State of the Union where the president spoke for so long, but had so little substance, so little truth.

Tuesday night was two hours of Donald Trump's State of Delusion. He's in a bubble. He doesn't know what's going on with the American people. All he wants to do is stroke his own ego. Donald Trump told the country that everything is great, that costs are coming down, that manufacturing is up, that he's going to fix healthcare, and that we're going to win so much we won't know what to do. That's what he said. It's amazing.

I ask very seriously, who else in America feels this way- that we're winning so much we don't know what to do? Maybe billionaires, but that's it.

Today I want to talk about today a couple things that Donald Trump didn't mention during his two-hour State of Delusion.

For one, Donald Trump didn't talk about how he will bring down the cost of living.

Ground beef is up 11%. Coffee is up 14%. Rent is up.

And thanks to Donald Trump's tariffs, American families are spending over $1,700 more this year. $1,700 out of the average working family' pocket-that is a heck of a lot of money when people are struggling to pay the bills.

Where is Donald Trump's plan to fix any of this? He said nothing. In a moment, I will talk about what Democrats plan to do about this.

Donald Trump also talked about manufacturing-but he failed to mention that America is not creating manufacturing jobs, we are bleeding them.

So many lies. He says we're growing manufacturing jobs. Well, look at this chart. These are the number of manufacturing jobs lost in the last year-in May, in June, in July, in August, September, October, November, and December-we lost in every month. We lost manufacturing jobs, and Donald Trump just lies about it.

This is the state of manufacturing in the United States. Manufacturing jobs are down by 100,000.

We have shed manufacturing jobs every single month, every single month right after Donald Trump's "Liberation Day." Yet he lies about it. He just makes it up. Donald Trump has this uncanny ability, which misserves human beings and misserves presidents. He thinks by saying it so, it's true, and everyone will just believe him. Well, his minions believe him no matter what he says, but no one else. He talks past America. Again, we lost manufacturing jobs, Donald Trump. We didn't gain them.

Trump also failed to speak about his plan to fix healthcare, because he has none.

Donald Trump claims he will always protect Medicare, but that is false. CBO found that, thanks to Donald Trump's "Big, Ugly Bill," the Medicare trust fund will run out 12 years sooner than before.

In other words, Donald Trump has accelerated Medicare's demise by more than a decade with one single bill, which every Republican voted for in this chamber but not Democrat, because we knew the damage to health care he was doing.

Donald Trump also failed to mention anything about China. It's the second leading power in the world. The United States has lots of issues with China.

But, when was the last time a President of the United States avoided talking about America's biggest rival on the world stage during the State of the Union?

The way Donald Trump handled China is an embarrassment-he promised to be tough on China, but he's playing with them with kit gloves, giving them critical American technology, and his tariffs have failed to win any meaningful concessions.

It doesn't have to be this way. Americans deserve better than a President and a Republican party that thinks affordability is a made-up word.

Later this morning, I'll join my colleagues-Senators Cantwell, Luján, Booker, and Welch-and experts from around the country to talk about how Democrats will lower food costs, how we will make trips to the grocery store less painful for families, and how we will fix the structural problems that keep prices high-like consolidation in the food industry.

Today's roundtable is part of a larger effort by Senate Democrats to talk about how we will drive costs down. Because we don't believe affordability is some kind of "hoax." Donald Trump called it a hoax, that was insulting to America. He seems to have fun insulting people, that's what it seemed like up there on the State of Delusion stage that he occupied. Affordability is the most real thing in the lives of the American people economically.

In the weeks and months ahead, we're going to go issue by issue-taking the time to dig in, and rolling out a serious, practical battle plan to bring costs down. We started a month ago with housing, and I'm proud of the work Democrats are doing to lower housing costs.

We'll soon take on energy and electricity. We'll take on childcare. We'll take on health care.

Lowering costs will be Senate Democrats' North Star in 2026. Let me repeat that, so that America and our Republican colleagues hear it: lowering costs will be Senate Democrats' North Star in 2026.

And the conversations we have today about high food prices will lay the groundwork for real legislation-so that when Democrats have the majority, we can deliver real relief and bring down the cost of living.

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