Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Announcing Democrats’ Upcoming Report On Trump’s Energy Affordability Crisis And Senate Democrats’ Focus On Lowering Costs

Washington, D.C. - Today, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke on the Senate floor criticizing Trump for increasing energy costs by of wasting billions of American taxpayer dollars on a foreign war and killing hundreds of clean energy projects across the country. He also previewed Senate Democrats' upcoming report on how the Trump administration is raising energy costs. Below are Senator Schumer's remarks, which can also be viewed here:

The war with Iran has only made the cost-of-living crisis worse for American families.

But does Donald Trump care? Of course not. He says if prices rise, they rise. Republicans say that people paying more for gas is just a price they should be willing to pay. That's an outrageous thing to say as families struggle to keep their heads above water financially.

Instead of wasting billions on a foreign war, he should be working with Congress to lower energy costs here at home. That is exactly what Democrats are focused on, lowering costs for American families, and one of our focuses is energy costs.

So tomorrow, Senate Democrats will release a new report laying out Donald Trump's many broken promises on energy costs.

Trump promised he would cut people's electricity bills in half by the end of his first year in office. But electricity bills have risen at almost triple the rate of inflation.

And even as his war with Iran sends gas prices higher, Donald Trump is simultaneously undermining energy production here at home by killing hundreds of clean energy projects across the country. Those projects would have provided enough energy to power 14 million homes.

When you cut out clean energy, which he did in a vicious, nasty, and vindictive way, you raise prices, because the cheapest way to get new electrons on the grid is solar, and wind is not too far behind. He cut them out. He cut them out because of a pet peeve. He didn't like clean energy because windmills were built off the coast, near his golf course in Scotland. And since then, there's been a war on clean energy, not to mention the corruption under the leadership of Harold Hamm. At least if you read the papers, Hamm promised him a billion dollars if he killed clean energy. Well, he's killing clean energy and the odds are pretty high he got that money.

I thank my colleagues, Martin Heinrich and Sheldon Whitehouse, who I am co-releasing this report with. This report helps lay the foundation for how a Democratic Senate Majority would lower energy costs for the American people. And it is part of our broader, year-long effort to lay out a Democratic vision to lower the cost of living across the board.

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